Former Super Eagles player Peter Osaze Odemwingie has revealed that the team was made to wear the women's kits at the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

According to Odemwingie, the team faced a kit shortage because officials did not expect them to go beyond the group stage.

He told a podcast, "At the Beijing Olympics with Siasia, we had to wear the girls' kits for the second round and the rest. Apparently, they thought we are not going to get far. They sent all the kits back home to give away or whatever. Then we made it out of the group and the American team is saying 'you guys are wearing the same clothes all the time'... Some of us went to buy plain white T-shirts..."

MyNigeria has come across a report by PM News revealing that the situation described by Odemwingie was not the first time the national team has faced a kit shortage. Read below.

The Nigerian Football Association (NFA) has launched a manhunt for the representative of sportswear giants Nike, Noel Okorogwu, at his base in Kenya, without any reply. The development is already causing concern for Secretary-General Dr. Tijani Yusuf, who fears that the U-23 team may not don their traditional kits against Angola in Luanda next month.

PM Sport gathered that the move came as a result of the non-availability of kits for the national teams. According to investigations, the NFA, which took supplies of kits from Nike prior to the last World Cup, is presently embroiled in a problem of short supply, as its stock was exhausted last Saturday when the U-23 team took on the Young Cranes of Uganda in an Olympic qualifier.

Already, officials of the U-23 team have resorted to retaining the kits worn by the players in last weekend’s tie against Uganda ahead of next month’s crucial match against Angola. But this decision has not yielded results, as some of the players could not produce the jerseys and boots they used on demand.

The development prompted the seizure of the international passport of Ugochukwu Nwannaya, who could not come up with his kits. The Bari striker reportedly told the team officials that he had given the kits to friends and relations as souvenirs.

Consequently, the soccer body is making efforts to locate the Nike man in order to take delivery of a fresh stock from the America-based company for the numerous soccer engagements involving all the Nigerian national teams later this year.

Aside from the kits issue, sources disclosed that the Nike representative is also wanted by the NFA over tune-up matches expected to put the senior national team in shape for the 2002 World Cup qualifiers.

As part of the contractual agreement between the NFA and Nike, the sportswear manufacturing company is bound by the terms of the agreement to arrange top-flight friendlies for the Eagles. Ironically, this clause has been flagrantly disregarded by Nike, as it has continually failed to organise any tune-up match for the Eagles since it was engaged by the NFA after SA ’94.

ASA