Sunday Oliseh, former Super Eagles head coach, has alleged that the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) kept $1 million from FIFA that was meant as a reward for Nigeria qualifying for the 2002 World Cup.
Speaking on the Home Turf podcast, Oliseh said there had been an agreement to split the money evenly, with half to be shared among the players who participated in the qualifiers. However, he claims the NFF disbanded the team and kept the funds.
Oliseh stated:
“We were going to the 2002 World Cup and had agreed that $1 million from FIFA would be split 50-50 — $500,000 for the federation and $500,000 for the players. That $500,000 was to be shared among the 30 players who took part in the qualifiers, roughly $18,000 each.
“The only way the players would have been paid was if I was there to ensure my colleagues got their share. To secure that money, the NFF removed me and my assistant captain, Finidi George.
“We qualified for the finals, but the team was disbanded. They made sure we didn’t get our share. The squad that eventually went to the World Cup, 80% of them hadn’t played in the qualifiers, so they weren’t entitled to that money.”
