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By Amaechi Agbo

The President, Nigeria Football Federation, NFD, Mr Amaju Pinnick has disclosed that 2020 henceforth, all national teams participating in competitions will be told that they must win and not just to make up the number of participating nations, Bestchoicesports.com.ng. can report.

Mr Amaju issued the statement Tuesday in release via the federation’s media department.

The statement while stating that the teams will be expected to win the tournaments they would enter into, added that the era of just being in the competition to participate is over.

“As we have made known, teams representing Nigeria in international matches and competitions will be told in no uncertain terms that they are expected to win, not just participate. The era of simply being there to participate is long gone.”

Mr Pinnick’s warning is coming at the backdrop of poor performances record by the national teams in the year 2029.

All the teams that participated in various continental or international tournaments were critisied for not measuring up to expectations.

The U-17 Eaglets were eliminated at the semi-final stage of the CAF U-17 Cup of Nations in Tanzania earlier in the year. The team continued the uneviable performance in Brazil FIFA U-17 World Cup where they crashed out at the Round of 16.

The U-20 Flying Eagles also crashed out at the Round of 16 of FIFA U-20 World Cup held in Poland.

Super Falcons reached the knockout stage of the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup but crashed out at the qualifying stage of the 2020 Olympic Games.

The U-23 team also failed th qualify for the Olympics while the home based Super Eagles failed in WAFU Nations Cup and CHAN qualifiers.

Super Eagles won bronze in the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt.