Gusau: We are working to ensure Super Eagles win next year’s AFCON

President of Nigeria Football Federation, Alhaji Ibrahim Musa Gusau on Tuesday disclosed that the football-governing body is working assiduously to ensure that all the National Teams perform much better in their competitions in the next one year, than they have done in the past year.

He made this pledge while reviewing the activities of the NFF and the teams in one year of his Board in office, and also articulating expectations for the next one year.

‘One of our priorities on coming into office was to ensure that the football environment was cleansed of so much toxicity that had threatened the health of the game and made some persons feel unwelcome in the system. We have tried our best to give everyone a sense of belonging with a policy of inclusiveness.

‘Off the pitch, we are proud of the work of the Interim Management Committee that we constituted to organize the last NPFL League Season, which was commended by all stakeholders, and we also feel fulfilled about the constitution of the Boards of the NNL, NWFL and NLO with vibrant, knowledgeable and competent individuals who are capable of taking the leagues to the next level. Elections into the State FAs have also been largely peaceful and successful.’

Gusau said his board will work assiduously and diligently with the secretariat and the Federal Ministry of Sports Development to see the Super Eagles off to a great start in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying series and to win the 34th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations in Cote d’Ivoire early next year.

‘We also want to see the Super Falcons reclaim their African title and return to the Women Olympic Football Tournament.

‘We are working already with the new NPFL Board to grow the NPFL into the product that all administrators and stakeholders desire, and also with the boards of the other Leagues to improve the state of our domestic football.

To achieve all these, we need money, so we are also looking to work even harder to grow our revenue base through aggressive marketing drive.’

The NFF boss said his team will also not allow any FIFA window for friendly matches to go unutilized. ‘As you can see, we have arranged two matches for the Super Eagles in this month’s window, against Saudi Arabia and Mozambique.

Mozambique is in southern Africa where three of our opponents in the World Cup qualifiers, namely Lesotho, Zimbabwe and South Africa also are.

Playing Mozambique is a good opportunity for the team to have a sneak preview of what to expect against these three teams.’