Direct Payment to Players: Former Super Eagles defender, Sam Sodje, criticizes FIFA Secretary-General's comment on NFF

Some members of the Super Falcons in Australia 

Former Super Eagles defender, Sam Sodje, has expressed discontent over comment by Fatma Samoura, Secretary-General of the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), disparaging the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF).

NAN reports that Samoura had reportedly told the Super Falcons in their dressing room that FIFA had decided to pay their prize money directly to them rather than through the NFF, a statement that brought to lights players constant complaints of NFF  not paying their allowances most times.

However, Sodje, in a statement signed by him on Wednesday in Warri, said the comment was uncalled for.

“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.

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