TheCable

Former Super Eagles captain, Sunday Oliseh, has warned that unless the domestic league is well organised, Nigeria’s glory days in soccer will remain in the past.

Oliseh, who was a part of the “golden generation” of Nigerian football between 1994 and 2000, believes the glory days of the country’s national team will not return unless they “get their house in order”.

“During the 1990s a lot of the players were products of the Nigerian league. Those who were playing in Europe had only left two or three years before. Myself, I had moved to Europe only four years before the 1994 World Cup,” Oliseh told BBC Sport.

“It was not as if it was Europe that made us – the Nigerian league produced us; it was so competitive then, it was viable and credible. The national team does not create players – you select your best players from your clubs to play in the national team.

“But now our attention is more focused on the national team and we have neglected the domestic league that is the major problem in Nigerian football.

“If we cannot get the league in order we will never have another golden generation.”

Nigeria have been on a downward spiral in the past year and failed to qualify for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations and the former Ajax midfielder believes the future is bleak.

“We have got technical problems and administrative problems – it is too much for one nation, even if you are Nigeria.

“At the moment it is bleak. We need to face up to the job and get organised.”