NFF president embarks on ‘VIP scouting’ trip to Europe

President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Amaju Pinnick, has travelled to Europe, in a bid to convince some young Nigerian footballers, to commit their international future to Nigeria.


Pinnick had at several times stated that some of the best youngsters in Europe, will one day switch their allegiance and play for the Super Eagles.

A reliable source at the NFF revealed that Pinnick in his official memo to the NFF, stated that he was embarking on what he described as ‘VIP scouting’ of players.

However, this has attracted some criticism, as some are questioning if the NFF boss is now the chief coach of the national team, to be embarking on such scouting trips.

“Well the president has gone on his now famous ‘VIP scouting’ but if you ask me, I will say it is ill-timed because this a time the federation is said to be going through some financial stress,” a source who preferred anonymity told the newspaper.

“You saw what happened to the Falconets who were stranded after they returned from the world cup because the NFF could not even give them their local fares not to talk of their backlog of allowances and bonuses.”

Pinnick had previously told journalists in Abuja, that the vision is for a young Super Eagles squad, to conquer the world by 2022.

“The initial plan was to take our players in the various clubs but now what we are trying to do is what we call VIP scouting, talking to these young players that are playing abroad to play for their fatherland,” he said.