I can’t believe - Ex-Super Eagles star breaks silence on Nigeria’s unprecedented football failures

Former Nigerian international Ben Iroha has expressed deep frustration over the state of Nigerian football, calling for urgent soul-searching after a series of disappointing results left the country facing an unprecedented run of missed major tournaments.

Iroha's concerns come after setbacks involving the country's senior men's and women's teams as well as the Flying Eagles, with Nigeria now set to miss several major international competitions.

The former Super Eagles defender believes the situation has gone beyond isolated failures and requires Nigerian football authorities to seriously examine how the country's teams are being managed and developed.

Speaking about Nigeria's recent struggles, Iroha admitted that he finds the situation difficult to comprehend given the country's enormous pool of football talent.

The former international pointed to the Super Eagles' failure to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup as the beginning of what has become a worrying sequence of disappointments.

Nigeria's men's team watched the tournament from home, while the Super Falcons subsequently suffered their own historic setback by failing to qualify for the 2027 FIFA Women's World Cup.

The Flying Eagles have also been eliminated from the qualification route for the 2027 U-20 AFCON, ending their hopes of reaching the FIFA U-20 World Cup.

Iroha said via Complete Sports, “I can’t believe this, frankly speaking. It’s heartbreaking. Nigerians painfully watched the 2026 World Cup on television. We’re going to watch the Women’s World Cup, U-20 World Cup, and even the U-17 World Cup from the comfort of our living rooms.”

Iroha was particularly disappointed by the Super Falcons' failure to recover after their difficult WAFCON campaign.

Nigeria lost to Cameroon in the quarter-finals, a result that denied them automatic qualification for the 2027 Women's World Cup.

The Falcons were subsequently handed another opportunity through the CAF play-off route but suffered a 2-1 defeat to South Africa.

That result ended Nigeria's extraordinary record of appearing at every Women's World Cup since the competition began in 1991.

Iroha described the sequence of events as another painful blow to Nigerian football.

He added, “As if that was not enough heartbreak, the Super Falcons lost the opportunity to qualify for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

“Apart from the defeat to Malawi in the quarter-final, the Super Falcons failed again to beat South Africa in a World Cup play-off that could have given us a glimmer of hope.”

Rather than simply blaming coaches or players, Iroha believes Nigerian football needs a comprehensive review of how the game is administered and how national teams are prepared for major competitions.

He wants football authorities to examine the decisions that have contributed to the recent failures and identify what needs to change.

He added, “We need to sit down and find out what has gone wrong, where we’ve got it wrong, and what we’ve not done that we should do. This is the first step. This trend can’t continue.”