Former Super Eagles captain and coach, Sunday Oliseh, has made a shocking revelation about a spiritual episode involving the late Nigerian coach, Joe Erico, whom he claimed stripped himself naked and placed a curse on the Super Eagles more than two decades ago.
Oliseh disclosed this while speaking on the Home Turf Podcast, where he reflected on the internal turmoil that surrounded Nigeria’s qualification and preparation for the 2002 FIFA World Cup in Japan and South Korea.
According to the former Borussia Dortmund and Juventus midfielder, Joe Erico, who worked alongside the late Stephen Keshi and Shuaibu Amodu during the qualifiers, felt deeply betrayed by the Nigeria Football Federation after their coaching crew was dismissed despite leading the country to the tournament.
Oliseh stated that the late Erico, hurt by what he saw as injustice and humiliation, reacted emotionally by stripping himself naked in his room and placing a curse on the team. “Coach Erico made it very clear before his death that what they did to us in 2002, he sat down in his room naked and he cursed Nigeria,” Oliseh revealed.
He went on to suggest that the alleged curse might be one of the reasons the Super Eagles have struggled in major tournaments ever since, including their inconsistent form in the ongoing 2026 World Cup qualifiers.
“Erico was a great man, a lovely and passionate human being. He, Keshi and Amodu took over when we were five points behind Liberia. Everyone had written us off, but we became united again,” Oliseh said.
Despite captaining Nigeria at the 2002 Africa Cup of Nations, Oliseh was dropped from the World Cup squad that same year over disciplinary issues. Austin Jay-Jay Okocha was appointed captain for the tournament, a decision that led Oliseh to retire prematurely from international football.
The 2002 World Cup remains one of the most controversial periods in Nigerian football history. Though the Super Eagles qualified against all odds, the chaos that followed the dismissal of their coaching crew before the tournament continues to be remembered as one of the darkest administrative episodes in the national team’s history.
Oliseh’s revelation has now reopened conversations about that turbulent era and the long-standing struggles of Nigerian football, with many wondering whether Erico’s final words were indeed a symbolic expression of pain or a lasting spiritual burden on the team.
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