Africa Cup of Nations 2019: Nigeria players 'owed bonuses and allowances'

Image source, Getty Images

Image caption, Gernot Rohr's side face Guinea in their second match of the tournament on Wednesday
  • Author, Oluwashina Okeleji
  • Role, Football Writer, Alexandria

Nigeria's players are in dispute with the country's football federation in the build-up to their Africa Cup of Nations match against Guinea.

None of the Super Eagles players has received allowances or a $10,000 bonus.

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) is hoping to prevent a strike before the match in Egypt on Wednesday.

"My player [Ahmed Musa] couldn't attend the press conference today because they have a very important meeting," said coach Gernot Rohr.

"I just hope the situation can be resolved so we can focus on what we have in front of us."

The squad was an hour late for training on Tuesday and have not ruled out taking further action.

The financially stricken NFF, which receives its funding from the government, has denied it was responsible for the delay in paying the players' bonuses.

The 成人快手 understands that the team, which has been together since early June, had received verbal assurances that they would be paid before the tournament kicked off this month.

Pay rows have often surrounded Nigerian teams, while players have boycotted training during important qualifiers or at major tournaments over unpaid fees.

Their 2014 World Cup campaign was affected by a bonus row, with players boycotting training before the last-16 fixture against France as they demanded their bonuses and appearance fees.

Nigeria's women's team - the Super Falcons - has twice been involved in sit-in protests at hotels in South Africa and in Abuja, Nigeria, to demand money owed to them, with their latest protest coming at the Women's World Cup in France.