The Confederation of African Football (CAF) will reward the Super Eagles with N9 billion ($7m) if they win the Africa Cup of Nations final.
The Confederation had increased the cash prize for the winners of the tournament from $5m to $7m.
The Eagles, who play the hosts on Sunday, are among the finalists and have already secured $4 million in cash prize.
The African tournament’s runners-up will receive $4 million (N5 billion), the losing semi-finalists, South Africa and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, will each receive $2.5 million, while the four quarter-finalists will each receive $1.3 million.
In the official statement of the CAF on cash prizes for the competition, they wrote: “CAF has made significant progress over the past two years in increasing the prize money of the AFCON and all its other major competitions.
Also, Minister of Sports Development, John Enoh, has urged private and Corporate Nigeria to massively support the Super Eagles financially as they go in the hunt for the fourth Africa Cup of Nations title on Sunday in Cote ‘d’Ivoire.
The Eagles will square up against the hosts, Elephant of Cote ‘D’Ivoire at the Alassane Quattara Stadium, Ebimpe near Abidjan on Sunday as Nigeria bid to conquer the continent as did the illustrious team of 1980, 1994 and 2013.
Sunday’s match will be a repeat of the group stage tie between both sides at Cote d’Ivoire 2023 which the Super Eagles won with a solitary 1-0 margin but the stake according to Enoh would be much higher in the Final Match hence the clarion call for financial pledges to boost the team’s morale.
He said the move became imperative with the present economic challenge amidst other national priorities and the fact that the government alone cannot solely do it all.
Meanwhile, A43-year-old man, Mikail Osundiji, has passed away while watching the semi-final AFCON match between Nigeria and South Africa.
Osundiji is the latest Nigerian to have died while watching the AFCON semis.
A former Executive Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Cairo Ojougboh and a National Youth Service Corps member also died while watching the AFCON semis
Osundiji reportedly passed away on Wednesday night in Abeokuta, Ogun State, while watching the game at a public football viewing place in the Olomoore neighborhood of the state capital.
The father of two reportedly died when the central referee cancelled Nigeria’s second goal against South Africa, by Victor Osimhen.
According to family, the deceased did not exhibit any symptom of illness before his passage.
Following the annulment of Nigeria’s second goal, Osundiji suddenly let out a heavy breath, bent his head and fell to the ground at the football viewing centre, according to Mrs. Adetunji Nofisat, the deceased’s older sister.
“That was when other people at the football viewing centre rushed to him and took him to one of the private hospitals in Olomoore before the doctor on duty pronounced him dead,” the deceased’s sister said.
She added that the remains of the deceased had been buried on Thursday afternoon according to the Islamic rites.
“We cannot take his corpse to his hometown, Okuku in Osun State because he still has a father, mother and two children who are 12 and seven years of age,” she said.