The Nigeria Football Federation, NFF has cleared the air on the trending pictures on social media platforms of the U-20 Women’s Team, the Falconets at the Istanbul airport.
Pictures of the Falconets sleeping on benches and the floor at the Istanbul airport have been trending.
The NFF Director of Media, Ademola Olajire, in a post on a WhatsApp platform, said that the NFF had no hand in what many analysts have described as unfortunate for a national team.
Olajire said that the world’s football governing body FIFA had booked the tickets for the team to depart from Costa Rica to Nigeria enroute to Bogota, Colombia through Panama and to Istanbul before connecting to Abuja.
Also Read:Falconets in a long layoff at Istanbul Airport
Olajire confirmed that a three-hour delay in the flight to Panama from Bogota and another one-hour delay at the airport in Panama resulted in the Falconets missing their flight to Abuja from Istanbul.
This means the contingent had to wait for another 24 hours to board a flight to Abuja from Istanbul.
He noted that efforts by the NFF officials to get a transit visa in Turkey to enable the team entry were negative, citing diplomatic reasons.
He said the NFF regrets the unfortunate incident and calls for calm.
(Editor: Ifeanyi Mark)
