Former Super Eagles forward, Jonathan Akpoborie has told the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) not to blame the Super Falcons if the team failed to shine at the 2023 Women's World Cup in New Zealand and Australia.

He made this known on the backdrop of the NFF General-Secretary Dr. Mohammed Sanusi categorically telling the players in a meeting that the federation would not pay match bonuses because FIFA had already announced that each of them would receive the huge cash of $30,000 in the group stage of the tournament.

However, the players kicked against such move and vowed to boycott their first match at the upcoming 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup against Canada.

This will not be the first time the Falcons are involved in a bonus dispute with the NFF at an international tournament.

After winning the 2004 WAFCON in South Africa, the record African champions refused to travel back home, insisting they were paid their bonuses first.

Also, they conducted a sit-in protest at their Abuja hotel in 2016, after returning from Cameroon with an eighth WAFCON trophy, to press their requests for each player to be paid $16,500 after their victory.

Desire Oparanozie, the team’s captain, was stripped of her captaincy and expelled after leading a bonus protest at the 2019 World Cup in France, while the squad also boycotted training sessions before their third-place match against Zambia at last year’s WAFCON in Morocco over the same issue.

With just few days to the team's opening game against Canada, Akpoborie in a chat with Completesports.com stated that he players mindset have been disrupted by the NFF with the latest bonus row saga.

The former Wolfsburg star warned that it will take a miracle to see the Super Falcons excel at the tournament.

"It's a big shame on our football that when other countries are preparing and focusing on their opening game at the 2023 Women's World Cup, Nigeria is still battling with bonus issue.

"This is not the time for the NFF to deny the players their rights. For how long are we going to continue this way, most especially when our women are representing the country at major tournament.

"The simple truth is that it will take motherluck for the players to motivate themselves and focus on the task at hand. If the team fail to shine, please don't put the blame on them."

The post Exclusive: Bonus Row; Don’t Blame Super Falcons If Team Fails To Shine At 2023 WWC –Akpoborie Warns NFF appeared first on Complete Sports.