By Osaro Matthew
Super Falcons are currently camped at Mercure Hotels, Gold Coast, in Brisbane, Australia, preparing for the FIFA Women’s World Cup slated for July 20, 2023, which will be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand. The Super Falcons are placed in Group B with Canada, co-host Australia, and the Republic of Ireland.
Ahead of the fiesta, Randy Waldrum, the head coach of the Super Falcons, has made clear his discontentment with the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF). He said in a statement, “I know we are not prepared the way we need to be. I have been very frustrated with the federation (NFF) and the lack of support. We were supposed to have a camp for 10-12 days in Nigeria before going to Australia for another 10-15 days, but the federation cancelled the camp in Nigeria.”
The American also decried the allocation of funds made available by FIFA ahead of the competition. He said, “In October, every country was given $960,000 from FIFA to prepare for the World Cup. Where is that money? Up until about three weeks ago, I had been owed 14 months’ salary, and then they paid seven months’ salary. We still have players who have not been paid since two years ago when we played the summer series in the USA. It is a travesty.”
Ademola Olajire, the NFF director of communications, confirmed that the federation is working on paying the coach what he is owed. It remains to be seen if the squabble between Randy Waldrum and the NFF will affect the performance of the Falcons in the forthcoming tournament.
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