African Footballer of the Year winner Emmanuel Amuneke has criticised the Nigeria Football Federation over the country’s struggling youth football programme, attributing recent failures to poor planning and political interference
The 1994 AFCON winner expressed disappointment at the NFF’s approach to youth development, warning that the country’s future in football is at risk if urgent action is not taken.
“A nation that fails to develop its youth football is a failure. I don’t know why they suddenly believe they will win because we have prayed, because when you compromise hard work to pray, then nothing will happen,” Amuneke told The PUNCH.
“When other nations are busy developing their young ones, the ones that will take over in the next five years, we are busy here playing politics. These are the reasons for the failures of these youth teams.”
The former Barcelona forward insisted that while Nigeria still possesses quality young players, the lack of developmental effort has become the major stumbling block.
“I will say that there is not much difference between my time and now in terms of quality, but what has changed is the effort of development being put into these youths,” he added.
Amuneke’s comments come amid a worrying decline in Nigeria’s youth football fortunes across various age categories.
The country’s U-20 men’s team, the Flying Eagles, failed to advance beyond the second round of the 2025 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Chile, a tournament eventually won by Morocco.
At the ongoing FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup, the Flamingos suffered a 4-1 defeat to Canada in their opening match on Sunday. They will be seeking redemption when they face France in their second match on Wednesday.
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