Pinnick spoke in Santiago monday morning as he boarded a flight to Buenos Aires on the way back home from a success story at the FIFA U-17 World Cup in Chile.
“Yes, it is a success story as you just mentioned, but it would not have ended that way without the great support that the Nigeria Football Federation continues to receive from the President Muhammadu Buhari –led Federal Government.
“In fact, the Nigeria Football Federation is dedicating this triumph to President Buhari. He is a man of history. He was there when the first set won the trophy in 1985 as military head of state; now he is here as civilian president when the class of 2015 emerged victorious. Seriously speaking, I don’t think there is any head of state or government in the entire universe who has this honour, and for this, our PMB deserves a place in the Guinness Book of Records.”
Pinnick, whose one –year administration can now point to successes at the African Women Championship (Namibia 2014), African Youth Championship (Senegal 2015) and now the Eaglets’ triumph (aside qualifications for several major tournaments), insisted yesterday that the masterstroke for the Eaglets’ confident and determined approach was President Buhari’s call to the team a day earlier.
“We appreciate the President for sparing time out of his very tight schedule to talk to each and every player and official. That was a massive motivation. At the end of the conversation, the players told me they would go all out and give whatever it would take to win, having been inspired by the country’s leader,” recalled the NFF chief.
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