Eagles vs Ethiopia: NFF Borrows N50m

The NFF need at least 50 million Naira for a November 16 playoff for a place at next year's World Cup in Brazil. This cost has been reduced because of the part sponsorship from the Cross Rivers State Government. This will be to cover match bonuses as well as the return ticket refunds for the team and also logistical costs. "We will again be forced to borrow to fund this match," a top NFF official told M TNFootball.com "We are seriously broke as we only receive a monthly subvention of 52 million Naira from government and this is far from adequate to cover our many costs." We was told by officials that NFF finances took a direct hit when the over 700 million Naira spent for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations was removed from the federation's annual budget by government. "It was to have been a special grant but government later decided it should come from our budget," another top official said. Nigeria have a foot at Brazil 2014 after they beat hosts Ethiopia 2-1 in the first leg of the playoffs last month.