NFF rewards Eagles by paying them arrears owed from last three matches after Zambia win

MEMBERS of the victorious Super Eagles team who snatched all three points away to Zambia in yesterday's World Cup qualifier have been rewarded by being paid past allowances owed from all their recent games.

 

Yesterday, the Eagles got off to a flying start in their World Cup campaign away in Ndola, beating Zambia's Copper Bullets 2-1 thanks to goals from Alex Iwobi and Kelechi Iheanacho. To reward the players, not only did they get their flight ticket refunds immediately but the Nigerian Football Federation also paid them the backlog of arrears owed

 

Among the payments the players received were their flight ticket refunds and match bonus for the African Nation Cup qualifier against Tanzania last month. They were also paid their appearance fees for two friendlies that took place in Belgium in May against Mali and Luxembourg.

 

It is estimated that a player who was involved in all three matches would have received close to $8,000. The win bonus for Sunday’s World Cup qualifier in Ndola is now the only payment outstanding for the Eagles.

 

Zambia's coach Wedson Nyirenda lamented his team's inability to take their chances but also saluted the lethal combination of Iwobi and Iheanacho. He added that Nigeria’s dynamic attacking duo of Alex Iwobi and Kelechi Iheanacho were too strong for Zambia.

 

Mr Nyirenda said: "We couldn’t take the chances we created but I must say as well that Nigeria, going forward in the final third, the accuracy of their passing, especially the duo of Iwobi and Iheanacho was exceptional. Defensively we were also poor in the first half.

 

"We have seen areas we need to fix before our next game. Hopefully we will come out stronger and better from this defeat."