Victorious Golden Eaglets are still in state of shock over the treatment they received from the Nigeria Football Federation despite winning the 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Chile.
The NFF pathetically disappointed the players and officials of the team on Thursday when it asked them to go to their respective homes without paying their match bonuses and allowances.
We had learnt that the players were not paid a dime during the competition and despite the assurances given by its President, Amaju Pinnick, in Chile that the outstanding bonuses and allowances would be paid upon arrival in the country, the NFF still left the players disappointed.
The victorious lads were given paltry N20, 000 as transport allowance when the team was decamped on Thursday with another assurance that they would be paid before the Presidential reception on November 29.
After speaking with about five members of the team, our correspondent learnt that this action has left the players distraught.
The players expressed their reservation over the manners the federation had treated them before, during and after the competition.
“We are happy to have been given the opportunity to represent our country, we are also happy that we went all the way to win the tournament but I don’t think we have been treated well.
We deserved much more than what we got,” a player told our correspondent on condition of anonymity. “We are champions of the world and so a lot of people at home had been expecting so much from us.
I am finding it difficult to convince my people that we are yet to get anything for what we achieved,” another World Cup winner said.
Another player said: “I have been in the team since our first match and I don’t think we have ever been treated well. I don’t think money should be our priority at this point of our careers but it is not out of place to demand for what they promised us. We achieved our success not because of money but we were determined to make our country proud and make name for ourselves.”