Super Eagles Would Have Qualified for 2026 World Cup Under My Leadership – Amaju Pinnick

• Amaju Pinnick has claimed that Nigeria would have qualified for the 2026 World Cup if he were still NFF president.
• Speaking on Sunday Oliseh’s show, he expressed disappointment that the Super Eagles failed to benefit from Africa’s expanded qualification slots, citing Nigeria’s successful 2018 campaign as evidence.

Former Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) president Amaju Pinnick has stated that the Super Eagles would have secured qualification for the 2026 FIFA World Cup if he were still in charge of Nigerian football.

Pinnick made the assertion during an interview on Sunday Oliseh’s Global Football Insights show, expressing disappointment that Nigeria failed to capitalize on the expanded World Cup format, which allows up to ten African teams to qualify for the tournament to be hosted by the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

“I honestly didn’t see this coming,With ten African teams qualifying, there is really no basis for Nigeria not to be among them.” Pinnick said.

Reflecting on past successes, Pinnick recalled Nigeria’s qualification for the 2018 World Cup despite being drawn into what was widely regarded as one of the toughest groups in African qualifying history.

“In 2018, we had the toughest group ever; we had all the AFCON winners. If I were there, definitely, Nigeria would have qualified,”

“Algeria hadn’t lost in over 20 games, Cameroon were defending champions, Zambia were champions, and Nigeria was the least considered. But guess what? We qualified with two games to spare, and we didn’t sleep.” he said.

He also referenced the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, where Nigeria narrowly missed out after a playoff defeat to Ghana under the away-goals rule.

“We did the same work in 2022, but the format changed to head-to-head. Nobody gave Ghana a chance, but they came through,” Pinnick added.