Nigeria have appeared in the finals of the FIFA World Cup on six occasions, the first being in 1994 where they reached the second round. Their sixth and most recent appearance at the finals was the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.
Since their first qualification in 1994, Nigerians have claimed going to the world Cup as their birthright and had since then, qualified for all the mundial except 2006 world Cup in Germany.
Although, Nigeria have not gone pass the round of 16 and their best FIFA ranking 5th in the world as released March 1994, they usually make strides when they square up with big names in world football.
The Super Eagles, as the Nigeria senior men's national team is called, are chasing to better their reputation as giant killers at the Qatar Mundial. And have been building their dream team since Nigeria won back to back FIFA U17 world Cup in 2013 and 2015...players like Kelechi Iheanacho, Victor Osimhen, Samuel Chukwueze has now become the flucrum of the rising waves.
Playing in the world Cup bring so much excitement to a football crazy country like Nigeria and when their darling team is doing well in the tournament, there's so much joy in the air and it fosters unity among a largely ethic and religious discriminatory country.
Playing in the world Cup has become a great public relations platform for Nigeria, bringing with it a lot of goodwill that benefits from the federal government to NFF and then, trickles down to individual Nigerians, especially those living abroad.
Qualifying for a World Cup can lead to tens of millions of dollars in sponsorship and licensing deals in addition to the FIFA preparation money. Millions more pour in through merchandise sales as well as broadcast rights.
Players enjoy huge commercial deals for their image rights and endorsements as they sign with various corporate bodies. Media enjoy a lot of advert placements on television, online, newspapers and radio etc.
Sports betting provide platforms for rewarding fans for their knowledge and predictions. So their will be a lot of staking during the tournament, with lot of winning and losing that takes fans utility to crescendo.
World Cup qualification can also spur investment in grass-roots programs and inspire expanded participation on the youth level. That’s the reward five African countries are chasing in CAF World Cup qualifying playoffs this March with Nigeria favoured to progress against arch rivals Ghana.
