By Pius Ayinor
Super Eagles players and coaching staff are awaiting AFCON 2025 bonus payments and have embarked on a strike and say they will not travel to Marrakech if they do not receive payment fully by Thursday.
The win bonuses yet to be received are from four matches, which are the games against Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, and Mozambique, according to a Nigerian journalist Olúwashínà Okeleji, who is on the ground in Morocco with the players using his X (Twitter) handle.
The squad says they remain focused but will not train or travel to Marrakech on Thursday for the quarter-final game against Algeria if this isn’t resolved.
It was explained that the Nigeria Football officials made a promise to the players and coaching staff ahead of the AFCON 2025 tournament that all payments would be paid before they leave Morocco to avert a situation like this.
Extrasportnigeria.com learnt from another source that the explanations made to the squad that transfers would be paid to their accounts as soon as possible have hit deaf ears, as some are demanding cash payment instead. By the last count, only five of the players have stated that they will train and travel on Thursday, whether they are paid or not.
A person who is also in Morocco and familiar with the situation in the Eagles camp had an unofficial chat with our reporter via WhatsApp.
He said, “NFF is not owning them a dime. How can they be asking for cash in 2026? Transfers have been made to their accounts via CBN. They also have all their daily allowances and the 90k dollars cash for the money promised. Only five players are ready to go to Markesh; I won’t name them.”
The players similarly embarked on a strike during the last stage of their World Cup qualifiers. Nigeria failed to qualify for the 2026 World Cup in the USA.
The squad is just coming out of the controversy created by the on-pitch argument between Victor Osimhen and Ademola Lookman in their last Group of 16 fixture against Mozambique.
Extrasportnigeria 
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