NFF deny buying U23 Jerseys off counter

AKINWUMI OJO

The Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, has denied media reports that jerseys being used by the U23 at the Rio 2016 Olympics qualifiers in Senegal were not supplied by Nike.

Nigerians following the CAF competition which kicked last weekend were dazed as the jerseys the team wore did not bear the official logo of the federation.

This is in contrast to developments over the past years in modern soccer history where the logo of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) is boldly crested on jerseys donned by the national teams.

One of the theories that the blank space has therefore generated was that the jerseys were bought off the counter, in a swift reaction to a report that the squad were bound to wear kist already used by the Super Eagles for their home and away World cup qualifiers against Swaziland.

However, the U-23 team media officer, Timi Ebikagboro downplayed the drama, as he insisted that the logo will be placed on all the jerseys by Wednesday’s second group game against Egypt.

“They are from our official kits sponsor Nike, and brought by the NFF. We have both colour of jerseys with us here. They were brought here by the NFF. Logos will be on them by our next game. It was an omission. Normally all logos are fixed at match venues including that of CAF.”