Patience Avre, a former Nigerian footballer now based in the United States, has accused some of her teammates in the 1999 female national team of hiding N10 million meant for the entire team.

At an event organised by the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) in September 2021, Allen Onyeama, the owner of Air Peace, had donated N10 million to the team for being the first Nigerian senior team to reach the quarterfinals of the FIFA World Cup.

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The teammates present at the event allegedly shared the money among themselves and refused to inform the absent five members. At that time, Avre had just given birth and could not attend the award ceremony.

In an Instagram video on Saturday, Avre said two months after her teammates had received the money, no one informed her about it.

“They shared the money amongst themselves. N10 million. For two months, nobody mentioned it, even as a joke, that someone in Nigeria gave us money,” she said.

“They wanted me to keep quiet. Keep quiet? How can someone eat my sweat? I worked hard. I did not cut corners. I did not sleep with coaches.”

In the second part of the video, she said she had spoken to Amaju Pinnick, the NFF chairman, who was also present at the event. According to her, the chairman confirmed that the money belonged to the team.

“I have spoken to the NFF chairman, Amaju Pinnick, and he said the money was for the Super Falcons. He said the money was for us, and the 14 of you, get it right now,” she said.

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She asked why the team members could not emulate the members of a junior national team who were also gifted but carried everyone along.

“Who knows, because of this action, we probably would not be called upon for another award because of your greedy, mischievous attitude. This is not the togetherness you all are preaching about. Una Chop clean mouth; nobody make pem,” Avre lamented.

Patience Avre is the youngest Nigerian player to score at the Fifa Women’s World Cup at the age of 18 years and 10 months, achieving the feat in 1995 at the Olympia Stadion, Helsingborg, where the Super Falcons held Canda to a 3-3 draw. Avre’s 60th minute strike was Nigeria’s second goal of the game.

Avre played for the Nigerian women’s national team at three wold cups (1995, 1999 and 2003), and at the 2000 summer Olympics.