The President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Ibrahim Gusau has explained that the $960,000 released to the body by FIFA, after the Super Falcons qualified for the 2023 Women’s World Cup, was meant for preparation of the team for the tournament and not to pay players salaries for qualifying games.
While appearing before an ad hoc committee of the House of Representatives investigating the non-payment of allowances to players of the Super Falcons on Thursday, Gusau said the federation used the money to prepare the team for the World Cup.
He however disclosed that FIFA’s auditors would have queried the NFF if they had used the money meant for the team’s preparation to pay the players allowances for qualifying matches.
“All the 32 nations that qualified for the World Cup were given $960,000 each for preparation for the World Cup.
“In January, we organized a training tournament of four nations Mexico, Colombia, Costa Rica and Nigeria. Every team used FIFA preparation money. The team was camped in Mexico and they were there for 13 days. In March, they were in Turkey for another training camp.
“The money was not given for the welfare of players but for preparing the team. We paid them allowances as per the tournament they participated in. We cannot use the preparation money to pay outstanding of qualifier matches.
“If the auditors of FIFA should see it, they will query us for that. The money was specific. We cannot use the money for a qualifier that was played in 2019,” he said.
The Federal House of Representatives has adjourned the investigation on Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and the Super Falcons till next Wednesday, 30th August, 2023.
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