Former Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) president Amaju Pinnick has said the Super Eagles would not be struggling in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers if he were still in charge of the country’s football administration.
Nigeria’s qualification campaign for the expanded 48-team tournament has faltered, leaving their chances of reaching the finals in doubt despite Africa receiving up to ten slots.
Pinnick, who led the NFF between 2014 and 2022, said he was surprised by the team’s current position, arguing that the qualification pathway should have favoured Nigeria.
“I didn’t see it coming because ten teams from Africa will qualify,” Pinnick said on Sunday Oliseh’s Global football insight show.
He pointed to Nigeria’s successful qualification for the 2018 World Cup in Russia as evidence of his administrative approach, recalling a campaign many considered one of the toughest on the continent.
“In 2018, we had the toughest group ever. Algeria hadn’t lost in over 20 games, Cameroon were defending champions and Zambia were champions,” he added.
“Nigeria was the least considered, but we qualified with two games to spare.”
Nigeria, however, failed to qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar under Pinnick’s leadership, losing a play-off against Ghana on away goals.
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Despite that setback, the former CAF vice-president said Nigeria’s current situation should not have occurred, given the structure of the 2026 qualifiers.
“For the 2026 World Cup, if I were there, definitely Nigeria would have qualified. There’s no basis for Nigeria not to have qualified,” he said.
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Pinnick said he holds no personal grievance with the current NFF leadership but believes the Super Eagles’ recent World Cup failures could have been avoided with stronger planning and execution.
