World Cup Misses Shameful – Mikel Obi

Former Super Eagles captain, John Mikel Obi, has described Nigeria’s consecutive failures to qualify for the FIFA World Cup as shameful and unacceptable.
The Super Eagles failed to secure a ticket to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and also missed out on the 2026 tournament co-hosted by the United States, Mexico, and Canada.
The back-to-back failures have triggered widespread criticism from football stakeholders, with many calling for the resignation of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) board led by President Ibrahim Gusau.
The decline in Nigerian football has extended to the youth and women’s structures as well. Fol-lowing the Super Falcons’ failure to qualify for the 2027 World Cup, the Flying Eagles recently lost to Burkina Faso in the WAFU-B U-20 final, effectively ending their hopes of qualifying for the 2027 U-20 AFCON and the global tournament.
Speaking in an interview with a Ghanaian television station, the former Chelsea midfielder placed the blame for Nigeria’s persistent struggles directly on the NFF leadership.
Mikel called for an immediate administration overhaul to prevent a third straight World Cup absence.
“The entire board has to go if we want to grow our football,” Mikel said. “We haven’t qualified for two World Cups, which is a shame, and we cannot allow that to happen a third time.
“We must make changes and get the right people to manage African football—especially Nigeri-an football—to move forward.”
When asked whether he intends to run for the NFF presidency, Mikel stated that he is waiting for the right time to step forward.