NFF confirms budget for World Cup campaign

by Phumzile Ngcatshe

Monday May 21, 2018. 12:29

The Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) has secured a US$2.8million budget for the Super Eagles’ 2018 World Cup campaign.

An early release of US$2m from FIFA has been supplemented by an additional US$800,000 – raised by the federation itself – to ensure Nigeria is perfectly on track financially for the tournament in Russia.

"We are glad that our efforts and relationship with FIFA has always paid off. We were also then able to raise $800,000 in addition which gave the federation the exact amount needed to prosecute the World Cup and the remaining pre-World Cup games,” said NFF president Amaju Pinnick, as quoted by Vanguard.

"We are confident now that without any distraction, the players can concentrate with Nigerians and fans of the Eagles [set to] see the most organised outing [to the World Cup] so far."

The NFF also has an agreement in place with the squad in regards to payment and bonuses, which was reportedly agreed upon just before Nigeria’s 4-2 friendly win over Argentina in a friendly in November last year.

In addition to completing the World Cup budget, the Federation has also prepared appearance fees for upcoming friendly matches against DRC Congo in Port Harcourt and England in London.

Nigeria has in the past been guilty of embarrassing disagreements over payments, such as at the 2013 Confederation Cup and the 1998 World Cup.