The 68-year-old man spoke in an interview with Eagles tracker, eveb as the former Trinidad and Tobago coach revealed the long-term plans he had in the works for the Super Falcons.
Former Super Falcons Head Coach, Randy Marlon Waldrum, has cautioned that Nigeria’s national football team may struggle to remain competitive on the global stage unless there is substantial investment in infrastructure and institutional support.
The 68-year-old man spoke in an interview with Eagles tracker, eveb as the former Trinidad and Tobago coach revealed the long-term plans he had in the works for the Super Falcons.
Waldrum, who led the team to qualify for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup and the 2024 Olympic Tournament in Paris, expressed concerns about the Nigeria Football Federation’s (NFF) lack of investment in football.
“It’s easier to dispose coaches if they don’t win, but with what’s going on in Africa, it’s going to be difficult to continue winning if the Federation doesn’t start to support things better,” Waldrum said.
He praised countries like Morocco, South Africa, and Ivory Coast for investing in football, noting that Nigeria’s dominance in African football is not guaranteed.
Waldrum revealed that the NFF was poor in handling finances during his four-year tenure, citing instances where he wasn’t paid for 14 months.
“If I wasn’t working at Pittsburgh, I would’ve lost my home here,” he said, explaining why he sought more security by working multiple jobs.
The former coach emphasised the importance of investing in football infrastructure, citing Morocco’s national training center as one of the best in the world.
“Nigeria almost feel like it’s a birthright to win the WAFCON, to win it because they’ve done so many times, but it won’t continue that way, and a day will come where they won’t qualify for the World Cup if they’re not careful,” he warned.
The Super Falcons, now under Justin Madugu, are set to begin their WAFCON journey against Tunisia on July 6, followed by matches against Botswana and Algeria. The team’s success will depend on the NFF’s ability to address its financial and infrastructural challenges.
During Waldrum’s tenure, Nigeria experienced a significant influx of foreign-born talent returning home to represent the country, largely due to his connections in the United States, as he worked simultaneously as the coach of the University of Pittsburgh Panthers women’s football team.
“There’s so much potential to do great things on both the men and women’s side in Nigeria, and my hope when I took the job was that I could bring some new ideas and thought process, especially with our women being the best in the World here in the United States.
“I thought I could bring some of the organisational ideas, the long-term planning. I had developed a ten-year plan for Nigeria, for youth football and how it would translate into winning a World Cup within the next ten years and I hoped I could influence it that way because I knew they had great players.
“That’s why I took on the project, but I enjoyed my four years there. I also had some difficult time there, but we had a lot of great success, but I loved my time there,” he said.
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