2019 ANNUAL REPORT: Nigeria's Football Earns Lowest Grade in Four Years

The grade of C earned by Nigerian football in 2019 is the lowest in four years and it denotes a steady trajectory of decline. Last year, it graded C+ after grades of B- and B in the previous two years. The overall grade of C follows a year of two C- grades in two categories and C grades in two other categories. Only one category (The Super Eagles) received a grade of  above C. It received an A- grade, an upgrade from B which it earned in the previous year. The Super Eagles -- the country's flagship team -- has never received a grade less than B- since the Annual Report began in 2016. This year's A- represents the excitement surrounding the team after a disappointing 2018 which had ended with a gloomy World Cup.

Below is a look at each graded category.

Youth Football

Both the U17 and U20 teams participated at the FIFA World Cup with their peers. For most countries in the world, that participation would have been something to celebrate. However, for Nigeria there is always a higher expectation for those two age grade teams. Nigeria ranks No. 1 in the U17 category having won the championship more than any other country in the world. However, in 2019, both the U17 and U20 teams disappointed with both failing to reach the quarter final stage. Those results dealt a major blow to youth soccer development in the country and football administrators have more than likely turned their sights to recruiting youth footballers developed outside the country as demonstrated in both teams at the 2019 World Cups. The outcome from that recruitment is not pretty. Grade C.

Women Football

Disappointing year in some sense, particularly the fact that the senior team failed to advance to the Olympics after Coach Dennerby was surprisingly let go. One success was Nigeria's return to the knockout stage of the Women's World Cup and visible improvement in defensive tactics employed by the team at the World Cup. There is no doubt, however, that the women football in Nigeria is tottering particularly under the current administration with the team clearly considered as second fiddle to the men teams. Grade C.

Local Professional Football

With Nigeria increasingly focused on foreign football, attention to the local professional scene is waning. The league finished by a surprise zonal arrangement with a brief league playoff quickly organized. This haphazard approach seeped into the start of the 2019/2020 season which was delayed for a long period before it kicked off without television coverage. Local professional football was headed towards a D grade but the performance of two of its four teams in the continental cups rescued it to a grade of C-.

Football Administration

Football administration, once praised, is presently performing at a low level in terms of its management of the national teams. Several of the coaches were reportedly on delayed payments and teams threatening to boycott games because of the same issues. It smacks of a return to the past. Troubling also is the squabble with hired foreign coaches. Locally, the administration of the local league is questionable with low sponsorship and non-existence of major television coverage. None of the above signs is good and a grade of C- is appropriate at this time.

Super Eagles

The only shining light is the flagship team of the country -- the Super Eagles. Last year this team was despised and the manager hanging on a thin thread. However, the manager's injection of new and exciting talents has not only revived hope but has strengthened the squad. The result were two impressive ties against two Top 210 teams in the world -- Ukraine and Brazil. In addition, the team started its 2021 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers by accumulating maximum points. A grade of A- is assigned only because of poor performances of the B national team in the qualification series for the African Nations Championship (CHAN) and the WAFU. Grade A-.

As is always the case, below is a further analysis of the performance of each unit of the Super Eagles.

Goalkeeping. Goalkeeping for 2019 did not show a great improvement but it certainly did not get worse. In fact, the first choice goalkeeper Francis Uzoho who started poorly in the beginning of the year has show great reliability starting from the third place game at the Nations Cup. He was man of the match in the international friendly against Brazil. Ezenwa has been steady when given the opportunity and Akpeyi has reduced his errors and was good in his appearances for the team. Maduka Okoye has been add ed to the pool of competing goalkeepers but has not been tested enough to decide whether or not he belongs. Grade B-.

Defense. The defense has been strong when evaluating the players individually but the result produced by the unit has not been impressive with goals conceded against teams like Madagascar, Seychelles, Benin Republic, and Lesotho. More work is needed but remarkable improvement has been shown in the ability to walk the ball ball out from the defense rather than hoofing it up front. Grade of B.

Midfield. Nigeria, perhaps, done the best here with several new players who have contributed. Mikel Obi retired after the AFCON and he has been replaced without the team missing a beat. In fact, it could be argued that Iwobi has brought more aggressive play making ability when on his game and the unit has been much faster moving the ball along. The grade is A-.

Forwards. The introduction of Victor Osimhen was a major upgrade but even before then Odion Ighalo was at the top of his game finishing top scorer at the AFCON ahead of high profile names like Mohammed Salah, Sadio Mane, and Riyad Mahrez. Osimhen has been even more impressive after Ighalo's retirement. Grade is A.

Bench. This is where the team made the most progress. Gone are the days when the absence of one player meant the degrading of the team. That is no longer the case. The bench players are just as effective as the starters and can often impact the game when introduced. This has led the coach to make starting changes for tactical reasons from one game to the next. Grade is A.

Coaching. The coaching crew was facing a sack right after a disappointing 2018 World Cup but the federation decided to keep the crew in spite of a loud public outcry for a sack. That confidence in the coaching crew has been repaid with the strengthening of the team and the fans now behind the team again. This situation certainly justifies an A- grade for the crew.

Outlook for 2020. The Nigerian Super Eagles are exciting, once again, and much stronger all around with a much balanced squad. It is primed for a good run at qualifying for both the 2021 AFCON and the 2022 World Cup. To do so will require an impressive performance during the qualifiers in 2020.

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OVERALL GRADE FOR NIGERIAN FOOTBALL

Nigerian football received grades of C, C, C-, C-, and A- in five categories for the 2019 year. Based on those five unit grades, a final grade of C is assigned to Nigerian football. Although the flagship team received A- that is not enough. The overall grade of C is the lowest assigned since the Annual Report began in 2016.

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2019 Team Data 
This year's loss record was five, one less than the previous year. Importantly, two of those five losses came from Team B at the CHAN and WAFU games. This created an efficiency of .0597, which is better than both 2017 and 2018. See the data table for detailed data.

2019 Individual Data 
Alex Iwobi with 15 appearances was the player that played the most games for Nigeria in 2019. However, he barely topped the minutes log by two minutes over William Ekong who led the 2018 minutes log. Iwobi's total minutes of 1212 is the highest annual minutes for a player in the last four years. Odion Ighalo who scored six to top the annual scoring chart in 2018 scored the same total to top the chart in 2019. Moses Simon totaled three assists to top the assists chart.

Recognitions (Nigerian Football)  
Odion Ighalo was clearly the best male player of 2019 with his goals that led Africa at the AFCON. Samuel Chukwueze was the best new player in 2019 with a slight edge over Joseph Aribo. The Emerging Star of the national team is Victor Osimhen. Of all the Super Eagles, he is the one most likely to win Africa's Football of the Year in the coming years based on his hunger for goals at both club and national team levels. Star is written over his play and he demonstrated a glimpse of it in the recent 4-2 thumping of Lesotho in Maseru where he took over the game.  The Best Team for 2019 is the Male National Team 'Super Eagles' following a magnificent revival in 2019 unequaled by any other Nigerian team.

The Best Coach went to Thomas Dennerby who managed the female national team -- the Falcons. He took the team to the knockout stages of the 2019 Women's World Cup. The last time Nigeria reached that stage was in 1999 when Ismaila Mabo was coach. Importantly, Dennerby clearly showed that the women team can be set up effectively against set pieces, something that had been missing from the women national team for years. Although, it did not always prevent conceding via set pieces but it reduced the occurrences where opponents found it easy to score in such situations.

Francesca Ordega, the most impressive female player at the 2019 Women's World Cup, is the Best Female Player of 2019. She was the most threatening forward when Nigeria had the ball at the Women's World Cup and certainly came out of the shadows of Nigeria's big names Asisat Oshoala and Desire Oparanozie. The most impressive Emerging Female Star is defender Chidinma Okeke who was one of the best Nigerian defenders at the Women World Cup after impressing at the WAFU Cup.