Nigeria squad’s ‘horrible experience’ returning from Under-20 Women’s World Cup

Nigerian footballers and officials are seething after a “horrific experience” returning to Abuja from the U20 Women’s World Cup.

Eliminated from the tournament from the Netherlands on Sunday, The Falconets experienced connecting flight delays in Panama and Colombia before landing in Turkey on Tuesday after their onward flight had already departed for Abuja.

Images of the team “sleeping rough” were shared widely on social media, prompting the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) to do the same make a statement absolving themselves of blame for the messy journey.

“Who booked the flights is irrelevant because our terrible experience in Turkey was avoidable,” one of the U20 players, who wished to remain anonymous, told BBC Sport Africa.

“They wouldn’t let us leave the airport because we didn’t have transit visas and the airline said they couldn’t be held responsible for passengers who missed their flight.

“Someone was communicating with different people and for some reason they didn’t want to put us in one of the airport hotels. We slept on the terminal floor and some on the chairs because the next flight to Abuja was scheduled for Wednesday.”

The NFF claimed world governing body Fifa had reversed airline tickets from Costa Rica, and visa problems meant the players were unable to leave the Istanbul terminal to travel to a hotel.

A Fifa spokesman said the organization is helping arrange travel in coordination with teams leaving their competitions before departure, but connectivity and visa issues are beyond their control.

The under-fire NFF said it had also tried unsuccessfully to secure visas to travel through Germany to and from the U20 Women’s World Cup in Central America and that Fifa had been unable to intervene.

It’s not the first time the NFF has made the news over transportation issues involving the country’s women’s teams.

Already in February the senior national team suffered significant delays at the airport on their return to the capital after securing a place at the 2022 Africa Cup of Nations.

Problems with Covid-19 testing emerged on that occasion and the NFF said it had “no control over how things would be handled by airport officials”.

More money problems for Nigerian women

The U20 women’s team was welcomed at the airport by NFF general secretary Mohammed Sanusi and Toyin Ibitoye, a representative of the country’s sports minister.

“Nigerians appreciate all your efforts at the tournament in Costa Rica, but we are saddened that you had to sleep at the airport on the way back,” said Sanusi.

“It was out of our control. The arrangement was made by Fifa and they knew better than us what happened.”

An apologetic Sanusi also promised players that their pending bonuses will be paid when the seniors receive theirs.

That The Super Falcons boycotted practice ahead of their third place match against Zambia in last month’s Women’s Nations Cup for non-payment of allowances and bonuses.

Any member of the squad still owed over $10,000 in connection with their time at the tournament in Morocco and other training camps.

“The money approved for the Super Falcons will be processed by the (sports) ministry and we will pay you from there,” Sanusi said.

“We want to assure you that at the same time that the Super Falcons get paid, yours will get paid as well [qualification] Bonuses.”

Despite receiving a cash gift from the Ministry, another Under-20 player said the side are unhappy with how they have been treated and skeptical they will be paid in full.

“Following the terrible travel experience, some players complained of body pains on the flight from Istanbul,” she added.

“Now that we need our unpaid bonuses, it’s another promise that we’ll get paid later. The players do not know when this payment will come.

“Someone even said we should try to collect our money now, before the NFF board leaves office, or it will end up being just another empty promise.”