Exclusive: Ex Super Eagles Star Firm Favourite To Be Next President Of NFF

A dramatic twist has occurred in the battle for who will be the next president of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), OwnGoalNigeria.com can exclusively reveal.

The position became vacant following the resignation of the Ibrahim Musa Gusau led board of the NFF, which means the planned election scheduled for September won’t take place.

A normalisation committee was proposed by the National Sports Commission (NSC) and earlier in the week, world football governing body FIFA visited the country for a fact finding mission and also make input on the way forward.

Their mandate will be to normalise the system for a particular period leading into fresh election into the board of the NFF. A process which the NSC say will run for a period of around six to one year.

In the build up to the election, a major twist happened a few days ago when the anointed choice decided against taking the position due to what he feels will hinder his personal growth and business.

Like we exclusively reported on the 27th of August, former Nigeria international midfielder Seyi Olofinjana who we said was a dark horse is now firmly in favour to be the next man at the helm as the president of the NFF.

A graduate of Manchester Metropolitan University’s Masters of Sport Directorship programme. His started his post football life in 2015 with a role at Wolverhampton Wanderers as Loans Pathway Manager at the club.

The former Super Eagles midfielder left his role in 2021 for Swiss side Grasshopper Club Zürich, becoming their new sporting director. A role that ended after two months.

He resigned and left on 20 June 2022. In June 2024, Olofinjana was appointed the head of scouting by Premier League club, Chelsea. He was tasked with the responsibility of identifying talents from Africa.

The 46 year old is among a growing list of Africans with UEFA Pro licence – the highest coaching qualification in European football. Olofinjana also holds two master’s degrees – as a sports director and a project manager.