The Super Falcons are considering a strike action and a boycott of their opening game in the 2023 Women’s World Cup.
According to The PUNCH, this decision comes in response to the Nigeria Football Federation’s General Secretary, Dr. Mohammed Sanusi, informing the team that their match bonuses for the tournament have been revoked by the federation.
According to a camp source, the decision to hold a meeting was made by six senior players upon their arrival at the Mercure Resorts, Gold Coast, following Sanusi’s announcement. The players involved in the meeting were captain Onome Ebi, Rasheedat Ajibade, Asisat Oshoala, Ohale Osinachi, Tochukwu Oluehi, and Desire Oparanozie.
“We are going ahead to press for our demands,” a senior player said. “We are ready to go as far as missing our first game against Canada July 21 because this has to stop.
“On Wednesday night, we held a meeting where we agreed that we were going to find out if what we were asking for is legitimate, and that if it’s legitimate, we will press for our demands. It was what was agreed. The next meeting will be after we get the information we need and then the protest will start.”
After FIFA announced that each player at the tournament in Australia and New Zealand would receive $30,000, it has been reported that Sanusi met with the Nigerian team’s players before they left Abuja for Australia on July 2, and informed them that the federation would not be paying them match bonuses.
It was also gathered that he also announced that the players would no longer be given 30 per cent from the $1,560,000 FIFA grant to all member associations for the group stage of the competition.
The players were said to have been taken aback with the decisions.
“The General Secretary came for the meeting clutching so many papers; he told us that we won’t be paid match bonuses at the World Cup because FIFA had already given each player $30,000 for the group stage. He also said we won’t get 30 per cent from the $1,560,000 FIFA would give the NFF.
“We were shocked, team morale went down immediately because we couldn’t believe what the man was saying,” it was gathered.
A source who pleaded anonymity also dismissed reports that American team coach Randy Waldrum had instigated the players to stage “a coup” against the federation.
“That’s not true, it’s a ploy to distract Nigerians from the truth. Randy has no hand in this. We’ve been suffering this maltreatment and injustice long before he took charge of the team. When the team revolted after the 2018 WAFCON and the 2019 World Cup, was Randy with us? We are fighting a good cause, we don’t need anyone to push us. They should allow the coach do his job.
“Since the federation is treating us like this, we have decided to stage a protest before the competition begins, so that the whole world will know what we are passing through. We can’t keep suffering and smiling.
“At the last World Cup, the same thing happened and we were shortchanged, we won’t allow this to happen any longer. They dare not treat the Super Eagles like this. Is it because we are women? We must put a stop to this this time around.”
Both NFF president Ibrahim Gusau and Sanusi were not reachable by phone for comment at the time this report was written, and neither had responded to SMS messages or WhatsApp messages.
The Falcons have experience with bonus rows at international competitions.
After winning the 2004 WAFCON in South Africa, the African champions refused to return home unless they were awarded their bonuses.
The 2016 team also held a sit-in protest at their Abuja hotel after returning from Cameroon with their seventh WAFCON victory, demanding that each player be paid $16,500.
After leading a bonus protest at the 2019 World Cup in France, striker Desire Oparanozie was removed as captain and kicked off the team. The team had already boycotted training sessions prior to their third-place match against Zambia at last year’s WAFCON in Morocco.
