‘He Sat Down Naked and Cursed Nigeria’ — Sunday Oliseh Claims Super Eagles Are Haunted by a 2002 Curse

• Former Super Eagles captain Sunday Oliseh has claimed that Nigeria’s national team is suffering from a curse allegedly placed by late coach Joe Erico in 2002 after being unfairly sacked despite qualifying the team for the FIFA World Cup.

Former Super Eagles captain, Sunday Oliseh, has alleged that Nigeria’s national football team is still suffering from a curse placed on it more than two decades ago by the late coach Joe Erico, following the controversial events surrounding the 2002 FIFA World Cup.

Speaking on the Bet9ja Podcast, Oliseh recounted how Erico—one of the coaches who led Nigeria to the 2002 World Cup—allegedly sat naked and cursed the country after being unfairly dismissed alongside Shuaibu Amodu and Stephen Keshi, despite successfully qualifying 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 cursed Nigeria,” Oliseh said.

Oliseh explained that after overcoming a five-point deficit to Liberia in the qualifiers, the team was suddenly reshuffled. Players who demanded unpaid allowances were dropped, and the coaching trio that masterminded the qualification was sacked.

“We were five points behind Liberia, everyone had written us off,” Oliseh said. “Keshi phoned me from the U.S. while I organised the players, and gradually, we built ourselves. But after all the sacrifices, they dropped the very people who made qualification possible.”

The 51-year-old praised the late Stephen Keshi and Joe Erico for uniting the squad and inspiring players like Julius Aghahowa and Yakubu Aiyegbeni to deliver key victories.

“Yakubu went to Sudan and scored two goals. How can a manager work things out this way and still be dropped? They even went with players who didn’t play in the qualifiers. That was when the Super Eagles got destroyed,” Oliseh lamented.

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The shocking revelation comes amid Nigeria’s current struggles in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, where the team has failed to impress under the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF). Many fans on social media have linked the Super Eagles’ recent failures to what is now being dubbed the “Erico Curse.”

The controversy around Nigeria’s 2002 World Cup campaign remains one of the most discussed moments in the nation’s football history, marked by political interference, unpaid bonuses, and last-minute squad changes that fractured the team’s unity.