Yet, alongside the failure to reach the past two men’s World Cups, concerns over deteriorating infrastructure and inadequate investment have become recurring themes in discussions about the state of the Nigerian game.

Across Africa, meanwhile, other nations have continued to invest in hosting major competitions.

Senegal will be the venue for the Youth Olympic Games next month, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia are holding next year’s men’s Cricket World Cup, Kenya will stage the 2029 World Athletics Championship, and Morocco will co-host the 2030 World Cup with Spain and Portugal.

Odegbami has bemoaned the fact that top-class stadiums which Nigeria used to possess have fallen into disrepair after being neglected.

He name-checked the National Stadium in Surulere, Lagos, which hosted games during the 1980 and 2000 Afcons, the Liberty Stadium (now Obafemi Awolowo Stadium) in Ibadan, Kaduna’s Ahmadu Bello Stadium and the UJ Esuene Stadium in Calabar.

“I weep when I think of the amount of damage they have done to Nigerian football – the infrastructure that we had in the country, some of the historic monuments that were facilities for football in this country,” he said.

“Whether it was wilful, whether it was ignorance, they did irreparable damage to what was Nigeria’s heritage.

“Uyo is the best we have in Nigeria, but it is not half as good as what we had from the 1960s to the 90s.”

The Super Eagles will begin their Afcon 2027 qualifying campaign against Madagascar at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium in Uyo on Friday (16:00 GMT) before travelling to Guinea-Bissau on 29 September.

Former African Footballer of the Year Victor Osimhen has been ruled out of Eric Chelle’s squad through injury.