Nigeria agrees to pay Iran for botched friendly

Vanguardngr – The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) have reached an agreement to compensate Iran for a last-minute withdrawal from a friendly in November.

NFF general secretary Musa Amadu simply told MTNFootball.com “We are still discussing with them”, but another top official disclosed that the NFF have now agreed to pay for pulling out of the friendly.

“A figure has been agreed for us to pay Iran after we pulled out of that friendly,” the official told MTNFootball.com.
“What is holding the payment is an approval by the NFF board.”

Iran reportedly demanded for a compensation of $300,000 from Nigeria for the no-show.

Officials said the pay-off would have been a lot more had Iran routed their demand for compensation through world football governing body FIFA.

Nigeria opted out of a November 17 friendly against Iran in Tehran citing the non-availability of key players for the game.
However, the decision to pull out for the match may not be unconnected with a diplomatic row involving the governments of both countries in the wake of an illegal shipment of arms from Iran that was impounded in Lagos.

Meanwhile, Nigeria’s Super Falcons have reached an agreement to take on Finland and Hungary in warm-up matches prior to the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Germany in June.

“We have reached an agreement to play Finland in May and Hungary in March ahead of the World Cup,” said Falcons coach, Uche Eucharia.

“However, we are yet to agree on dates for these matches.”

Uche also said discussions are also ongoing for a tune_up match against Sweden.

“Hopefully, we will play several top quality friendlies before the World Cup,” said the Falcons handler.

Nigeria are drawn against hosts and defending champions Germany, France and Canada in a first round group at the 2011 World Cup, which rolls out in June.

The Falcons best World Cup performance was at the 1999 finals in the United States, where they reached the last eight.