QATAR-STROPIC: Nigeria’s football supporters rue what would have been at Qatar 2022 World Cup

The absence of the Super Eagles at the ongoing Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup is also felt by the fans who are yet to get over the non-appearance of the team from the first Mundial in the Middle East.

The colourful Super Eagles supporters club and the die-hard fans on Nigerian streets are still pained that Nigeria is not part of the first FIFA World Cup in the Middle East.

The vibrant and entertaining supporters club are conspicuously missing in action and their lamentation is visible across the country for obvious reasons.

The President, Super Eagles Supporters Club, Vincent Okumagba bemoaned the inability of the Super Eagles to qualify for Qatar, which made the group lose the sponsorship package secured before the Mundial.

He said the impact of Nigeria’s loss to the Black Stars of Ghana in the 2022 World Cup qualifying playoffs will take time to heal.

Okumagba noted that prior to the qualifiers against Ghana, the group had secured a bilateral relationship with Qatar to open a branch of the Super Eagles Supporters Club in Qatar with the belief that Eagles would be there.

He added that the club had also secured sponsorship for some of their members and that the contract signing was hinged on Super Eagles qualification for the World Cup.

But all these painstaking efforts went down the drain.

“The failure on the part of the supporters club is unquantifiable,” a crestfallen Okumagba told NationSport. “I and the Super Eagles Supporters Club are the worst hit and it’s quite unfortunate.

“You will recall that November last year I was invited by FIFA, the organiser of the World Cup to Qatar alongside fan leaders of major football nations that would potentially be at the World Cup.


“It was an opportunity for me to meet fan leaders from over 30 countries and to also visit all the stadiums that would host football matches of the World Cup.

“I also used the opportunity to inaugurate a chapter of Super Eagles Supporters Club in Doha.

“We were almost very confident that we would qualify to represent Africa judging by the way Super Eagles were winning their matches both home and away before.

“Our last two matches against Ghana took a lot from us financially as we mobilised massively to support the team.

“Chipper Cash came to partner with us and made funds available to ensure we were in our numbers to support the team in both legs but sadly having secured a barren draw in Ghana, we could only manage a 1-1 draw in Nigeria thereby knocking us out on away goal rule.

“It was painful because we lost on so many fronts including promised sponsorships,” a grieving Okumagba noted.

He said he was yet to come to terms with watching the Black Stars of Ghana games in Qatar when it was them that denied Nigeria the World Cup ticket.

Okumagba continued: “All my colleagues (fans’ leaders) were not happy that we couldn’t make it. A dinner was organised for us on the 23rd of November, but I decided not to attend because of the shame hence I travelled to Canada.

“Each time matches are being played, especially involving Ghana, it dawned on me that it could have been Nigeria.



“All the plans we had for the first World Cup in an Arab country that promises to be one of the most well organised World Cup ever went up in flames on March 29.”

“We were missing conspicuously. Our club hasn’t been the same since the failure of Super Eagles to qualify for the World Cup,” he added.

To the President of the Authentic Nigeria Football and Allied Sports Supporters Club, (ANFASSC) Abayomi Ogunjimi, most of the Super Eagles players did not understand the importance of attending the World cup.

“We missed a lot by not attending the Qatar World Cup because Nigeria not going to the Mundial is not a good one for us as the ‘Giant of Africa’,” a visibly angry Ogunjimi told NationSport. “Going to the World Cup is a festival cum tradition whereby every sports lover and football lover will showcase their talents, but we are missing, and it is quite unfortunate.

“I think something that we need to address as a matter of urgency quickly is that we need to start planning for the next World Cup and how do we go about this?

“It is for us to put a proper plan in place and the players need to understand that it is no more child’s play. The World Cup is a serious matter because it brings joy and unity to every nation, ethnicity and tribe when it is played at that level. It showcases new talents as well and it brings the country out to the world to see.

“I don’t understand what could have gone wrong if we are not there and we are not happy about it.

“At the level of the supporters club, we spent a lot of money, putting a lot of things in place whereby we think we will be in the World Cup.

“This is what we have passion for which gives us happiness, joy and we put all our lives by leaving our families and working to support the Super Eagles in the long run, nothing to write home about because, after every hardwork, everybody wants to see the outcome of your hardwork.

“We supported the team throughout the qualifiers unfortunately, they failed to perform when it mattered most.”

Recalling how the Eagles lost the ticket to Ghana, Ogunjimi said: “Even when we played our first leg in Ghana, we were there, they frustrated us, they didn’t allow us to get in but despite what they did, we still found our way into Ghana to support our loving Eagles.

Specifically, Ogunjimi picked holes in the attitude of the Super Eagles players: “We were in thousands at the Abuja stadium coupled with the home support the team got, I am yet to know what went wrong with the team.

“I think they (Super Eagles) need to change their casual approach and give more to the team. Not going to the World Cup is not good for all of us as we also lose money.

“Our appetite for the game dwindled because of Eagles’ absence and if other African countries were doing well there, it would have been a good chance for Nigeria to also do well by flying high. For us to rise in the FIFA ranking, it is high time for us to go back to the drawing board and start working hard for the next World Cup,” he said.

Also, a Nigerian presently in Doha for the Qatar 2022 World Cup, Oladele Bakare, described the atmosphere in Qatar as awesome even sans the Super Eagles.

Specifically, Bakare took interest in the structural development in Doha, which he said Nigeria and other African nations can take a cue from.

“I am a proud Nigerian that is grateful to be attending the 2022 Qatar World Cup,” Bakare, a Deputy General Manager & Group Head Southwest Retail at FirstBank of Nigeria, told NationSport. “I was at the last 2018 World Cup in Russia.

“Left to me, the development between the last World Cup and now, comparing the appearance, and physical development that surrounds it is tremendous.

“Let’s give it to Russia, a very big country that had to spread the tournament around several regions, and Qatar in its own case, a far smaller country. They have a population of about 2.7m people, so you can imagine the small, large mass and they don’t have what others have.

“The stadiums are close to one another, and they have done a good job with the metro line and buses transporting people while the significant difference is once you have that fans registration, it is free bus and metro shuttles to all the venues of the tournament including the fan zones.

“In terms of the pocket of the fans here, it is much friendlier than what we had four years back in Russia.

In terms of quality of play, he said: “I have been impressed by the standard of the African teams. The Ghana team I saw against Nigeria in the qualifiers looked ordinary but, in the tournament, so far, Ghana has played two matches, they lost the first match while in the second match, they played very well to win.”

Fans across the country are not left out of the wailing and gnashing of teeth over the failure of the Super to qualify for the Mundial.

For basketball coach Emmanuel Oremalo, Nigeria’s absence is a bad pill to swallow especially given the pedigree of the team in Africa hitherto.

“That Nigeria is not at the World Cup, most Nigerians are not really happy and even as the tournament is going on, not everybody is paying much attention because Nigeria is not there,” Oremalo noted.“So, it is really a sad thing because we all wish that Nigeria would be there.”

Oremalo however, tipped Senegal to excel as the African champion. “Senegal is doing well and like the way I’m looking at it, they might go beyond this round of 16.

“Of course, I actually feel that Senegal should be able to beat England in their next match. Then also, some other African countries like Ghana. We are expecting that Ghana is likely going to make it to the round of 16 whether they will go beyond the round of 16, I cannot say but I so much believe that Senegal will get to the quarterfinals.

Yet 19-year-old Emmanuel Victor cannot hide his disappointment over the Eagles’ no-show in Qatar.

“For me, I think it’s very disappointing because of the ranking,” he said. “Regarding our national team ranking in Africa, I believe with all our players we could have made it but I don’t know what happened.

“I think the technical staff should be overhauled and with the present technical crew, I don’t think we are ready to learn from our mistakes of failing to go to Qatar.”

Speaking in the same vein, Adekunle Adejuwon, 18, said it was lamentable that the Super Eagles are missing in action at the Qatar 2022 World Cup despite the quality of players at the disposal of the country.

He said: “We have players that can at least perform at the World Cup. Is it either the failure of the coach or the players, you can see other African countries like Ghana are trying their best and proving their worth in Qatar.

“We should start focusing on young players who are committed and ready to play for the country. We don’t need big men in the Eagles, we need hungry young men, and we can look out for this kind of player for the team.”

However, Samuel Ndubuisi, 29, blamed Nigeria’s absence on poor coaching: “We have been having problems in terms of coaching ability, team cooperation and I believe if that can be fixed at least we can be having a coach that can handle the team very well and who will ensure there is cooperation in the team and also ensure the commitment of the players to the team.

“Some of the Nigerian players are afraid of injury and what we need now are committed players who are ready to give their best for the country, not cash cow players who are just there for what they will make from the team.

“Look at the way some of them play for their clubs, do they replicate this kind of form in the national team? No, and this is what has been affecting us since the exit of the 1994 generation that made it to the second round of the World Cup in the USA.”

Meanwhile, 53-year-old Sunday Nwammuga, blamed the Eagles’ absence on poor management which is a reflection of the country.

He quipped: “If we don’t change the way we do things in this country, we will continue to experience what we are facing. We need to start our planning early because most countries going to the World Cup start their preparation early.

“We must also support our sportsmen and women in their career as this most times discourage the players from always giving their best for the country. Until we affect all these, we will continue to miss out on the World Cup,” he noted.