MATTERS ARISING: With 12 days to World Cup, Waldrum/NFF rift overshadows Falcons’ preparation

Over the past week, Randy Waldrum, Super Falcons head coach, has been in a no-hold-barred war of words with the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF). A tussle of the leadership that might hurt Nigeria’s chances at the fast-approaching FIFA Women’s World Cup. 

The 66-year-old American had expressed his “frustration” with the “lack of support” given to the team in preparation for the tournament.

With the World Cup a few weeks away, Waldrum declared the Falcons “not prepared the way we need to be” — and that confession struck a nerve within the NFF glass house.

A rebuttal from Ademola Olajire, NFF’s communications director, dismissed Waldrum’s outburst as the coach “shooting his mouth off”.

Olajire said the confession was an attempt by the Americans to disguise his “deficiency”.

The raging exchanges have stirred fear among Nigerian football fans who believe the focus should be on World Cup, billed to kick off on July 20.

There were a lot of claims and retorts in the dispute, and below are some of the issues at the crux of the clash between Waldrum and the NFF:

POOR PREPARATION FOR WORLD CUP

In a chat on the ‘Sounding Off on Soccer’ podcast, Waldrum complained about the Falcons’ abysmal preparation for the upcoming World Cup.

Nigeria had qualified for the competition in July 2020 and was placed in Group B alongside Australia, Canada and the Republic of Ireland — some of the best teams in the world.

Wadrum said despite the Falcons picking up the World Cup qualification ticket early, NFF failed to utilise the extended window of preparation for the competition.

He accused the federation of cancelling the team’s final training camp without explanation, which impacted his selection of players for the tournament.

“We have qualified for the tournament way back in the springtime. You would have hoped that we would have used that time to prepare, but unfortunately, that has not really been the case,” Waldrum said.

“We were supposed to have a camp in Nigeria for some days before departing for Australia, but for whatever reason, the federation cancelled. So I could not double-check the players or invite new legs into the team, so I had to just pick the final 23 players based on the last camp.

“I know we are not prepared the way we need to be. [I have] been very frustrated with the federation and the lack of support we have got at different levels.”

In response, Olajire argued that Waldrum invited some players who should not be in camp and left others who should have made his final list.

The NFF spokesperson added that the final training camp was cancelled because it would have been a “waste of resources”.

“We have to first ask when the European season ended. The man wanted a two-week camping for only home-based professionals (whom he already gave very little consideration in his provisional list),” Olajire said.

“Like two weeks ago, he released his final list of 23, meaning there was absolutely no need for any camping for home-based again except to simply waste resources. Instead of admitting his glaring deficiencies, he is there shooting his mouth off.

“He knows he will not have Ajibade & Ayinde (2 key players) for the opening match against Canada, yet he left out Okobi and Otu from the squad. The NFF felt it would make more sense for the 23 to go straight to Australia & camp for 15 or 16 days acclimatising to the weather and conditions.”

‘UNUTILISED FIFA GRANT TO NFF’

In a subsequent interview, Waldrum claimed that FIFA had disbursed $960,000 to all the teams that qualified for the 2023 Women’s World Cup to prepare for the tournament.

The coach demanded accountability from the NFF regarding the money that was meant to fund the Falcons’ preparation for the World Cup.

“I have a close contact in the US that is very connected to some of the boards at FIFA, and this person told me that in October, every country was given $960,000 from FIFA to prepare for the World Cup. Where’s the money?” he said.

“If we had that money, why did we not build a camp in November?”

UNPAID SALARY AND ALLOWANCES

Waldrum revealed the NFF owes him seven months’ salary.

The American said he was owed 14 months’ salary until three weeks ago when the federation paid for seven months.

He added that some players are also owed “per diem and bonuses” from two years ago.

“Up until about three weeks ago, I had been owed 14 months’ salary, and then they paid seven months’ salary,” the American said.

“Before that, a year and a half to two years, I had been owed for months before I was paid a little bit of it. Starting July, I’ll be eight months behind in salary.

“We still have players that haven’t been paid since two years ago when we played the summer series in the USA. It’s a travesty.”

In May, Olajire admitted that the NFF is facing “huge financial challenges”, but the federation is “working hard to resolve the problems”.

“The NFF has been facing huge financial challenges, and there is an ongoing effort to resolve all the issues relating to unpaid wages,” the NFF spokesperson said.

“It is unfortunately not something to be proud of, and the new board of the federation is working hard to resolve the problems.”

INCLUSION OF HOME-BASED GOALKEEPER IN WORLD CUP SQUAD

Waldrum also accused the NFF of forcing him to select an inexperienced goalkeeper for the World Cup.

He added that the federation severed communication with him because he refused to yield to the demand.

“After the loss in Morocco (WAFCON 2022), the players had not been paid, and so they boycotted training before the match against Zambia,” he said.

“My backup goalkeeper (Tochukwu Oluehi) spoke to the federation about not getting paid, and they did not like how she spoke, so they dismissed her from the national team. Eventually, they let her back only if she wrote an apology letter.

“I understand that if I bring Oluehi back, I have to take a local goalkeeper to the World Cup. They wanted to develop a young goalkeeper. But my argument to them was that the World Cup is not a place to develop talents. We should take the best players to World Cup. Then you can develop talents after that.”

In response, Olajire said the NFF wanted to develop another goalkeeper for the future like the federation did with Chiamaka Nnadozie, the team’s first-choice goalkeeper.

He said Waldrum, however, stuck to Yewande Balogun, who was a goalkeeper coach until recently, instead of taking chances on younger talents.

“The NFF wanted him to groom a home-based goal tender like Chiamaka Nnadozie was groomed,” the NFF spokesperson said.

“Instead, he kept bringing Yewande Balogun (who actually started as a goalkeeper coach) all the time without consideration for a home girl.”

AXING OF WALDRUM’S ASSISTANT

Waldrum accused NFF of forcing him to drop Lauren Greg, his assistant coach, from his World Cup entourage.

He claimed the decision was retaliation for his refusal to include a home-based goalkeeper in the squad.

“They wanted me to pick a goalkeeper from Nigeria for the World Cup that I have never seen, has never been in one of our camps. I said. ‘no, my contract says I pick my teams’, so they retaliated that I could not take my assistant coach (Lauren Gregg),” he said.

“She is my assistant and the only one I really trust. She has won the World Cup with the US and is the country’s one of the best coaches. With Lauren, we can split practices because she knows what I want. But without her, I will have to do it alone.”