The country’s failure in sports caused disappointment and pain to millions of fans who have embraced sports - especially soc- cer – as a joyful respite from daily hardship. Since 1994 when Dutchman Clemens Westerhof led the Super Eagles to win the 1994 Nations Cup in Tunisia, it has been a tale of failure so much that the Nigerian national team has in the last five edi- tions of the tournament dominated the third place spot.


Siasia unfairly targeted and fired


The fact that since Nwankwo Kanu won the African footballer of the year award in 1999 no Nigerian footballer has made the shortlists for the coveted CAF prize in the last five years or more tells a story of Ni- geria’s football debacle. Our senior male and fe-


male football teams that once dominated the African soccer landscape have lost their aura of invincibility culminating in the Super Eagles failing to qualify for the 2012 edition of the Africa Cup of Nations hosted by Gabon and Equatorial Guinea – a failure which cost hitherto fans’ favorite coach Samson Siasia his job.


The major factor that has been the Achilles heel of Nigerian sport is incompetence and corruption. These two factors, aided by the unpatriotic behavior of athletes have contributed to bring the country's sports to its knees. The issue of glaring


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