The Nigeria Football and other Sports Supporters Club (NFSSC) has inaugurated a chapter in Brazil in anticipation of Nigeria’s appearance at the 2014 FIFA World Cup finals.
Rafiu Ladipo, the President-General of NFSSC, said in Abuja on Friday that the action was to trigger support for the Super Eagles in Brazil.
The 2014 World Cup finals is scheduled to take place between June 12 and July 13 in Brazil.
“I have been to Brazil to form that country’s chapter of the NFSSC, because I know that we will be there,’’ Ladipo said.
He said it was necessary to bring Nigerians in Brazil “under one umbrella’’ to ease the stress of mobilising them when the World Cup finals gets underway.
Nigeria’s Super Eagles are on the brink of qualifying for the mundial, and are billed to face Ethiopia in October and November in the competition’s Africa zone final qualification stage.
Ladipo said many Nigerians were resident in Brazil and the NFSSC would want to cash in on their huge number in mobilising support for the Eagles.
“At my level as NFSSC president-general, I will continue to mobilise Nigerians and plead with them to continue to support the Super Eagles in their home and away matches.
“We have many Nigerians there in Brazil and, immediately we pick the World Cup ticket, I will return there to fully concretise all we have done.
“I can assure you that we will have up to 5,000 supporters any time we play a match there,’’ he said.
Ladipo said, even though Nigeria was yet to qualify for the World Cup finals, it was important to get the matter done early to avoid having to adopt a fire brigade approach.
He however urged the Nigeria Football Association (NFA) to approach the qualifying matches against Ethiopia with the seriousness they deserve so as to guarantee Super Eagles’ qualification.
“We are the current African champions, and we are the current champions of the Mandela Challenge Cup.
“But, as simple as the draw may be, we also must be very serious while approaching this game.
“A lot of us will say it is a simple draw, but I see it differently. This is because the several times we have taken matches very lightly the results had later proved to be negative.
“Since we are playing our first match against Ethiopia away in Addis Ababa, we must win that match right there.
“Everything humanly possible must be put in place for us to win that match and make the second leg easier to play in Calabar.
“We must not take chances. Our players and coaches must see it as the only opportunity they have to write their name in gold.
“We cannot afford a situation where we will start telling stories like we did when we lost our chance to be at the 2006 World Cup finals in Germany,’’ Ladipo said.
Ethiopia will host Nigeria between Oct. 11 and Oct. 15, with the reverse fixture in Nigeria scheduled to hold on Nov. 16.
