Stranded Falconets, NFF Blame FIFA Travel Plan For Team

Stranded Falconets, NFF Blame FIFA Travel Plan For Team

Sampson Adedeji

The Nigeria Football Federation has come out to clear the air on the situation faced by Nigeria's U20 team Falconets, BSNaports.com.ng has gathered.

The Nigerian team crashed out of the FIFA Women's U20 World Cup in Costa Rica on Sunday after they lost 0-2 to the Netherlands.

The team were due to return to Nigeria but got stranded at Turkey Airport due to flight issues.

Secretary General of the federation Mohammed Sanusi has come out to explain why the team face such a situation.

“The NFF did not book the team’s tickets from Costa Rica; FIFA did. FIFA also did not envisage the hitches that saw the team delayed for more than three hours in Bogota, and another one hour in Panama. By the time the team got to Istanbul, the flight to Abuja had left.

“Our officials pleaded for compassionate transit visas so as to take the players and officials to a hotel inside the town, but this was not possible as they were informed that Nigeria had been removed from the list of countries whose citizens were issued visa-on-arrival in Turkey. The airline then took the team to a sleeping area at the airport and gave them tickets to have meals every five hours. 

"This situation has nothing to do with NFF, who had made arrangements to receive the team in Abuja before the complications in travel arrangements,” NFF General Secretary, Dr Mohammed Sanusi, explained.