Unconfirmed reports suggest that Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) president Ibrahim Musa Gusau has resigned, along with several members of the federation's Executive Committee. The departures, if confirmed, would mark a dramatic end to an administration that faced relentless criticism over the state of Nigerian football.
The reported resignations arrive less than a month before the NFF's scheduled elective congress, which had been set for September 27 in Lafia, Nasarawa State. However, the National Sports Commission (NSC) had already moved to suspend that electoral process, with officials said to be weighing the formation of a normalisation committee to manage Nigerian football and lay the groundwork for fresh elections.
A string of damaging failures
Pressure on the Gusau-led administration had been building for months, fuelled by a succession of high-profile failures across Nigeria's national teams. The most damaging blow came when the Super Eagles failed to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup — missing football's biggest stage for the second consecutive edition. The result was especially painful given that Africa had been granted an expanded allocation of places for the tournament.
The crisis deepened further when the Super Falcons failed to secure a place at the 2027 FIFA Women's World Cup. Nigeria had been an ever-present at the competition since its inaugural edition in 1991, but that historic 36-year run was brought to an end after a 2-1 defeat to South Africa in the African play-off held in Morocco.
The Falcons' road to the play-off had already been marked by disappointment. Cameroon eliminated Nigeria in the quarter-finals of the 2026 Women's Africa Cup of Nations, stripping the Falcons of any automatic World Cup berth and forcing them onto the play-off route.
Calls for change and a fact-finding inquiry
The back-to-back failures prompted widespread calls from stakeholders across Nigerian football for the NFF leadership to step aside. The federation had acknowledged the gravity of the situation when Gusau inaugurated a fact-finding committee in August, tasking it with investigating the causes of the national teams' poor performances. That committee was given a two-week window to produce its findings.
With an elective congress imminent and a potential normalisation committee in the wings, Nigerian football now faces a period of significant uncertainty — and the country's supporters will hope that whoever takes charge can reverse a troubling decline.
