Nigeria: Olympic Eagles’ Final List Emerges July 23
July 21, 2008
21 July 2008
Posted to the web 21 July 2008
Orkula Shaagee
Secretary General of the Nigeria Football Asso- ciation, Bolaji Ojo-Oba has said that the final list of the National Under-23 Team to the Beijing 2008 lympic Games would be ready on July 23.
He said the association in conjunction with the team’s handlers is working hard to ensure that all invited players report to camp on time in preparation for the quadrennial sports fiesta.
He explained that the decision to set the July 23 date was informed by FIFA’s directive that all invited players for the Olympic Games must report to their national team camps two weeks to the kick off of the fiesta.
"We are still within the stipulated time. The regulation guiding the release of players to the national team for the Olympics Games is very clear, and that is two weeks to the games.
"Two weeks to the games, the called-up players should report to the national team’s camp; and in this case, the first game holds on the 7th of August and you have to calculate backward. So it is after the expiration of this time that one could say this club has refused to release a player for the championship.
"We have been contacting them and we will keep up the tempo, and if the thing goes beyond us, we will inform their FAs, and if the FA can not do it, we will report the matter to FIFA, and that is the procedure; first to FA, then to FIFA.
"We are working; we don’t want to be stampeded into taking any hasty decision, so I am assuring you that by 23rd of July the final list will be communicated to FIFA.
"Anything that the coach tells us, we will move in and see how fast we will salvage the situation. So, we will not process the request of a player that was not called up by the coach, unless he tells us to do so. If he tells us that he wants all the players in camp to be removed and he gives us the substitute, we will process.
"We are doing everything at our disposal to ensure that we get to China with a solid and consolidated team", Ojo-Oba said.