{"id":32483,"date":"2026-04-20T10:42:59","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T08:42:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=32483"},"modified":"2026-04-20T10:42:59","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T08:42:59","slug":"nigeria-okpara-urges-former-players-to-lead-football-administration","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/nigeria-okpara-urges-former-players-to-lead-football-administration\/","title":{"rendered":"Nigeria Okpara urges former players to lead football administration"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Former Super Eagles defender Godwin Okpara has added his voice to the ongoing debate over leadership in Nigerian football, arguing that former professional players should be given a fair opportunity to take up administrative roles.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Okpara pushed back against calls for continuity within the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), insisting that former internationals understand the system well enough to contribute effectively to its leadership.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey are capable, they know the system, they can do the job. We just need a fair ground. It will help the game,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>His comments come in response to remarks supporting the current football leadership structure, with Okpara maintaining that the experience of former players remains an untapped resource in the administration of the sport.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;ChannelAfrica&#8211;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":32484,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[20],"class_list":["post-32483","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-sport","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"'Former professional players should be given a fair opportunity to take up administrative roles'","published_date":"2026-04-20 10:42:40","news_description":"'Former professional players should be given a fair opportunity to take up administrative roles'","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/32483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/32483\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32485,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/32483\/revisions\/32485"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32484"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=32483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}