Former Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) president Amaju Pinnick has argued that the Super Eagles would have secured qualification for the 2026 FIFA World Cup if he were still overseeing Nigerian football.
Amaju Pinnick, who served as NFF president from October 2014 to October 2022, steered Nigeria to the 2018 World Cup in Russia. However, his tenure also included the painful failure to reach the 2022 finals in Qatar following a playoff loss to Ghana.
Speaking on Sunday Oliseh’s Global Football Insights show, the former CAF vice president said he was surprised that Nigeria failed to capitalise on the expanded World Cup format, which grants up to 10 qualification spots to African nations.
“I didn’t see it coming because 10 teams from Africa will qualify,” Pinnick said.
“In 2018, we had the toughest group ever; we had all the AFCON winners. If I were there, definitely, Nigeria would have qualified.”
The 55 year old football administrator reflected on Nigeria’s impressive 2018 qualification campaign, recalling how the Super Eagles navigated a challenging group featuring continental heavyweights.
“Algeria hadn’t lost in over 20 games, Cameroon were defending champions, Zambia were champions, and Nigeria was the least considered,” he said. “But guess what? We qualified with two games to spare, and we didn’t sleep.”
Pinnick also revisited the disappointment of Nigeria’s exit in the 2022 World Cup playoffs against Ghana, noting that the team was eliminated on the away goals rule after two tightly contested fixtures.
“We didn’t win, but we didn’t lose; we were knocked out by the away goals rule,” he said. “I took responsibility then, and I take responsibility now.”