Amaju Pinnick, the former president of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), has asserted that he would have guaranteed the Super Eagles' qualification for the 2026 FIFA World Cup if he were still leading Nigerian football.
During his appearance on Sunday Oliseh's Global Football Insights program, Pinnick expressed his disappointment over Nigeria's failure to capitalize on the new World Cup structure, which has opened the door for up to ten African nations to participate in the tournament co-hosted by the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
"I honestly didn’t expect this outcome," Pinnick remarked. "With ten teams qualifying from Africa, there is genuinely no justification for Nigeria not to be among them."
He reminisced about Nigeria's successful journey to qualify for the 2018 World Cup, despite being placed in one of the most challenging groups in African qualifying history.
“In 2018, we faced the toughest group possible; all the AFCON winners were in it. If I had been in charge, there’s no doubt Nigeria would have qualified,” he noted.
Pinnick highlighted that Algeria had not suffered a defeat in over 20 matches, Cameroon were the reigning champions, and Zambia had won the championship, positioning Nigeria as the least favored team. Yet, Nigeria managed to qualify with two matches remaining and performed admirably.
He also mentioned the recent 2022 World Cup qualification campaign, during which Nigeria narrowly missed out after losing to Ghana under the away-goals rule.
"We put in the same effort in 2022, but the rules had changed to head-to-head matchups. Many did not expect Ghana to prevail, yet they succeeded. We were not defeated in that tie; our elimination came due to away goals."
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