Lagos – President Goodluck Jonathan has been commended by the Nigeria Football Association (NFA) for his “outstanding support” for the country’s senior national football team, the Super Eagles.

A statement by the association on Tuesday said that the NFA President, Aminu Maigari, extolled Jonathan for his interest in the Eagles and his commitment to the various national teams.

Maigari, the statement said, was speaking against the backdrop of Jonathan’s endorsement to sponsor 200 members of the Nigeria Football Supporters Club to Addis Ababa, for the crucial 2014 World Cup qualifier against Ethiopia.

Nigeria will take on Ethiopia’s Walya Antelopes on Oct. 13 in the first-leg of the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying play-off in Addis Ababa.

It said Maigari also expressed his gratitude to the country’s president for his consistency at rewarding excellence.

“We are not surprised by our president’s decision to ensure a heavy presence of Nigerian supporters in Addis Ababa for the match.

“This is simply another demonstration of President Jonathan’s fatherly love and keen interest in Nigerian football.

“We can go back over the years and recount so many things that our president had done to underscore this special interest and love. We adore him,” Maigari said.

In June 2010, the President visited the Super Eagles hotel in Johannesburg, on the eve of their first match of the FIFA World Cup final against Argentina.

The President also paid a surprise visit to the Super Eagles’ training session in Abuja, before their 2013 Africa Cup of Nations first leg of the final qualifying fixture in Liberia.

Jonathan also rewarded all categories of the National Teams, with the Super Falcons, Falconets and Flamingos having earned rewards for their impressive outings at global championships.

Earlier in the year, after winning the Africa Cup of Nations for the first time in 19 years, Super Eagles’ players and officials were rewarded with national awards, cash and land gifts. (NAN)