Why Super Falcons May Miss Out In FIFA's $1m World Cup Largesse

Why Super Falcons May Miss Out In FIFA's $1m World Cup Largesse

By Our Reporter

The Super Falcons of Nigeria may not get their 30 percent cut in the expected 2019 FIFA World Cup largesse,

The FIFA money according to Guardian will be paid to the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) any time from now.

This according to report serves as punishment for the team’s protest over unpaid bonuses while participating at France 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

The players, led by Swede coach Thomas Dennerby, staged a sit-in protest in the city of Grenoble after losing 0-3 to Germany in the Round of 16, claiming that they were owed a backlog of bonuses and World Cup appearance fees. They refused to leave their Mecure Hotel, making it the third time the Super Falcons staged a sit-in protest over bonuses since 2004 in South Africa and 2016 in Abuja. The previous two occasions were after winning the African Nations Cup title.

However, an official of the NFF revealed to The Guardian that FIFA had used over $200,000 to settle the protesting Super Falcons in France before the players agreed to leave their hotel rooms for Abuja.

“Now, FIFA has deducted the amount it used in paying the players from the $1million that is supposed to come to the NFF for Super Falcons qualification for the round of 16 at France 2019 World Cup. Our initial arrangement was for the players and their officials to get 30 percent of the money, but that won’t be possible,” the NFF official said.

Recall that the Super Falcons were the fourth national side to down tools over outstanding bonuses in 2019, following protests by France’s U20 female team, the U17 boys from Tanzania and U20 men from Poland.