Ladipo Rejects Pinnick’s World Cup Claim, Cites Qatar 2022 Failure

Ladipo Rejects Pinnick’s World Cup Claim, Cites Qatar 2022 Failure

By Admin 

President General of the Nigeria Football and Other Sports Supporters Club, Dr. Rafiu Ladipo, has dismissed claims by former Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) president Amaju Pinnick that Nigeria would have secured qualification for the 2026 FIFA World Cup had he remained in office, BSNSports.cim.ng reports.

Ladipo described Pinnick’s assertion as misleading, noting that Nigeria failed to qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar during Pinnick’s tenure as NFF president.

“It is important to deal with facts,” Ladipo said. “Under Amaju Pinnick’s leadership, Nigeria did not qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. That reality alone makes it difficult to justify the claim that things would automatically be different now if he were still in charge.”

He stressed that World Cup qualification is a collective responsibility that extends beyond the influence of any single individual, adding that Nigeria’s football challenges require honest introspection rather than a reinterpretation of recent events.

“Nigerians have not forgotten that we were eliminated by Ghana in the playoffs for Qatar 2022 while he was in office,” Ladipo said. “Attributing our current struggles to the absence of one individual does not reflect the true situation.”

Ladipo urged football administrators and stakeholders to focus on more constructive solutions to Nigeria’s qualification difficulties, emphasising the need for systemic rebuilding, grassroots development, and transparent governance within the sport.

Meanwhile, the veteran supporters’ leader paid tribute to Nigerian journalists for their role in documenting and amplifying his contributions to sports development over the past five decades.

He spoke during a media interaction in Lagos to mark the visit of over 60 members of the Ghana Supporters Club, describing media coverage of his activities as instrumental to the recognition he has received both locally and internationally.

“I want to thank Nigerian journalists because everything that has happened to me in the last 50 years in sports, and the way my activities have been reported, is already yielding favourable results,” Ladipo said. “That is why I thank God for keeping us alive and active.”

Ladipo disclosed that he was recently elected and nominated as a Patron of the Confederation of African Sports Supporters (CASS) in Casablanca, Morocco, a development he attributed to decades of commitment to organised and disciplined sports supportership across Africa.

Reflecting on previous honours, he recalled being recognised in the United States in 1996 for Leadership and Advancement of Nigeria following the country’s historic gold medal performance at the Atlanta Olympic Games. He also noted that the Nigerian Supporters Club was named Africa’s Best Behaved Supporters’ Club in 1994.

According to Ladipo, the 1996 award ceremony in the United States was particularly memorable, as he was conveyed in an open-roof motorcade from Cleveland Airport to the venue, accompanied by hundreds of vehicles in recognition of his contributions to sports and national image-building.

He added that he received another major honour in Ghana in 2008 and revealed that he has proposed that a CASS award instituted in his honour be hosted in Nigeria, a move he said would further strengthen the country’s leadership role in African sports supportership.