FIFA Women’s World Cup: Nigeria players’ plea to federation for pay dismissed as ‘storm in a tea cup’

Players from the Nigerian women’s team, who were bundled out of the FIFA Women’s World Cup round of 16 in a penalty shoot-out with England on Monday night are publicly calling on the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) to pay them money they say they’ve been owed for two years.

The squad described the matter as “extremely frustrating”.

But in a statement on the federation’s site, the plea from players have been dismissed as a “storm in a tea cup”.

In a joint statement with world players’ union FIFPRO, the Nigerian team said the union was “assisting players in a disagreement with the NFF concerning bonus payments, camp allowances and expenses, some of which date back to 2021”.

The statement said the players expressed the desire to remain focused on their performance without making public statements or facing other distractions.

“However, the Super Falcons believe that it is now time for the NFF to honour their commitments and pay the outstanding amounts. The team is extremely frustrated that they have had to pursue the NFF for these payments before and during the tournament and may have to continue doing so afterwards.

“It is regrettable that players needed to challenge their own federation at such an important time in their careers.”

Their head coach Randy Waldrum had spoken up for the team on podcasts prior to the tournament, calling on the NFF to pay him and the players overdue money. The NFF’s communications director responded by calling Randrum “Mr Blabbermouth”.

The NFF have described the situation as “nothing more than a storm in a team cup” and dismissed FIFPRO’s statement as a “mere relevance-seeking message”.

“It recalled that its officials sat down and agreed with the players on what to pay them, but FIFA came up with a juicier package and they were all happy about it,” the statement continued.

While the federation praised the team for its efforts in reaching the round of 16 and has “no issues with the players”, they said FIFPRO needs to “stop playing the ostrich and stand up to its real responsibilities, calling on the body to address the real issues”.

It said the players would be paid appearance fees and bonuses for pre-tournament friendly and qualifying matches once the World Cup money is paid.

Players will not receive their World Cup money from FIFA directly, instead it will be funnelled through their federation. For making the round of 16, Nigeria players will receive USD $60,000 (NZD $98,000) each, while the Nigerian Football Federation will receive USD $1.87m (NZD $3m) because of the team’s performance.

Before the tournament FIFA president Gianni Infantino said the money will have a “real and meaningful impact on the lives and careers” of the women attending the World Cup.

He said the money received by federations – outside the player payments – can be used to reinvest into football which will “help propel the women’s game even further”.