Sports
NFF Must Pay Rohr $378,000 -FIFA
The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has been ordered to pay former coach Gernot Rohr just under $380,000 in compensation after ending his contract early.
Nigeria’s longest-serving manager having taken charge in August 2016, Rohr lost his job as Super Eagles coach in December, just four weeks before the delayed 2021 Africa Cup of Nations kicked off in Cameroon.
The NFF had agreed to pay Rohr’s salary until the end of his contract, which expires in December 2022, but the Franco-German went to football’s world governing body FIFA to demand an additional sum for breach of contract without just cause.
Rohr, 68, had sought a total of £1million, but has been granted $377,879.46 after a FIFA tribunal decided his claim was “partially accepted insofar as it is admissible”.
The ruling by the FIFA players’ status chamber added that the NFF would be sanctioned if Rohr was not paid in full within 45 days.
“If full payment (including all applicable interest) is not made within 45 days of notification of this decision, the respondent [the NFF) shall be imposed a restriction on receiving a percentage of development funding, up until the due amounts are paid,” said the Fifa decision.
The NFF, which is on the verge of announcing another foreign coach for the Super Eagles, will not be appealing the decision.
And a top official of the football body has hailed the Fifa ruling as a victory for the West African nation.
“This sum basically reflects whatever is left to pay him as previously agreed until the end of December 2022,” the source, who wished to remain anonymous, told the media.
“We can only wish Mr Rohr all the best.”
Rohr was was highly praised for rebuilding Nigeria between 2016 and 2018, but nervy and lacklustre performances in more recent years and his conservative approach were heavily criticised by the local media and fans.
Despite leading the Super Eagles to both Africa’s 2022 World Cup play-offs and qualification for this year’s Nations Cup tournament, he came under fire for poor results against lower-ranked opponents during qualifying for Qatar.
Rohr, who guided Nigeria to the 2018 World Cup and to third place at the 2019 Nations Cup in Egypt, was subsequently replaced by Augustine Eguavoen.
His successor led the team to the last 16 at the Africa Cup of Nations this year and was then tasked with reaching the World Cup finals in Qatar.
But Nigeria were eliminated on the away goals rule following a 1-1 draw with Ghana in Abuja in the second leg of their play-off in late March.
Eguavoen stepped down from the job as coach, while the rest of his coaching staff were dismissed.
Fifa’s order to pay Rohr compensation comes after the NFF were fined $154,000 for crowd trouble following their draw against the Black Stars.
Hon Dike who spoke with sports journalists shortly after the flag off the 2024 edition of Chairman’s Football Unity Tournament at Botem Tai in Tai LGA, said the tournament is an annual event to promote peace and unity in Tai as well identify budding talents in the area for global competition.
The opening ceremony of the tournament was more like a carnival was witnessed by huge crowd including prominent indigenes of Ogoni Kingdom, sports lovers and people from all works of life.
The LGA boss revealed that special sports committee will be setup in the area to work out modalities to strengthen sports development in Tai.
He advised the participants in the tournament from various wards in the LGA to play the game by the rules and conduct themselves in a peaceful and orderly manner and use the opportunity to showcase their talents.
Hon Dike further disclosed that his administration will also give priority attention to skills development among the youth to enhance their human capacity and promote enterprise development in the area.
Earlier in his address the Chairman of Tai LGA Football Council, Elder Wisdom Gorgor said the annual football competition has been a unifying factor in Tai LGA that need to be sustained to forge more unity and development in the area.
He urged the participants to see the competition as an opportunity to embrace football as a full career and earn sustainable livelihood.
Elder Gorgor who commended the Chairman of Tai LGA, Hon Dike for his visionary leadership and tremendous development achievements recorded in the LGA under his administration, appealled to the Chairman to build a Mini Sports Stadium in the area to promote sporting activities.
The training was held at the Sani Abacha Stadium Indoor Basketball Court in Kano last Saturday.
According to the Vice President and Head of NBA Nigeria, Gbemisola Abudu, the event was part of the league’s commitment to growing broader basketball ecosystem in Nigeria and making the game more accessible across the country.
“Our first Jr. NBA clinic in Kano speaks to our commitment to growing the game in Nigeria and creating more opportunities for boys and girls to learn and play the game,” Abudu said.
“Nigeria has a rich basketball history and abundance of talent, which is evident every time you watch an NBA game. We look forward to continuing to engage with basketball stakeholders, business leaders and members of the community to further the game’s reach and impact on young people around the country,” she added.
The 2024 basketball initiative clinics of NBA Nigeria also included the league’s inaugural Jr. NBA elite camp for 150 boys and age-16 girls held at the American International School in Lagos in July.
Others include the NBA’s building of 1,000 courts in Africa over the next decade, Nigeria’s Festival Coins and Salubata named the top two winning businesses at NBA Africa Triple-Double Accelerator’s inaugural Demo Day in New York City held last September, and the third edition of “NBA Meets Art,” a curated installation celebrating basketball through the lens of Nigerian art and culture as part of West Africa’s premier art fair Art X Lagos, held in November.
Central to this vision is the federation’s investment in capacity building, evident in the just-concluded one-week Level 1 Badminton World Federation (BWF) Coaching Course, which marked a significant milestone for Nigerian badminton.
Held in Abuja, the course brought together 13 young coaches from across Nigeria. The last time such a course was held in the country was in 2017, making this a historic and transformative step.
The training was facilitated by the Badminton Confederation of Africa (BCA) in partnership with the Badminton Federation of Nigeria (BFN) and conducted by Dr. Ahmed Radah, the BCA Development Manager.
Radah, impressed by the talent he witnessed, praised Nigeria’s potential.
“Nigeria is blessed with immense talent and a strong badminton tradition. I believe this country has what it takes to dominate on the global stage,” he remarked.
