I Don’t Care About FIFA Rankings – NFF VP

Barrister Seyi Akinwunmi

The vice President of the Nigeria Football Federation, Barrister Seyi Akinwunmi, has dismissed the monthly FIFA rankings as “too narrow” to give a true reflection of the actual state of a country’s football.
“What determines a country’s ranking in the monthly exercise?” he asked rhetorically. “I don’t look at FIFA rankings because they don’t talk about the various aspects of football in a country. They don’t talk about grassroots development. For instance, how the referees are improving, the league and others. FIFA rankings only concentrate on games a national team plays, that is why I don’t bother myself about the monthly ritual.”
Akinwunmi who was at the Agege Stadium, in Lagos to watch matches of the 2016 GTBank Lagos Principals Cup also spoke on the process involved in getting a new coach for Nigeria. “We are not sleeping,” he started, adding that the technical committee was still at it.
“We are conscious of the diverse opinions regarding the issue of contracting a coach for the Super Eagles. Luckily, we are not under any pressure. We are not pressed for time as we do not have any immediate cause for a new coach. The technical committee will meet, take notice of the diverse views and come up with a strong position.
“I have heard some people talk about the futility of hiring a foreign coach; asking questions like what have foreign coaches achieved that indigenous coaches have not. I have also heard others say, why should we go for another local coach because in their opinion, we have recycled all the coaches we have around. All this make sense but which is more sensible? That is the question the technical committee will look at,” he said.
The NFF big wig said, the committee was not given any time frame to turn in their report because, “they are experienced men who want the best for Nigeria and will not go to sleep because they were not given a time frame. We have confidence in them to do a good job and on time too,” he concluded.