PHOTOS: Nigerian govt abandoned Super Falconets, sleep on bare floor at Turkish airport

The Nigerian government has abandoned the Super Falconets team who represented the country at the ongoing FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup in Costa Rica.

The Super Falconets have been left stranded in Istanbul, Turkey, after crashing out of the ongoing FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup in Costa Rica.

In the photos shared by Soccernet, the two-time FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup finalists who left Costa Rica on Monday were captured sleeping on the bare floor and chairs at the Istanbul Airport after staying at a spot for 24 hours.

According to several reports, they departed their hotel rooms in Costa Rica at 6.30 AM local time on Monday, they were to travel via Colombia to Istanbul for the flight to Abuja.

They have been there for over 24 hours, and by the time they depart the airport at 6.15 PM on Wednesday, they would have spent close to 30 hours in that departure hall.

According to a source with the team, “The situation got worsen as they have no transit visa to enable them secure accommodation.”

While at the tournament, sources disclosed that the team were provided with very limited equipment, with just three sets of their green home kit and two sets of the white away kit. This meant the players had to wash their jerseys by hand after every game and were unable to exchange jerseys.

Worse still, despite the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF)  having an official kit supplier, the young ladies were not supplied with official footwear and were asked instead to buy their own footwear.

And so the players – who are only getting paid $50 as daily match allowance and no bonuses – borrowed money to buy Nike sneakers and playing boots.

Newsflash Nigeria understands that this is not the first time the team have endured similar humiliating circumstance.

Falconets won all three group C matches to earn the maximum 9 points but their superb performance was put to a halt in the quarter-final when the Netherlands beat them 2-0.

A few weeks before their departure from Abuja, Nigeria’s capital to the tournament, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) abandoned them, a situation that forced both players and officials to track to the venue of their training.

Also, they are yet to get their allowances, just like their senior women counterparts, the Super Falcons.

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