Conflict between Randy Waldrum and NFF raises concerns for the Super Falcons

Super Falcons head coach Randy Waldrum led the team to a fourth-place finish in the last Women’s African Cup of Nations

Nigeria Women’s National Team head coach Randy Waldrum questions the country’s football governing body, NFF, on the whereabouts of the funds allocated to the team by FIFA to prepare for the World Cup, among other issues the head coach said might affect the team’s chances at the tournament, Soccernet.ng reports

And it’s just a few days to the start of the tournament. Both parties have continued to be at loggerheads, with the American trainer recently coming out to throw another jab at his employers by questioning the body’s transparency after the federation said they do not have enough funds to execute all the plans the coach has highlighted for the team success at the tournament.

Randy Waldrum has been vocal recently about the federation’s unprofessionalism and inadequacy, raging with words about how NFF has owed him salaries for months and the body’s persistent interference in players’ selection.

The American gaffer has continued to speak his mind about how he is unhappy with how his employers have handled his contract since taking the Super Falcons job two and a half years ago.

In his recent outburst on ‘On the Whistle’ podcast, Waldrum started with the assumption that in Africa, people believe a team performance should be seen as the coach’s fault rather than looking at the whole working conditions. He emphasized why African people should start taking the country’s federation more accountable for the team’s performance.

He further talked about how disappointed he has not been able to implement his ideas to change the team’s perspective, claiming that NFF has never given him a supporting hand to improve the team’s attitude.

The 66-year-old said that the Super Falcons players show more passion in playing for their clubs than Nigeria because of how they are treated.

Talking about being disappointed about how NFF is not doing the best in dealing with players’ welfare, citing an example at the last WAFCON, where the players boycotted the team’s 3rd-place match after NFF failed to pay the players’ allowances for the group stage matches.

He also talked about how NFF sacked one of his coaching staff for failing to comply with the body’s decision to have a local goalkeeper in his squad for the tournament.

Furthermore, the Falcon’s head coach questioned NFF’s proclamation that the body doesn’t have enough money to execute the plans he had arranged earlier for the team to have a good outing at the World Cup. Claiming he had been informed by a reliable source how FIFA, in October last year, tried to help all the 32 participating teams by giving each team $96000 to prepare for the tournament.

He didn’t stop at not saying how the federation has been contributing to the hindrance of the team’s success ahead of the tournament by claiming that the body has refused to give the players proper welfare, citing other information he got from his source as NFF refusal to seek for a loan help from FIFA that would have provided the team travelling with a business class ticket.

He concluded by querying why NFF is allowing only 11 of his technical staff to travel with him to the World Cup because FIFA has approved the payment of bonuses to 22 coaching staff members.

The Falcons will play in Group B of the tournament against Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, and this disagreement between Waldrum and NFF just days before the start of the World Cup does not mean well for the Falcons.

Watch Randy Waldrum’s full interview here: