Amaju Pinnick Believes Super Eagles Would Have Qualified for 2026 World Cup Under His Leadership

Amaju Pinnick, who served as the President of the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) from October 2014 to October 2022, expressed confidence that the Super Eagles would have secured qualification for the 2026 FIFA World Cup if he had remained in charge. Despite overseeing Nigeria's successful qualification for the 2018 World Cup in Russia, Pinnick's tenure also included the painful failure to reach the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, following a playoff loss to Ghana.

Speaking on Sunday Oliseh's global football insight show, Pinnick highlighted Nigeria's missed opportunity to capitalize on the expanded World Cup format, which granted Africa 10 qualifying spots. He reminisced about Nigeria's impressive 2018 qualification campaign and revisited the disappointment of the team's exit in the 2022 World Cup playoffs against Ghana, where they were eliminated on the away goals rule after two tightly contested fixtures.