Brazil 2014: NSC in need of funds

Nigeriannews-The National Sports Commission has stepped up effort to raise money for the Super Eagles camping ahead of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, The newsgistng. has learnt. The move for alternative source of funds is meant to solve the expected problem of late approval of the 2014 budget by the National Assembly

The Minister of Sports, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi told The newsgistng that they had already put in place measures to raise what was within the budget for the World Cup campaign.

He said, “Funding should not be much of the problem as we have started work on that area long ago. We’ve gone far in raising cash from other sources to take care of the early stages just in case there’s delay with the budget.

“What we are very mindful of is to work within the limit captured in the budget. We would have loved to have the budget ready on the first day of January and then get the actual release thereafter but we know national budget goes through a process which is not new. As managers, approved alternatives have to be worked out so that the camping programme, which is the most important, is not affected adversely.”

Similar alternative route had to be taken for the Eagles preparations and campaign for the 2013 African Nations Cup which Nigeria won in South Africa. The 2013 national budget was passed long after the country won the trophy in February and the players returned to their bases.

The Eagles are billed to camp in the United States of America for the World Cup. The Nigeria Football Federation has also announced an international friendly match for the coming FIFA window on March 5 between Nigeria and Mexico.  The match will be played in the USA.

Mexico, like African champions Nigeria, are among the teams that will participate in Brazil 2014. Nigeria face Argentina, Iran and Bosnia-Herzegovina in Group F while Mexico play in group A against hosts and five-time winners Brazil, Croatia and Cameroon.

The match, which comes nine months after a clash between both nations at the Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas that ended 2-2, will be played in Georgia Dome and AT&T Stadium in Georgia, Atlanta, and will kick off at 8:30pm.

The Nigeria Football Federation is expected to release a detailed programme for the World Cup this month. The NFF has already cut down on the match-win bonus of the team to avoid the embarrassing situations that arose during and after the 2013 African cup. The federation became broke and could not meet up with the players bonuses and the wages of their coaches.

Nigeriannews..................................