Friday, January 30, 2026 - Former Nigeria Football Federation president Amaju Pinnick has insisted the Super Eagles would have qualified for the 2026 FIFA World Cup if he were still in charge of Nigerian football.
Pinnick, who led the NFF from October 2014 to October 2022,
guided Nigeria to the 2018 World Cup in Russia but also presided over the
failure to qualify for the 2022 tournament in Qatar after a playoff defeat to
Ghana.
Speaking on Sunday Oliseh’s Global Football Insights show,
the former CAF vice president expressed shock that Nigeria failed to take
advantage of the expanded World Cup format, which offers up to 10 qualification
slots to African teams.
“I didn’t see it coming because 10 teams from Africa will
qualify,” Pinnick said.
“In 2018, we had the toughest group ever; we had all the
AFCON winners. If I were there, definitely, Nigeria would have qualified.”
The 55-year-old football administrator recalled how the
Super Eagles secured qualification for the 2018 finals with two matches to
spare despite being drawn in a difficult group.
“Algeria hadn’t lost in over 20 games, Cameroon were
defending champions, Zambia were champions, and Nigeria was the least
considered,” he said. “But guess what? We qualified with two games to spare,
and we didn’t sleep.”
Reflecting on Nigeria’s elimination during his time in
charge by Ghana in the 2022 World Cup playoffs, Pinnick noted that the Super
Eagles exited on the away goals rule after two closely contested matches.
“We didn’t win, but we didn’t lose; we were knocked out by
the away goals rule,” he said. “I took responsibility then, and I take
responsibility now.”
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