Nigeria players would have received $3.5 million for qualifying for World Cup - NFF boss reveals

The Nigeria Football Federation president Amaju Pinnick has revealed the players were going to receive $3.5 million if they had qualified for the 2022 World Cup.

Nigeria failed to qualify for the 2022 World Cup after a 1-1 draw against West Africa rivals Ghana in the playoffs in both legs.

The Black Stars qualified ahead of The Super Eagles due to the away goal advantage after the two legs.

Amaju Pinnick has revealed how the World Cup failure has caused great monumental, unquantifiable loss not just to the NFF and the government.

He explained that the Football Association did everything including providing the best hotels, a good pitch, and had agreed to pay 35 percent of the $8 million to be given to the country's by FIFA for participating in the tournament as a sort of motivation to the players ahead of the game.

"For the players, we told them that they were going to get 35 percent of the $8million World Cup largesse which translates to about $3.5million. And beyond this money, every player’s dream is to play at the biggest stage of global football which is the World Cup. So what more motivation do the players want?", the CAF Executive Council member revealed in an interview on AriseTV.

Pinnick has apologized to the Nigerian people for the failure to qualify for the World Cup.

"There is a philosophy that states that it is not everything that one says. I will keep saying that Nigerians should forgive us. As the head, I take responsibility for all that happened. We did everything humanly possible to see that Nigeria qualified. I have never had this kind of emotion like I am feeling now. The last time was 10 years ago when I lost my mom. Even my colleagues in CAF and FIFA were asking we in Doha, Qatar (during the World Cup draw) what happened in genuine sympathy. Nigeria is a great nation and we are going to bounce back from this setback. I am a firm believer in this country and love Nigeria with all my heart".