Former Super Eagles captain John Mikel Obi has urged the Nigerian Federal Government to dissolve the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) should the national team fail to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Speaking on the Obi One Podcast, Mikel expressed deep disappointment over Nigeria’s poor fortunes in the qualifiers, highlighting the repeated failure as unacceptable.
“I feel for the people of my country. They are going to be devastated that again, for the second time running, we are not going to qualify for the World Cup,” Mikel said. He emphasised, “If we don’t make it to the World Cup, the whole board of the NFF… they need to go. Sorry, they have to go. It’s not acceptable that we don’t qualify for two World Cups in a row.”
Recalling Nigeria’s absence from the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Mikel warned that history appears set to repeat itself. “We didn’t qualify for Qatar — and now it looks like again we are not going to make it. Honestly, I have nothing to say about it.”
Despite being disappointed, Mikel acknowledged that players should take some responsibility but placed the bulk of the blame on the federation’s leadership. “Yes, the players have to take responsibility for the situation but are you going to blame the players alone? No. The biggest challenge is from the top.”
Nigeria’s 2026 World Cup hopes suffered a blow after a 1-1 draw with South Africa, leaving the Super Eagles third in their qualifying group and six points behind the leaders with just two matches remaining. The former Chelsea midfielder urged for urgent government intervention, stating, “A drastic change has to be done. If the government has to get involved, they have to get involved.”
