‘Quite unfortunate’ – Ex-Super Eagles star laments decline of Nigeria’s football infrastructure

Former Super Eagles and Inter Milan forward Victor Nsofor Obinna has lamented the decline of the sporting facilities in Nigeria, Afrik Foot reports.

Nigeria’s failure to qualify for consecutive World Cup tournaments seems to have triggered several ex-players to look around and look at the country’s fall-off from the great potential it exuded in the late 90’s and early 2000’s

Between 1999 and 2009, Nigeria hosted one FIFA U-17 World Cup and a FIFA U-20 World Cup, featuring youngsters like Isco and Neymar. At the moment, only the Godswill Akpabio Stadium can host the games for the Super Eagles.

Super Eagles: Obinna Nsofor unhappy with Nigeria’s sport infrastructure

The former West Ham United forward played over 40 games for the Green and Whites, and looking back at the AFCON 2025 tournament hosted by Morocco, the one-time Serie A was bisheveled that Nigeria haven’t hosted an AFCON tournament since they co-hosted the 2000 edition with Ghana.

“The fact is that it’s been a very long time since Nigeria, as a country, had the opportunity to host any major tournament. The last one we hosted was in 2000,” the 39-year-old said in quotes revealed by Brila.

“We all know the situation we have in Nigeria as a country in terms of infrastructure. The standard of the stadiums are not at the level required to host a major CAF tournament, and that’s the truth.”

“Even the national team of Nigeria finds it difficult to play matches in the country.

“In terms of going to other states for Super Eagles games, we have only one stadium in Nigeria that is up to the standard required to host qualifying matches.

“It’s quite unfortunate and sad. In Nigeria, there is no long-term plan because we only plan for the present. We don’t have a maintenance culture.

“A stadium like the Abuja National Stadium, with the amount of money that has been spent on it, cannot even host a national team game. It’s really sad.

“As a country, we need to do better if we want to move forward. We have to tell ourselves the truth and start doing the right thing.

“If we put the infrastructure in place, there is no way CAF won’t inspect it and see that it meets the required standards. There is no way they won’t accept our bid and allow us to host the AFCON,” the former Malaga man concluded.

With the AFCON 2027 qualifiers on the horizon, the Super Eagles are set to have preparatory fixtures in the Unity Cup later this month, and then against Portugal and Poland next month.