Former Super Eagles forward Daniel Amokachi says it will be impossible to return Nigerian football to her glory days except football administrators fix the major defects in the country’s football system.
The Super Eagles failed to qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar after their early exit from the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations in January.
Interim Technical Adviser Augustine Eguavoen and his assistants were disengaged by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) in the aftermath of the team’s failure to pick the ticket to Qatar.
The NFF have since announced the search for a new Manager to prepare the Eagles ahead of the upcoming AFCON 2023 Qualifiers.
Amokachi however believes appointing a new Coach for the Super Eagles will not solve the team’s problems, but attention to larger structural issues affecting football in the country will.
“Focusing too much on the coaching is like building a house from the roof downwards instead of starting with the right foundation and build upwards,” Amokachi told BBC Sport Africa.
“Do we have a solid developmental programme for our young footballers, a proper long-term plan for our national teams or develop a football identity for the game in our country?
“I am a product of the Nigerian league. But have we sorted all the issues around our domestic game, from players welfare to the lack of television rights and the chaos around the organisation of local football.
“I said something about our over-reliance on Nigerian footballers in the diaspora which was misreported in the media.
“My point is that when you consistently rely on players developed and trained by other nations to play for you, then you have seriously failed in your important role of building the future stars.
“There are bigger issues that have long bedevilled the Nigerian game and until we fix them, we will just be moving in a circle.”
