By Victor Agozirim Ukpai and Boluwatife Daniel-Adebayo 

In 2025, Nigerian men’s football has hit its lowest point in modern history. Our Golden Eaglets, the U-17 team which had won the most FIFA U-17 World Cup titles, failed to qualify for the U-17 World Cup in two consecutive years.  The U-20 team, the Flying Eagles crashed out in an embarrassing fashion losing 4-0 to Argentina. Our U-23 team didn’t even make the Olympics in France in 2024.

We were once a football powerhouse. Whenever we stepped on the field, the green and white jersey filled the opposition with fear. In April 1994, we were the 5th best footballing nation on the planet. We embodied what we and the rest of Africa called us, The Giant of Africa. Our youth teams were feared, our men’s senior team was revered, and our talent pipeline never seemed to dry up. The real question now is how did we get here? 

This isn’t just bad luck, this is a reflection of deep structural decay and a culmination of years of poor leadership, lack of vision, and administrative negligence. The Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) has become a symbol of everything wrong with our football. For years, its leadership has been marred by political interference, corruption allegations, poor planning, and lack of accountability7 

Football in Nigeria has become less about development and more about survival of egos, survival of interests, and survival of those who see the game not as a passion, but as a profit centre. Instead of building from the grassroots, nurturing young players, developing coaches, improving facilities, and strengthening our local league, we have watched as short-termism has become the order of the day. 

We keep recycling coaches and administrators who have no long-term blueprint, and we expect different results. Meanwhile, our youth academies have become shadows of their former selves. Players with potential are either poorly scouted, mismanaged, or simply ignored. And when talent does emerge, the system fails them. 

Thus, the need for structural reforms. Every stakeholder in Nigerian football and this includes explayers, fans, journalists, coaches, and corporate bodies must raise their voices. We must demand transparency, and accountability from the NFF to measurable goals. We must push for a football vision that prioritizes development over politics. Grassroots football must be revived not in slogans, but in structure. Local clubs must be empowered. 

State FAs must be functional.

Nigeria would never stop producing the talent but there is a need for leadership and planning so that we see results on the field of play. The path back to glory isn’t impossible, it is just uncomfortable and we must put ourselves through that discomfort to rebuild. We need to bring back the hunger, the pride, and the structure that once made us giants. We must remember that Nigeria wasn’t given its football greatness, we earned it through vision, courage, and belief. 

This isn’t just an NFF responsibility, this is a collective duty. Fans, media, former players, and policymakers must play a part. Silence is complicity. We can’t keep quiet while the game that unites us continues to die slowly. We owe it to the next generation, the kids still playing barefoot on dusty pitches, dreaming of wearing the green and white because when Nigerian football rises again, the entire nation will rise with it.