Former Super Eagles defender Sam Sodje has expressed his displeasure with a comment made by Fatma Samoura, Secretary-General of the FIFA, slandering the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF).
According to reports, Samoura informed the Super Falcons in their locker room that FIFA had decided to distribute their prize money straight to them rather than through the NFF.
Sodje, on the other hand, said in a statement signed on Wednesday in Warri that the remark was inappropriate.
“I read with shock, the statement purportedly made by Samoura in the dressing room of the Super Falcons at the ongoing Women’s World Cup.
“A FIFA official need not make this disparaging statement openly because those who were in charge of football administration in Nigeria should have been sanctioned when it noticed it,“ he said.
Sodje said it was disrespectful for her to castigate and implicate Nigeria, a nation that has contributed so much to football, without investigating the genesis of this problem.
“The Federation Secretary should understand that Nigeria, as a country, has very serious and honest sports administrators that can hold their position anywhere in the world.
“What Nigeria and, in fact, Africa need now is encouragement, not castigation.
“FIFA needs to respect Nigeria and Africa because we, as a nation and a continent, have contributed so much to world football and the growth of FIFA as an organisation,” he said.
