Former Super Eagles captain John Obi Mikel has called on the leadership of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to step down after Nigeria failed to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

The former midfielder described the situation as a serious disappointment for Nigerian football, noting that the Nigeria national football team will miss the global tournament for the second time in a row.

Nigeria’s hopes of reaching the tournament ended last November after a penalty shootout defeat to the DR Congo national football team in the second round of African qualifying. The loss confirmed that the three-time African champions would not take part in the competition in North America unless an unlikely late ruling from FIFA changes the outcome.

For a country often regarded as one of Africa’s leading football nations, the failure has drawn strong reactions from former players and supporters across the country.

Mikel, who played 89 times for Nigeria and featured at the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2018 FIFA World Cup, admitted that the result was painful considering Nigeria’s rich football history.

“When you have a country as big as Nigeria with such a huge population and football culture, not qualifying for the World Cup twice in a row is very painful,” he said.

The former Chelsea FC midfielder was also part of the Nigerian side that won the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations, the nation’s third continental title.

According to him, the repeated failure should lead to serious reflection within the federation.

Mikel insisted that those in charge of running the sport must take responsibility for the poor results and allow new leadership to bring fresh ideas to rebuild the national team.

“I’ve said it many times — the people running the FA should all resign,” he said.

“It’s the second time we’ve failed to qualify for the World Cup, and there has to be accountability.”

The former midfielder also warned that Nigeria could lose its position among Africa’s top football nations if urgent reforms are not introduced.

He pointed to the progress made by the Morocco national football team as an example of how proper planning, investment, and long-term development can improve a country’s performance on the international stage. ⚽

Former NFL star and professional boxer Le’Veon Bell has been making quite the headlines lately, grabbing the attention of the WWE Universe. The star recently made some comments about The Vision’s Logan Paul, which ended up sparking a lot of speculation about his potential debut at WrestleMania.

The footballer turned boxer revealed that Paul had promised him a contract for a boxing match multiple times in the past, but didn’t end up fulfilling his end of the bargain because of his ongoing deal with the Stamford-based company. This led to speculations of Bell making his way to WWE for a match against The Maverick in the squared circle on The Grandest Stage of Them All.

While the speculations were not expected to come true, during a recent episode of the Busted Open podcast, Bell revealed that he was set to be in attendance on The Grandest Stage of Them All this year. This has made a potential confrontation between Paul and Bell even more possible.

“They [WWE] haven’t. They haven’t. It’s just literally all me. Regardless if they contact me or not, I’m still gonna be there. I’mma either be front row and I’m gonna be there. I might pull up as a masked man. You might not even know I’m there. If I’m there, you might not even know I’m there….I’ll be there. I will be there,” Bell stated [H/T Fightful]

Le’Veon Bell recently apologised to WWE Superstars

Following his recent appearance on the Busted Open, Le’Veon Bell also made a public apology for his comments on the athleticism of the WWE Superstars in the past.

The star, in a post on X/Twitter, accepted that professional wrestling was a craft and that the stars performing are some of the greatest athletes on the globe. Bell has managed to earn the respect of the professional wrestling fans, and a potential confrontation with Logan Paul at WrestleMania 42 seems to be the future.

Time will now tell what the company has in store for the stars.