Former Super Eagles captain Sunday Oliseh has warned that Nigerian football risks suffering a prolonged decline similar to Italy’s struggles if the country fails to address its structural weaknesses and qualify for the next FIFA World Cup.
Oliseh argued that football continues to evolve, and countries that fail to adapt risk being overtaken by opponents who invest in new ideas, tactics and development systems. He said Nigeria must look beyond past achievements and confront the problems affecting its progress.
“That’s what I’m afraid of, that my country doesn’t suffer from the fact that the world moves on and you stay behind,” Oliseh said.
Using Italy as an example, the former midfielder explained that the European nation built much of its historical success on defensive organisation and its ability to frustrate opponents. However, he believes changes in the modern game have made it increasingly difficult for teams to rely on the same approach without adapting.
“What made Italian football great in the past was the ability to always defensively outmanoeuvre the opposition. They use negativity to win. They will not concede. They will just score one and close it up,” he said.
“But football has evolved so much that you cannot pull somebody’s jersey, play them hard, get negative play and get away with it. The landscape has changed. For them to really break out of this, they have to reinvent themselves.”
Oliseh said Nigeria faces a comparable challenge if the country continues to rely on past accomplishments without making the necessary structural improvements. He cautioned that strong performances at continental level should not distract from the need to build a system capable of delivering consistent results.
He also pointed to Italy’s failure to qualify for successive World Cups despite winning the European Championship in 2021 as a warning that past success offers no guarantee of future progress.
“It is a bit similar to what is hitting Nigerian football. If we’re not careful, this might rub off on us,” he warned.
Oliseh urged Nigerians not to treat an AFCON semi-final appearance or a third-place finish as sufficient evidence that the country is moving in the right direction.
Italy’s recent World Cup struggles, he argued, demonstrate how quickly a football nation can fall behind when it fails to adapt. For Nigeria, the priority must be to identify and address the deeper problems affecting its football system before the consequences become more severe.
