Sports

Falcons plan protest, World Cup boycott as NFF cancels bonuses

Published

10 months ago

July 7, 2023

Super Falcons

Falcons plan protest, World Cup boycott as NFF cancels bonuses

The Super Falcons are planning to stage a strike and boycott their opening game of the 2023 Women’s World Cup after the General Secretary of the Nigeria Football Federation Dr Mohammed Sanusi told them their match bonuses for the competition had been cancelled by the federation.

A camp source said the decision was taken after six senior players — captain Onome Ebi, Rasheedat Ajibade, Asisat Oshoala, Ohale Osinachi, Tochukwu Oluehi and Desire Oparanozie — held a lengthy meeting on arrival at the Mercure Resorts, Gold Coast, following Sanusi’s announcement.

“We are going ahead to press for our demands,” a senior player told The PUNCH. “We are ready to go as far as missing our first game against Canada July 21 because this has to stop.

“On Wednesday night, we held a meeting where we agreed that we were going to find out if what we were asking for is legitimate, and that if it’s legitimate, we will press for our demands. It was what was agreed. The next meeting will be after we get the information we need and then the protest will start.”

It was learnt that shortly before the Nigerian contingent departed Abuja for Australia July 2, Sanusi, during a meeting with the players, told them that they would not be paid match bonuses by the federation, since FIFA had already announced that every player would get $30,000 in the group stage of the tournament in Australia and New Zealand.

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The PUNCH was told that he also announced that the players would no longer be given 30 per cent from the $1,560,000 FIFA grant to all member associations for the group stage of the competition

Our source said the players were stunned “after Sanusi landed the sucker 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,” our source said.

“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.”

Our source dismissed reports that American team coach Randy Waldrum had instigated the players to stage “a coup” against the federation.

“That’s not true, it’s a ploy to distract Nigerians from the truth. Randy has no hand in this. We’ve been suffering this maltreatment and injustice long before he took charge of the team. When the team revolted after the 2018 WAFCON and the 2019 World Cup, was Randy with us? We are fighting a good cause, we don’t need anyone to push us. They should allow the coach do his job.

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“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.

“At the last World Cup, the same thing happened and we were shortchanged, we won’t allow this to happen any longer. They dare not treat the Super Eagles like this. Is it because we are women? We must put a stop to this this time around.”

NFF president Ibrahim Gusau and Sanusi did not respond to telephone calls on the matter, while they also didn’t reply to the text and WhatsApp messages sent to their phones as of the time of filing this report.

It’s not the first time the Falcons would be involved in a bonus row at an international tournament.

The record African champions refused to travel back home after winning the 2004 WAFCON in South Africa, insisting they were paid their bonuses first.

In 2016, after returning from Cameroon with an eighth WAFCON trophy, they also staged a sit-in protest at their Abuja hotel to press home their claims for each player to be paid $16,500 after their triumph.

Striker Desire Oparanozie was stripped of her captaincy and banished from the team after she led a bonus protest at the 2019 World Cup in France, while the squad also boycotted training sessions ahead of their third-place clash agains Zambia at last year’s WAFCON in Morocco over same issue.

Falcons plan protest, World Cup boycott as NFF cancels bonuses

Sports

UCL: Füllkrug gives Dortmund 1-0 first-leg win over PSG

Published

2 hours ago

May 2, 2024

Trends Admin

UCL: Füllkrug gives Dortmund 1-0 first-leg win over PSG

Jadon Sancho put in a performance of a lifetime as Borussia Dortmund’s Niclas Füllkrug fired in a first-half goal to seal a 1-0 victory over visitors Paris St Germain in a compelling Champions League semi-final first leg on Wednesday.

Nico Schlotterbeck floated a pass into Füllkrug’s path and the Germany forward controlled the ball with a perfect first touch before drilling a low shot past keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma in the 36th minute.

PSG, fresh from being crowned Ligue 1 champions and desperate to win their first-ever Champions League trophy, found it hard going against a disciplined German defence, especially in the first half with forward Kylian Mbappe largely neutralised.

With the return leg in Paris next Tuesday, the winner of the tie will face either Bayern Munich or Real Madrid, who drew 2-2 in their first leg in Germany, in the final at Wembley on June 1.

“It was a well-deserved win, a good team performance,” said Dortmund coach Edin Terzic. “We could have scored more goals, but so could they.”

“That’s why the result is OK from my point of view. We ran a lot, but that’s necessary in a game like this.”

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“You have to earn your way to Wembley. All we need now is a draw in the second leg, but we also want to win next week.”

The win also confirmed Germany will get a fifth qualifying spot for next season’s Champions League, with Dortmund being the main beneficiaries at the moment, sitting in fifth place in the Bundesliga with three games left to play.

Dortmund went close just before halftime with Marcel Sabitzer but Donnaruma blocked his shot. The French side improved after the break and went agonisingly close to an equaliser in the 52nd minute with Mbappe curling a shot onto the far post and then Achraf Hakimi also hitting the woodwork on the rebound.

Four minutes later Fabian Ruiz saw his stooping header sail wide after being left completely unmarked in the box before Dortmund keeper Gregor Kobel kept out Ousmane Dembele’s close range effort in the 71st.

Dortmund, winners in 1997 and looking to reach their first final since 2013, soaked up the pressure as PSG’s Vitinha narrowly missed the target 10 minutes later.

The German team defeated Spanish opposition, Atletico Madrid 5-4 on aggregate to reach the semis and would hope to do so to get pass PSG in Paris.

UCL: Füllkrug gives Dortmund 1-0 first-leg win over PSG

Sports

UCL: Vinicius scores double as Real Madrid hold Bayern Munich in semi-final showdown

Published

1 day ago

May 1, 2024

Trends Admin

UCL: Vinicius scores double as Real Madrid hold Bayern Munich in semi-final showdown

In Tuesday’s Champions League semi-final first leg, Real Madrid forward Vinicius Junior scored double, including an 83rd-minute equalizing penalty, to secure a 2-2 draw at Bayern Munich.

Vinicius gave Real the lead after 24 minutes, but Bayern took control of the game in four second-half minutes, with Leroy Sane scoring and Harry Kane converting a penalty.

Kim Min-jae practices judo. shoved Rodrygo in the box with eight minutes remaining, and Vinicius stepped up, drowning out a chorus of shouts and whistles to blast home.

The draw puts Madrid in the driving seat ahead of next week’s return leg at the Santiago Bernabeu. Bayern, who dominated large parts of the match, will still have hopes of making it to Wembley’s final in June.

Before the match, the Bayern fans unveiled a giant banner depicting Franz Beckenbauer which spanned all the way from the grass to the rafters. It was a fitting tribute on a night featuring the most-played fixture in European Cup history.

Famed for their composure on the biggest of stages in this competition, the 14-time winners struggled early, Bayern dominating possession and field position while spurred on by a ferocious home crowd.

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Sane had a chance after just 40 seconds and another minutes later, while Kane chipped a shot from halfway just over the bar as the leggy visitors struggled to cope.

Madrid’s continued success in this competition, including in their quarter-final win over Manchester City, has been built on absorbing pressure before striking.

The visitors repeated the trick for the opener, breaking Bayern’s dominance in ruthlessly simple fashion while showing the hosts how easy scoring goals can be.

Toni Kroos collected the ball from a corner and drilled a defence-splitting pass along the ground which found Vinicius galloping in acres of space on the penalty arc.

Without a Bayern player in range, Vinicius calmly slotted the opener past a helpless Manuel Neuer, changing the complexion of the match completely.

Bayern, who have six European Cups of their own, were not awed and continued to push but could not break through; their best chance of the remainder of the half came through a free kick, with Kane finding a huge gap in the wall but blasting wide.

With Real seemingly in cruise control, Bayern grabbed hold of the match early in the second-half, scoring twice in four minutes.

Eric Dier found Sane down the right flank. The Germany winger, who had missed several chances in the first half, dribbled into the box before unleashing an unstoppable rocket at the near post, his first goal for Bayern in any competition since October.

The hosts’ next attack came down the left, with the ever dangerous Jamal Musiala felled by Lucas Vazquez in the box. Referee Clement Turpin pointed straight to the spot and Kane had no hesitation either, sending Andriy Lunin the wrong way to take the lead.

With Bayern in control, Real went on the counter and it was Kim’s turn to give away a clumsy penalty, with Vinicius confidently slotting in the equaliser.

UCL: Vinicius scores double as Real Madrid hold Bayern Munich in semi-final showdown

(AFP)

Sports

Finidi George appointed Super Eagles head coach

Published

3 days ago

April 29, 2024

Trends Admin

Finidi George appointed Super Eagles head coach

The Nigeria Football Federation has appointed Finidi George as the new head coach of the Super Eagles.

Finidi’s appointment was announced on Monday as obtained via the official website of the NFF.

George had served as assistant to former coach Jose Peseiro for 20 months before assuming interim leadership of the senior national team in March this year.

The statement read in part, “The Board of Nigeria Football Federation on Monday approved the recommendation of its Technical and Development Committee to appoint former ace winger Finidi George as Head Coach of the Senior Men National Football Team, Super Eagles.”