NFF Blames FIFA For Falconets’ Ordeal In Turkey
BY VICTOR OSOWOCHI – The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has blamed the world soccer governing body, FIFA for the U-20 Women National team, Falconets’ ordeal at the Istanbul Airport in Turkey.
Consequently, the Federation absolved itself and the Federal Government from the ugly incident where the girls were forced to sleep on the Airport’s bare floor and benches after missing their connecting flight from Turkey to Abuja.
Following their elimination from the ongoing FIFA U-20 Women World Cup by The Netherlands, the Falconets were scheduled to return to Nigeria on a Turkish Airline flight from Costa Rica on Monday.
However, the players’ ordeal made headlines on Monday when pictures of the girls lying on benches and on the floor at the Istanbul Airport flooded social media.
But reacting to the ugly development, the NFF said a number of factors, including the inability to secure transit visas for the Falconets’ players and officials at the Istanbul Airport, led to the team staying 24 hours more at the Turkish airport.
A statement by the Federation’s Media Director, Ademola Olajire, said; “The NFF did not book the team’s tickets from Costa Rica; FIFA did. FIFA also did not envisage the hitches that saw the team delayed for more than three hours in Bogota, and another one hour in Panama. By the time the team got to Istanbul, the flight to Abuja had already left.
“Our officials pleaded for compassionate transit visas so as to take the players and officials to a hotel inside the town, but this was not possible as they were informed that Nigeria had been removed from the list of countries whose citizens were issued visa-on-arrival in Turkey.
“The airline then took the team to a sleeping area at the airport and gave them tickets to have meals every five hours.”
Also offering further insight on the development, NFF General Secretary, Dr Mohammed Sanusi, explained that; “This situation has nothing to do with NFF, who had made arrangements to receive the team in Abuja before the complications in travel arrangements.”
Sanusi recalled that NFF had, without success, implored FIFA to intervene with the Embassy of Germany to issue the team transit visas before their departure from Nigeria, for the team to be able to travel through Germany.
On the issue of body wear that sources accused the NFF of failing to provide basic kits the Falconets needed for the competition, Sanusi said; “The players were handed three sets of green jerseys and two sets of white jerseys, several house-wear types and training jerseys.
“The players opted to wash only their jersey top (no other stuff) because when the first set of body wear was sent to the laundry people at the hotel, it returned with some FIFA and NFF badges at the front and names at the back peeled by the machine.”
The response by Sanusi was against the backdrop of claims that the players were given only three sets of green home wear and two sets of white away wear for a competition that would last three weeks.
According to an insider, the arrangement forced the players to wash their jerseys by hand after every game and also stopped them from exchanging jerseys with their opponents after each game.
The insider further claimed the girls did not get the official footwear and were also forced to buy their own footwear despite the fact that the Federation has an existing kitting deal with an international sportswear manufacturing outfit.
