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Former Super Eagles captain and coach Sunday Oliseh attributed Nigeria’s recent football struggles to a sharp drop in player quality compared to previous generations.
Speaking on The Play Zone Podcast, Oliseh argued that the national team suffers primarily because current players lack top-tier talent and experience.
Directly addressing the core problem, Oliseh stated, “The reason why we are failing is so obvious that I am embarrassed when I hear people don’t talk about it. We are failing because we are not good enough.”
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The former midfielder insisted that earlier generations of Nigerian stars competed at a significantly higher level in European football.
He pointed to icons such as Finidi George, Rashidi Yekini, Emmanuel Amuneke, Victor Ikpeba, Taribo West, Celestine Babayaro, Ben Iroha, and Tijani Babangida, who regularly featured for European giants like Ajax, Borussia Dortmund, AS Monaco, AC Milan, Inter Milan, and Chelsea.
Challenging the current standard, Oliseh asked, “Which of the Nigerian players in the national team now is playing at a team that starts this season to aspire to win the Conference League? I’m not even going to the Champions League or UEFA. Conference League, which is the smallest European title.”
Oliseh’s critique shifts focus directly onto player standards rather than coaching tactics or administrative issues as the root cause of the Super Eagles’ decline.
The former manager, who led Nigeria from 2015 to 2016, emphasised that restoring international competitiveness requires cultivating talent capable of performing consistently in elite global competitions.
