By Iseoluwa Raychel
Super Falcons players are planning to boycott their opening match at the 2023 Women’s World Cup after learning that their bonuses will not be paid, Sportivationng.com reports.
The players are disappointed with the Nigeria Football Federation over its stance on bonus payments.
General Secretary of the NFF, Mohammed Sanusi told the team during a meeting that performance-related bonuses for the World Cup have been canceled by the federation.
According to Sanusi, the decision comes after FIFA announced that players will be directly compensated, with individuals to receive at least $30,000 in the preliminary stage of the competition.
“We are ready to go as far as missing our first game against Canada July 21 because this has to stop.
“We are going ahead to press for our demands,” a senior player told The PUNCH.
“The General Secretary came for the meeting clutching so many papers; he told us that we won’t be paid match bonuses at the World Cup because FIFA had already given each player $30,000 for the group stage. He also said we won’t get 30 per cent from the $1,560,000 FIFA would give the NFF.
“We were shocked, team morale went down immediately because we couldn’t believe what the man was saying.
“One of the oldest players in the team asked him if FIFA would deduct the money ($30,000) they would give us from the $1.5m they gave the federation but he (Sanusi) said no. So, she said if its like that, then it shouldn’t affect our match bonuses. After several minutes of argument, Sanusi asked us if we would have preferred the $9,000 match bonus or the $30,000 from FIFA.”
“Since the federation is treating us like this, we have decided to stage a protest before the competition begins, so that the whole world will know what we are passing through. We can’t keep suffering and smiling,” our source said.
The NFF recently got the sum of $1.5m from FIFA who had given national football associations competing at the Women’s World Cup.
NFF will then decide how the money will be distributed, including how much they will pay the players.
