Russia World Cup 2018 : FIFA to pay Nigeria N4.5bn


Coach Gernot Rohr has warned against another pay strike at the World Cup if the country hoped to improve on their previous outings at the global tournament.

At the 2014 World Cup, the Super Eagles skipped a training to protest the non-payment of bonus for qualifying for the tournament forcing the country’s sports minister to fly out by private jet to pay them almost $4 million cash in Brazil.

Rohr said he believes the three-time African champions can improve on their best World Cup performance of a Round of 16 by better and early preparation as well as ensuring money issues are sorted out well in advance.

Nigeria will be paid a total of $12.5 million by FIFA for qualifying for Russia 2018 with $2.5 million of this amount paid for the Eagles to prepare adequately for the football showpiece.

They will earn more cash should they reach the knockout rounds of the tournament as they have done in 1994 and 2014. 
Nigeria have so far used a total of 37 players for the qualifying tournament for Russia 2018 and they are all entitled to a share of a qualification bonus.

Rohr, a 64-year-old Franco-German coach, said he believes that with a fully prepared and united team both on and off the pitch, Nigeria can expect their best performance at next year’s tournament.

“If we want to do something at the World Cup, we have to prepare well,” he said.
“We want everybody who wants to be part of the team to show the same solidarity we currently have in the team.
“More importantly, we don’t want the issue of money to be a problem. “The issue of bonuses and allowances, which are the usual African problem we see during the World Cup, must be avoided.
“Such issues will be bad for our preparation.
“I have told my officials and the federation president that all (such issues) be cleared before the start of the competition.”


Meanwhile, Nigeria has moved three spots to 41st, in the latest FIFA Rankings released by the world football governing body today.

The Super Eagles beat Zambia 1-0 to qualify for the 2018 World Cup two weeks ago, a victory that wasn’t factored into the calculations for the rankings for September.

FIFA instead chose to give the Eagles point for the win and the draw picked up against Cameroon.

They were ranked 44th in the August rankings, but the four points picked up in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers tie against Cameroon, has helped them climb up.
However, they are still 5th in Africa behind Tunisia, Egypt, Senegal and Congo DR who are 28th, 30th, 32th and 35th respectively.

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