John Mikel Obi has revealed that he personally paid for the U-23 Eagles’ flight to the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, Brazil.
Mikel, one of the three overage players selected by then-coach Samson Siasia, was also named captain and led the team to a third-place finish in the men’s football event.
However, Mikel disclosed that poor planning by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) nearly derailed the team’s chances.
“When I represented my country at the Olympics in Brazil, we had to fly there, but we waited at the airport from morning till night for a plane to take us to Brazil,” Mikel shared on his podcast.
“There was no plane because of internal disputes over who would cover the costs. The FA didn’t want to pay, and while the government had supposedly released the funds, the money never reached us. So we were stranded at the airport all day with no flight available. In the end, I had to pay for the flight to take us to Brazil. These are the kinds of issues we faced.”