The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has refuted reports and claims in certain sections that they are behind the non invitation of Leon Balogun to the Super Eagles, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.
Balogun last played for Nigeria in 2022 when he played the final 19 minutes of the 10-0 win over Sao Tome and Principe in the AFCON qualifiers.
His absence from the team has been linked to an interview he granted, where he called out the NFF for their poor treatment of the players during international assignments, but the spokesman of the football house Adrmola Olajire says those claims are wide off the mark.
“That interview was in 2021 in the month of June. Since then Balogun has played in seven games for the Super Eagles. You can go and verify. He was in the squad for the AFCON but missed out due to injury. He returned in 2022 and played in both of the world cup qualifiers playoff games against Ghana and also in the AFCON qualifiers with Jose Peseiro as coach”, Ademola Olajire told OwnGoalNigeria.com in an exclusive conversation.
” People saying Balogun’s absence is due to that interview are not fair to the NFF. We don’t pick players for coaches and his statements in that interview was properly addressed by us. No coach has been told to pick a player or drop any player. There is no directive from the NFF blacklisting Balogun from the Super Eagles”, he concluded.
