Did NFF sacked Randy Waldrum? The answer is no. Waldrum's contract expired, so he is no longer in charge of the Nigeria women national team - Super Falcons. Unless, NFF decides to offer him a new contract and the negotiation turn out right.
Randy Waldrum, will not be in charge of the women’s national team when they meet Ethiopia’s Lucy in the decisive leg of their Paris 2024 Olympic Games qualifier in Abuja this week.
Waldrum was absent when both teams drew 1-1 in Addis Ababa last week due to some personal issues.
There have been speculations that the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) was not disposed to extending the American’s contract following the face off it had with the Pittsburgh Panthers head coach before and during the Australia 2023 Women World Cup.
Nigeria’s impressive performance at the competition seemed to have cooled talks of the federation sacking the coach, with sources at the football house hinting that the NFF was willing to hand the coach a one-year contract extension.
The NFF was silent on the issue when The Guardian sought clarification on the coach’s situation.
NFF Director (Media), Ademola Olajire, told The Guardian that he never told anyone that Waldrum would be available for the second leg of the encounter with Ethiopia, thus dismissing reports early in the week that the American would lead Falcons to the return leg of the qualifier.
He said that the Ethiopian contingent and players would arrive in Abuja today for the game scheduled to hold at the MKO Abiola Stadium on Tuesday.
NFF Technical Director, Augustine Eguavoen, had earlier told The Guardian that the federation would resolve whatever issues it had with Waldrum when the manager shows up in the country.
Eguavoen also dismissed speculations that the Falcons coach may have been sacked, saying that the NFF was impressed with the Super Falcons performance at the World Cup.
“When Waldrum released the list of players for the Women’s Nations Cup qualifier against Sao Tome and Principe, we discussed on phone. He was supposed to settle the issues of his contract when he comes to Nigeria for the game against Sao Tome. Unfortunately, Sao Tome pulled out of the qualifiers.
“At that point, the technical committee needed to wait till another time the Super Falcons will play their next game to finalise the coach’s contract, which is coming very soon. We are in a good relationship with Waldrum. I can’t say how long his contract would be extended until the technical committee meets with him,” he stated.
The Super Falcons returned to Abuja on Thursday from Addis Ababa and started training immediately for the game.
