Nigeria will aim to win AFCON, WAFCON titles next year – NFF boss Gusau vows

President of Nigeria Football Federation, Ibrahim Musa Gusau has revealed that the football-governing

body will target Super Eagles winning the AFCON in Cote D’Ivoire and Super Falcons reclaiming the

WAFCON title next year.

According to Gusau, all hands are on deck to ensure that all the National Teams perform much better in

their respective competitions in the next one year.

He made the pledge on Tuesday, October 3 while reviewing the activities of the NFF and the teams in one

year of his Board in office, and also articulating expectations for the next one year.

“One of our priorities on coming into office was to ensure that the football environment was cleansed of

so much toxicity that had threatened the health of the game and made some persons feel unwelcome in

the system. We have tried our best to give everyone a sense of belonging with a policy of inclusivenes

“Off the pitch, we are proud of the work of the Interim Management Committee that we constituted to

organize the last NPFL League Season, which was commended by all stakeholders, and we also feel

fulfilled about the constitution of the Boards of the NNL, NWFL and NLO with vibrant, knowledgeable and

competent individuals who are capable of taking the leagues to the next level. Elections into the State FAs

have also been largely peaceful and successful.”

Gusau said his board will work assiduously and diligently with the secretariat and the Federal Ministry of

Sports Development to see the Super Eagles off to a great start in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying

series and to win the 34th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations in Cote d’Ivoire early next year.

“We also want to see the Super Falcons reclaim their African title and return to the Women Olympic

Football Tournament. Our expectations include making good progress in our plan for hostel

accommodation and some playing pitches for the National Teams, through the FIFA Forward 3.0 program,

and also see that the U17 and U20 Women National Teams achieve their best-ever outings at their

different World Cups next year.

We are working already with the new NPFL Board to grow the NPFL into the product that all

administrators and stakeholders desire, and also with the boards of the other Leagues to improve the

state of our domestic football. To achieve all these, we need money, so we are also looking to work even

harder to grow our revenue base through aggressive marketing drive.” stated the NFF supremo

The NFF boss said his team will also not allow any FIFA window for friendly matches to go unutilized.

“As you can see, we have arranged two matches for the Super Eagles in this month’s window, against

Saudi Arabia and Mozambique. Mozambique is in southern Africa where three of our opponents in the

World Cup qualifiers, namely Lesotho, Zimbabwe and South Africa also are. Playing Mozambique is a

good opportunity for the team to have a sneak preview of what to expect against these three teams.”