Former Nigerian goalkeeper, Peter Rufai has admonished incoming coach of the Super Eagles to tap from the pool of talents in the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL).
Rufai made this call on the backdrop of the previous Eagles coaches’ inability to give more chances to players in the NPFL.
In an interview with Completesports.com, the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations winner, stated that there are pool of quality players in the NPFL which has not been tapped by the coaches.
“In as much as we want the best players for the Super Eagles, that doesn’t mean that there are no quality players that can be part of the team,” the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations winner told Completesports.com.
” Remember that I was discovered in the NPFL back then, and many other players too. If we decide to overlook players in the league, we may kill their moral.
“I want to believe this is the right time we need to accommodate them into the Super Eagles.”
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34 Comments
They have to prove they are better than the foreign professionals to get a chance otherwise it makes no sense.
The Chan tournament is there for them to prove themselves,hopefully,they play well enough to get foreign contracts,play well in their foreign clubs then they could get a chance.
I think this set of 1994 ex internationals are the biggest concern we are having in our national team.They are misguiding our football authorities in taking wrong decisions,when they are entrusted to manage the team they fail because of their poor decision making and little technical know-how.
The sooner we stop engaging them either as managers or advisory roles the better for the super eagles, because they have proven to be incompetent in various capacities.
Here they come again, set of self entitled 94 set. Which npfl player is dodo mayana talking about? Which league? As Greenturf rightly said, this set are the confusionist of Nigerian football, and the earlier they overlooked the better.
They are all wolves ready to pounce on our football and scattered it as much as they can as long as they are feeding well on it.
Stop wetting your pant whimp. Dodo Mayana is entitled to his views. Did you not see the video @Glory shared on another thread? The NPFL is a treasure island of talents just waiting to be discovered. Do you remember Sunday Mba and Azubuike Egwuekwe? What of Tunde Odulami, Anayo Iwuala and Junior Lokosa. Let Peter Rufai talk. Who you be?
Heaven bless Anayo Iwuala and all deserving Super Eagles homebased players.
So if Rufai is entitled to his opinion, am I not also entitled to mine? If your little goat brain can’t reason beyond your nose, then don’t reply on my thread just make your own opinion count.
What has happened to Sunday mba since that Afcon 2013? Where is he now? The point you don’t understand is that this guys uses SE as a step to foreign league, even after just 10mins of action, (a case study of Anayo Iwuala, Stephen Odey and the rest) so what are we now saying?
The issue of improving our league to an admirable level that supposed to be the cry of all this exinternational were neglected, their only interest was to get their players in national team so that they can make money selling them.
They have destroyed the little success we have in the past 6years in just 3months.
Now did they all break into the super eagles first team no
Ola leave that person abeg.
You are a born moron, joining issues with you, is like discussing with a lunatic. Because Rufai is a legend now means everything he says is right, this statement alone state your level of mental reasoning.
You don’t worth the level of my gateman, so I don’t expect you to have any sense upstairs.
Your name alone “igbekun abo” suggest you are under a big spell, and you won’t come out it. I won’t join issues with you because I. Know you are seeking for attention.
Go meet the woman that put you under spell and sort out your frustrated life out first.
Go and be licking Rufai ass simply because he is legend, I am a legend in my own right, because what I have achieved and still achieving in life, your entire village can never smell it in 100yrs.
Oponu, ode, akobeje, Ole, oloshi, oloriburuku omo radarada. Low life idiots.
Twat, scum bag, scaliwag, rotten teeth bastard. Dick head. Num skull, dimwit.
Ignoramus, nincompoop, idiot, halfwit, dunce, buffoon, birdbrain, prat….
Swine Ola. Onyeara.Onyoshi. dog poo. Cat wee
Olaburuku.
Oladikan
OlelOla
DidirinlOla.
Olatibaje.
Olaoshi
Olaale
Olaashawo
Olatiku
How about those for meanings to your own name. ingenious of me wouldn’t you say. Thank you very much. Lolzzzz.
Nigeria’s former players have been complaining about the non-inclusion of home-based footballers into the Super Eagles for over 20 years, but are unable to name one talent they’ve seen in the NPFL. I believe people like Rufai never even watch the NPFL matches. Doubt if Peter Rufsi knows thst there is a “home Eagkes” CO with coaches.It is their duty to discover who can graduate into the Super Eagles
DON’T LET US BE DECIEVING OURSELF CONCERNING THE ISSUE OF INVITING HOMEBASE PLAYERS INTO SUPER EAGLE. ANY HOMEBASE PLAYERS CLAIM TO A GOOD PLAYER SHOULD GO AND PROVE HIMSELF IN CHAN COMPETITION BEFORE BEEN INVITED TO SUPER EAGLE TEAM.
MOST HOMEBASE PLAYERS FADED AWAY EASILY AFTER A YEAR SHINING (E.g. Sunday Mba, C.AGBIM, J.Oshaniwa, Oboabona, Ejike Ezoenyi,e.t.c.)
Why must it be super eagles of all thing? Why not Chan, under 23,20 etc but they want them to jump into national team so that will make Nigeria league to be good. Don’t even know if some of these ex international do think at all? I have never seen any in the world where a foreign coach will be task with developing the corruption run league to improve it but only in Nigeria. All the rubbish the NFF management is doing by appointing assistance for a coach that have never been hire they will not say anything. That is how they did till they put us where we are presently.
These guys always shy away from the major problem or pretend not to know what the major problems are, and then start talking about the minor issues.
How does fielding home based players help the national team? How can Rufai be comparing his time in the local league (about 30years ago) to this current era? During your time Rufai, the majority of our best legs played in the local league but the situation isn’t same as at now, so stop pretending not to know this.
The major objective of our home based players is to get a contract abroad in a country whose league is better organized and players are assured of good earnings. So the moment a coach features an home based player to satisfy Rufai and his likes, that player will probably be playing abroad after the next transfer window, so you expect the coach to start looking for another local player to fill that quota right? Since Anayo Iwuala was forced on Rohr and the guy though talented has moved to Tunisia, has he smelt the national team since then?
Super Eagles camp should not be turned to a business centre please. Players are invited to national teams based on merit regardless of where they play professionally and not because a player plays in NPFL.
It’s high time Rufai and his likes leave our football alone and focus on other things cuz their involvement keeps taking us backward. Same way Amokachi was blaming the foreign born Nigerians in the team for our current decline, what a disappointing statement. Same way Elder Odegbami brought racism into the whole matter. These guys should just leave our football alone.
I remember when Iwayanwu National of Owerri and Abiola Babes of Abeokuta used to provide the bulk of Super Eagles players
Buy gone are those days!
Our local league is not the same standard it was in the late’80s and ’90s. Our best legs have all run out in search of greener pastures, and the league is suffering from many years of mismanagement. This is what our dear Peter Rufai does not understand.
There is nothing Peter Rufai will ever say that can make me disrespect him; the man is a living legend. But I totally disagree with this suggestion.
Oga rufai they will not listen to you, they will spring up all forms of excuses to rubbish you comment. Recently, soname said the same thing that the NFF is deliberately stalling our league. Nothing is being done to improve the league. Rather waste business class ticket to go beg some kids to come play for us. Kids who didn’t care we didn’t make it to the world cup. Enough of all this excuses and focus on the real thing
I see your point here. Please know the brand of spicy peanuts you recommend for me in future. The last one you suggested with pig dung made me puke. I had diarrhea for days.
Na only diarrhea u get? You will soon experience the worst of your life you will beg to die..
You this guy Don start again using my name to abuse people? I beg no give me bad name here o!
Actually, I had a feeling that guy was Sean of the dead, a deadbeat. That was why I ignored him. My mama told me never to take spicy peanuts from strangers. Lolz
I watched the shambolic display put on by the so called talented home based NPL players in the friendly against Mexico. It wasn’t the 4 nil drubbing that was the issue to me but the total lack of technical and tactical awareness on the part of the players. If Aliko Dangote was to accept and accommodate such mediocrity, i doubt if he or his company would be where they are today.
This is why the Slave Trade functioned in Nigeria for 500 years! Money is behind the call by ex-players for inclusion of home-based in the national team. Any home-based who wears Nigeria’s jersey, even once disappears abroad never to return. If a Nigerian footballer cannot showcase his talents in the age-grade competitions, i.e. U-17, U-20, U-23 and Olympics, CHAN such a player is no longer good enough to be “discovered.” This is why Iwuala, Aneke, Lokosa, Nnobi were sold from the NPFL and are today lost in the world. By contrast, Awoniyi, Osimhen, Iheanacho, Chukwueze, Omeruo, Sadiq, Musa, Ndidi were all home-based that made the Super Eagles from Nigeria’s age-grade football. Our ex-players are slave traders and think we are fools.
I don’t have a problem with looking at our local league for talents.
Remember, we are looking for the BEST NIGERIAN TALENTS, wherever they may be found.
So SE scouts should be looking everywhere, not just at foreign-based players, but also at locally-based players.
If for example, we find a striker in the local league that is better than Osimhen, it would be foolish not to give him a chance.
What I don’t want to hear is the local players having a “quota”. Inviting a player just because he’s “home-based” is silly and counterproductive. Home-based today will become foreign-based in a matter of weeks after playing for the SE. Besides, why invite a local-based player if their are foreign-based players who are better?
WE NEED ONLY THE BEST PLAYERS. WHERE THEY ARE LOCATED DOESN’T MATTER.
The pressing issue now is: HOW DO WE CORRECTLY IDENTIFY THE BEST PLAYERS?
That is where a good coach becomes requisite. A good coach will select players based on the following metrics:
1) Their talent
2) Physical fitness
3) Their technical level
4) How they fit into team tactics
5) Their disciplinary record. Nobody wants a truant or a brat. Even if you’re better than Mbappe, Messi and CR7 combined.
A good coaching crew will select a pool of the best performing players from home and abroad based on the above metrics, invite them to camp, try them in friendlies, and select the VERY BEST to play in competitive games.
@ Pompeii, in emphasizing your well thought out points, I will also suggest that national team handlers should desist from invitation based on football league but rather focus on the quality they need to fix the different positions. That quality if they find in the local league, then go for it. If they find it Asia, go for it, if they find it Europe, go for it. This is how it should be, because the quality of a defensive midfielder that works for Pep might not necessarily work in SE setting as we may not be fortunate to have same team mates as Pep will have in his team.
This quite frankly,is what these club football coaches do when doing their summer buying business. They are not necessarily looking at players because they are good but rather n most importantly,how these players fit into how they want to play, hence they go far n wide with little or no consideration for leagues/country in search of such player as long as the said player fits well into their playing plan.
In the days of CLEMENCE WESTERHOF, he was always going for big, strong players, that were fighters, n not necessarily skillful; reason he constantly considered Friday Ekpo, a very skillful MIDFIELDER in the eyes of majority, not good enough for his team, mind you, for his team,that’s his game plan but rather stuck with Emeka Ezeugo, a powerful, big player, without those exciting skills to please but getting the job done. I personally never enjoyed Ezeugo playing, even used to call him the recoil master, lolz, hopefully you know what I mean. But good credit to him, he, Ezeugo did a great job in the team.
That WESTERHOF team had about 80% of the players with the perfect definition of what he wanted; big, strong, powerful, aggressive, disciplined, experienced, focus, and just a bit of skill. Imagine a super skilled JJ OKOCHA, wasn’t even a regular despite scoring a sublime free kick on his debut, as WESTERHOF would always preferred a Mutiu Adekpoju, though less skilled but more aggressive and end product oriented.
This whole idea, of just looking at certain league or certain team on the premise they belong to top 5 or whatever and basing invitation on that, has been one of our national teams biggest hoodoo while the other and to me THE BIGGEST, IS THIS CONSTANT FOOLISH MOVEMENT OF AN INVITED HOMEBASED TO FOREIGN LEAGUE AFTER JUST ONE OR TWO OR EVEN FEW DECENT INTERNATIONAL APPREARANCES.
Like I have consistently cried out here on this forum, national team football is way too different from club football, for many many reasons; time available to train together, pattern of play, privilege of having loads of opportunities to correct errors, less pressure, tactics, atmosphere, I can go on n on.
Like you rightly said, we must try avoid be conclusive on players playing local, that they are not good enough; if we find one that fits the quality we require, then why not? But honesty demands we get them ready for the big games by taking them through less demanding competitions like Chan, which thankfully is meant to serve that purpose,just like we all are having the chance to make better judgement of the foreign players watching them test themselves against the best in Europe, playing various competitions.
But then, the laid out type/quality of players the gaffer likes to use in building his team should be paramount. If I must suggest,we should start looking for very big, powerfully built, strong, quick defenders with very good/confident leap. Anywhere we find these qualities, we must go for it and start putting that through TRIALS with friendlies. General BALOGUN, is becoming too prone to injuries and not getting young, Ekong the King Kong, is coming down his prime, hopefully I am wrong here, Cos I truly appreciate him, haven served us so so well. But we must have to tell ourselves the truth.
Hehehehe…. and he said “…Remember that I was discovered in the NPFL back then, and many other players too…”
I always laugh at people like Peter Rufai, Amokachi and the rest when they make this fallacy of hasty generalization. LMAOoo
Its like saying, “Remember Nigeria Airways was the best in Africa then, hence it is still the best in Africa today”……Hello…Nigeria Airways is non existent in 2022…..LMAOooo…Same for our so-called league.
I ran the analysis here many months ago, between 1985 to 1996….for 11 straight years back to back, at least 1 Nigerian club was reaching the final of continental club competitions, if not winning it. Even a certain leventis united from the Nigerian 2nd division was not left out…..yes 2nd division of the Nigerian league. They were in the 3rd division when they qualified for the CAF African cup winners cup and in the 2nd division when they lost in the final to AlAhly.
Yes, as at the time Rufai was refereeing to…..even our second division could provide enough quality to reach the final of a continental competition.
Fast forward to 2022……while we can boast of producing a finalist/winner for 10 straight years in the era rufai was “rufai-ing” to, today we cannot even boast of producing at least 1…yes 1 out of 4 clubs… in the group stage of CAF competitions for 10 straight years back to back in the last 10 years, despite the opportunity of presenting 4 teams nowadays……is that not a shame…? And we think we still have a league. We pray and fast so hard now for our teams to win 2 rounds of matches to reach the group stages of CAF competitions….yes…JUST 2 ROUNDS OF (Home and Away) MATCHES. And we are deceiving ourselves we have a league…….LMAOOoo.
And its not like we meet the Alhalys or Zamaleks or Mamelodis or Esperances and Rajas of this world in those 2 rounds o…far from it. Our clubs crash out to Tanzanian, Sudanese, Guinean or any decent team from Mali or Congo (not the typical household names). In 2017 we even got eliminated by a Sierra Leonean 2nd division team….LMAOoo…for crying out loud. And we think we have a league…?
If these homebased players cannot push clubs where they train and play day-in-day out to continental glory….is it the national team they will push to glory…?
Are we really this ignorant or do we just love lying to ourselves…?
I asked months ago, from a so-called league that produces conservatively 500 players every season, how many players have made it straight from the league to a ‘mainstream’ European league since Ahmed Musa did in 2010 and one jabbering garrulant ignoramus was here listing B leagues and 2nd/3rd division players as if Musa moved from Pillars to Venlo B or as it Tayie Taiwo moved from Lobi Stars to Olympique Marsielle B or Finidi from Sharks to Ajax B.
In the days of Rufai, top scorers in the Nigerian league would move to Europe and continue to be top scorer there in his new club. Peter Ijeh was top scorer in the Nigerian League and moved to Malmo and became top scorer there in sweden in the following season too. Please can someone tell us where the top scorers in the Nigerian league in the last 10 years are now and how they fared immediately they stepped out of the shores of the Nigerian league…??
And we think we have a league…? And we think it is the National team that develops the league…? Of all the hoards of homebased players keshi spent a whole year of camping to groom, taking them to both AFCON and WC, how did it “develop” the league…? Did it make our clubs bigger, our league bigger, officiating better, welfare better, pitches better, and performance in CAF competitions better…?? How many of those guy lasted more than a year or 2 in the limelight…? The likes of Ahmed Musa, Omeruo, Soni Aluko who didnt make the SE by quota system then are still playing at a level most NPFL players currently will dream of. Please where are Keshi’s “young” guns of those years…??? Where are the “raw diamonds” that never got refined no matter how much exposure was given to them…?
I have been following CAF competitions keenly….Infact I watched both Esperance vs Setif and Raja vs Alhaly home and away games and with the technical and tactical standard of play on display, I can bet $5000 that no Nigerian club will win any Continental Club competition in the next 10 years…no be curse.
This time last year, no SE list was complete without Anayo Iwuala’s name in it. He was so good that even the likes of Chidera Ejuke, Paul Omo mukairu and the likes were kindergartens beside him. The moment he step his feet outside the shores of Nigeria he stopped being good enough for a callup that he wouldnt even make a 40 man provisional list of the SE….LMAOoo. A fringe Portuguese 2nd division Marcus Abraham contributed in 12 minutes what the starboy and best player of the NPFL hadn’t contributed in 4-5 games for the SE.
Once again, who are we deceiving…?
“…Remember that I was discovered in the NPFL back then, and many other players too…”
Our people say, Akisa l’ogba meaning Rags too had their heydays.
That is what there class of 80s people really dont want to accept.
“I was discovered in the league”…..Oga, when you were discovered in the league, how many players did we have in Europe…? How many of our Foreign borns were playing in Europe…? Where were our best players than and where are they now…? What was the quality of the league then and what is it now..? By the time you got your own chance and moved to Europe, how many players from the league were able to displace you…? And mind you, the standards in Europe have continued to rise since them, yet the standards in the Nigerian league have continued to fall…and yet they are mates in your won wisdom….?LMAOooo….aahhh…there is nothing more deceitful than mama albino bragging that are daughter is a Caucasian
Just take a look at our national team today….even our homegrown players, how many are really products of this league…? How many made name in the league and got their international breakthroughs via the league…? Extend this search to all Nigerian footballers making waves in Europe and by extension, the entire world at the moment are products of this league…???
This “that is the way we have been doing it since the days of our forefathers” is the reason why the black race is still very backward in everything. Some people really do not want to accept that times and changed. Someone should kindly help us go back in time to drag these ex-this ex-that people out of living in the 80s back into 2022.
If the match against Mexico has not taught some people anything, believe me they will NEVER learn anything in their lives. It was not about the scoreline, its about the fact that the supposedly best players in the Nigerian league couldnt get their positioning on the pitch right that was the most disgraceful.
Honestly, I will just love the incoming coaches to ban foreign based players from the SE and start using only homebased players henceforth…..because this thing of “let us pick some homebased players and bring in foreign-based players to support them” is pure hypocrisy….its a subtle admittance that the homebased cannot achieve anything on their own without the help of the foreign based players. So if that is the case, why deceive ourselves. Thus I will just love the incoming coaches to ban foreign based players from the SE completely and start using only homebased players henceforth since they are all as good if not better than their foreign counterparts. Only a hypocrite will agree less to that.
Just as omoEsan rightly submitted up there, “These guys always shy away from the major problem or pretend not to know what the major problems are”
In basketball Nigerian men and women are champions of Africa eith mostly “foreign born” players.Its only in football that bushmen are complaining about Nigerians born overseas
@ Glory and @ Pompei kudos for your brilliant analysis, not also forgetting @Igbekun Abo sublime contributions ( only that he messed up his contributions with an undesirable, messy vituperation cum dirty choices of words that are notable with @Dr Drey attack on @Ola ; though @Ola himself has his own shortcomings).
Only a mad man ; will do same thing same way and would still expect different results ; just as the Corrupt NFF would packaged a failure foreign coaches in the mould of Oga Rohr that has never won a tea cup in his entire Coaching career ; but yet would expect him to perform magic beyond his capacity and expected him to take SE to the greater hight .
A focused foreign coach (Westerhof) came in the 90s and dugout Unkown players dares to gave opportunity to an 18 years old Amockachi that was playing not with Rangers , not 3SC but average club ; at the end the local young Amokachi benched a a foreign based Belgium great player – Sisasia .
Decades later ; the shortsightedness said , there can never be any good products from our local league ; but late Keshi of blessed memory put such misconceptions into dustbin by unleashing the likes of Sunday Mba of this world whose ingenuity won us Afcon ( only a mad country run by mad leaders would jettisoned pathway to success and go back to the way of failure)
Oga Rohr came spent over half century becoming the longest ever serving SE Coach ; jettisoned same combination of local players and foreign players that late Keshi applied and won Afcon plus reaching 2nd round WC ; but a foreign coach that lack focus , lazy and lack idea would rather live in his home country Germany than staying at home to look for raw talents in the local league
can anyone blame Rohr ? Rohr being an unambitious Coach , but a businessman that is only after money he takes home in an agreed sharing ratio with his business partner NFF Amaju Pinick ; that was why Rohr never bothered to embark on a refresher training as recommended by NFF in his almost 6 years reign ; having been well tutored by Algerian local coach in Afcon and at the WC ( no one was therefore surprised when Belmadi tutored him again 3 years later in 2021 , to prove to those that are still gullible that Oga Rohr neither improve himself nor does he bothered moving his team forward)
If Oga Rohr adopted a method of all rounder Foreign based players for over a half decade and we couldn’t have a dependable team of 94 eagles , not even Keshia’s 2013 eagles; could not have one reliable goalkeeper, no single one player maker , no single right winger 7 nor a left winger 11 , no one single free kick player in the team ; with over a half decade under Rohr SE never score one goal through free kick!! ( do we need Peter Rufai to let us know ; keeping to that failure system dogmatically can never translate to success).
I stand with Peter Rufai.
To those that completely condemned local players; I beg to disagree; there are potential great players in our local league but the corrupt system in the NFF and various coaches are the problem
If you call to camp an undeserving benched warning player like goalkeeper John Noble ahead of better goalkeepers , particularly the one that is benching him ; when you called unmerited local players into SE , U23 , U17 and CHAN with equally a corrupt & unmerited coaches and they failed ; (who would you blame ? is it justifiable to condemn outrightly the entire local players who are better than the ones that are always preferred because they don’t have money to bribe coaches ?
Was is not the same local football system that produced Osimehs , young Amoo that was e equally over looked but found his way to Europe and was dubbed Little Messi
You just nailed it with this your submission. You probably forgot to add that Rorh had to be forced to be working in Nigeria. All they want to do is keep attacking the ex-players who in there own right know what is good for our football.
This one will never stop blaming Rohr even when he can not sleep with his wife. Maybe it was him who coach your team that was eliminated in AFCON second round after playing the best football or one who couldn’t beat the worst Ghana team of all time even when you have home advantage of playing Infront of 60,000 vociferouse fans. Ode common sense is not truly common.
@KENETH; If I did not missed Rohr been forced to live in Nigeria the home country of his employer ( did I need to mention that; who doesn’t know that Oga Rohr’s employment was the most corrupt packaged ever done by any past NFF administration; only God knows the overpackaged they would have fraudulently packed for Oga Rohr , had it been he ever had record of winning U17 let alone or Afcon prior to his engagement)
@Tayo ; there is no way , you can exonerate Oga Rohr’s failed system from the Nigerian football destruction as officiated by the most corrupt NFF officials in the history of our football.( please think out of the box )
That is what those that have played the game from the local to Europe and have worked under the best coaches in Nigeria and in the foreign countries like Peter Rufai is warning to those that care to listen before another disaster would befall our country where minor countries like Cape Verde, Sierra Leone etc would be beaten our SE ( and expectedly the gullible ones would say , it is normal ; there are no longer minor in football, yet minor club has never won UEFA, minor nation has never won Afcon, minor countries have never won WC )
In a sane country, with Football Federations; do we need Peter Rufai & co to warn us not to take same path of failed system that couldn’t take SE to anywhere in over a half decade ?
In a sane country run by sane football federations; do we need Peter Rufai to warn us again for a need to go back to the system that made use of our best local players and best foreign players that had fetched us Afcon & WC second round under foreign coach , and Afcon plus WC second round under local coach;
Do we need Peter Rufai to warn us the need to go back to the system that made u17 , u21 & Olympic , Afcon cup / gold & sliver medals our birthright plus WC qualifying ;
Do we need Peter Rufai to warn out that we need to go back to the system of picking our best local players in all the grade age competitions and super eagles and mixed with the best in Europe; with also best local coaches;
When NFF would engage corrupt and incompetent local and foreign coaches that would invited unmerited local players in the age grades and SE like John Nobles of this world ( what good result , could any sane person expect? Would you have to blame the local players or the corrupt system that would not allowed the best among the local players get invitation to Nigerian teams except those that can bribe their ways ?)
Those advocating for a ban on foreign-born and foreign-based players must extend the ban to the Super Falcons and the male and female Nigerian basketball teams. Why restrict the official xenophobia to the Super Eagles alone?