Having pulled out all the stops to impress the footballing globe when they hosted the World Youth Championships back in April, it seems that things are falling apart again for the Nigerian FA who claimed this week that it could not pay its national coach, Thijs Libregts.

The Dutchman's difficulties first came to public attention when he stayed away from a recent friendly against Mozambique as a protest about his treatment but the extent of the problems became more apparent this week with the coach announcing that he sees "no future" for the game in Nigeria.

"The problem is not only money," said the former Dutch national team manager. "There are technical issues, working conditions and a communications gap . . . I think that there is no future to work together . . . money is just an aspect of a lingering feud.

Nigerian FA Secretary subsequently told reporters that money might soon be moving to the head of the list of problems because the association could no longer afford the $30,000 a month they are supposed to pay their man.