By Godwin Bamigboye.

The greatest losers in the failure of the Super Eagles to qualify for the World Cup in 2026 are the Players, the Technical Crew,  backroom staff, Board, Management and Staff of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).

The players are the main losers. Let's count the loss.
1.  Two African Footballers of the Year shall be missing in the World Cup.
2.  Profile of the players will not improve. No World Cup profile.
3.  Their Clubs have lost opportunity to be mentioned in the World Cup.
4.  There may be no organization looking for their signatures to advertise their products and services.
5.  Nigeria misses out and the citizens are not happy with the players and their handlers, including the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).
6.  You can add other things.

I saw this coming when the players decided to *boycott training* and giving  conditions before they resumed training. This was a huge *distraction.*
They didn't have adequate training due to the boycott. Unfortunately, they expended much energy on the energy sapping match against Gabon. I remembered talking about their recovery for the match against DR Congo. I saw a struggling Super Eagles that couldn't match the determined DR Congo team. I know they all now have their Dollars they asked for. They have lost the opportunity to represent Africa in the playoffs and the Nation mourns. This is sad. I can simply conclude that the players were pursuing bush rat in a hunting expedition and lost an antelope that is already handy.

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) knows that all is not well. We mustn't deceive ourselves. Our Football is at low ebb. A lot needs to be done to return to what the game use to be in Nigeria. A lot needs to be done within and without to correct what has gone wrong. Football must not be seen as a gathering for politicking and personal gains especially by some elements bereft of Football Management ideas, rather it should be a gathering of great minds who have capacity to use the beautiful game for development of individuals especially the younger people, society and development of Nation for social, economic and political progress. There are a lot of potentials inbuilt in Football that are either minimally utilized or not even identified. We need to identify the potentials in Football and utilize them effectively.

It is now confirmed that Nigeria shall not be mentioned among Nations that will be participating in the FIFA World Cup in 2026. Nigeria's group in the qualification stage looked easy but we wasted the opportunity and resorted to struggling that has now ended in failure. Sad, you can say again.

I am an optimist. Let us do a self assessment and plan to change for the good and development of the game in Nigeria. 

Let me drop this last line for the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF). Nigerians are not happy with you. You have disappointed us. You need to apologize to Nigerians.

I am Spectator.