President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Mr Amaju Pinnick has admitted to being under pressure by agents to include players in the final list of the World Cup squad.
Pinnick, made this known when he appeared as a guest on Channels Television’s breakfast show, Sunrise Daily while highlighting plans for the global tournament in Russia next month.
He said: “I have pressure from agents, they want their players to be added in World Cup squad.”
The NFF boss, however, maintained that the Super Eagles German Coach, Mr Gernot Rohr, was in a better position to determine who would represent the country in the competition.
Meanwhile, on allegations of favouritism and bribery in the selection of the players, Pinnick described the Super Egles coach as one he could vouch for to not involve himself in such practices.
“Not Gernot Rohr. He is a coach that is very professional. He played for Bayern Munich and has been an Ambassador.
“He is somebody that has an image that is almost untainted. You should understand the pressure. Once a player is excellent on the field, there is no way a coach would not want to get results.
“If a player will give him that result, Gernot Rohr will never cage any player. That, I can tell you,” he said.
Team Nigeria sealed their chances for participating in the World Cup after a 1-0 victory over Zambia in October 2017.
It became the first in Africa to advance to Russia after Arsenal’s Iwobi gave a brilliant performance in the thrilling match.
But despite the success, Pinnick still believes a lot more has to be done to turn Nigeria’s economy around through sports.
