At 2.19pm local time on 4 August 2016, team media officer Timi Ebikagboro announced that the Dream Team had touched down in Manaus. Kick-off against Japan at the Arena da Amazonia was under seven hours away.
They won 5-4. Samson Siasia's Nigeria Rio 2016 Olympic squad would go home with bronze.
| Rio 2016 | Key facts |
|---|---|
| Coach | Samson Siasia |
| Captain | John Obi Mikel, overage pick from Chelsea |
| Opener | Nigeria 5-4 Japan, Manaus, 4 August 2016 |
| Group B | Winners on six points after beating Sweden 1-0 and losing 2-0 to Colombia |
| Knockouts | Denmark 2-0 in Salvador, then Germany 0-2 in Sao Paulo |
| Bronze match | Nigeria 3-2 Honduras, Mineirao, 20 August 2016 |
| Donor | Japanese surgeon Katsuya Takasu, $390,000 |
Stranded in Atlanta
The trouble started at the pre-Olympic camp in the United States. A source close to the NFF told the BBC that the sports ministry's payment for the charter flight had not hit the airline's account, so the airline refused to fly the team from Atlanta to Brazil.
Then came the aircraft itself. “The players were uncomfortable with the size of the plane,” Ebikagboro said, and a bigger one was found only after the federal government stepped in.
They left Atlanta on the Thursday morning.
Mikel, an overage pick from Chelsea, later told Goal he spent over 30,000 pounds of his own money on the camp. “Sometimes there was no food, sometimes there was no pitch to train on, there was no bus to go to the training ground,” he said.
Nine goals in Manaus
Jet lag did not show early. Sadiq Umar scored after six minutes, Shinzo Koroki levelled from the spot, and by the twelfth minute it was 2-2. Oghenekaro Etebo then took over, scoring in the 10th, 42nd, 52nd (a penalty) and 66th minutes to make it 5-2 before Takuma Asano and Musashi Suzuki, the latter deep into stoppage time, gave the scoreline its final shape.
Etebo had four.
Sadiq headed the only goal against Sweden three days later. A 2-0 defeat to Colombia did not matter, because Nigeria still topped Group B on six points.
Before the quarter-final, Inside World Football reported, players threatened a boycott over unpaid allowances. They played anyway. Mikel, wearing the armband, scored in a 2-0 win over Denmark in Salvador on 13 August, and Aminu Umar added the second.
The surgeon from Tokyo
Katsuya Takasu, a Japanese plastic surgeon, became a fan after seeing a team land on matchday and still beat his own country, TheCable reported. He told the BBC he had read about the team's financial problems and felt the need to make a big contribution.
The total was $390,000. Of that, $200,000 covered bonuses and allowances, and $10,000 went to each of the 18 players and the team manager. Takasu flew to Brazil to hand the cheques over personally after the bronze match, describing a team that “showed resilience and fought the hardest to achieve success.” NFF president Amaju Pinnick later dismissed claims that federation officials had tried to hijack the money as outright mischief.
Germany, Honduras and a medal
The run ended at the Arena Corinthians on 17 August. Lukas Klostermann scored after nine minutes, Nils Petersen added a second in the 89th, and Germany won 2-0. “We didn't play well in the match,” Siasia told FIFA, before adding that “you're better off having a bronze medal than not having anything at all.”
Three days later at the Mineirao in Belo Horizonte, Sadiq struck twice and Aminu Umar once to put Nigeria 3-0 up against Honduras. Antony Lozano and Marcelo Pereira pulled two back. The bronze held.
Three Olympic football medals now. The first was the 1996 gold in Atlanta, recalled in Mobi Oparaku's medal story, the second the silver won by Siasia's Beijing 2008 squad.
Where the Rio 2016 squad went next
Clubs are as registered for Rio.
| Player | Club in 2016 | What came next |
|---|---|---|
| Daniel Akpeyi (GK, overage) | Chippa United | Went to the 2018 World Cup; announced his retirement in June 2026 after ten years in the South African top flight |
| Seth Sincere | Rhapsody | Not publicly confirmed |
| Kingsley Madu | AS Trencin | Joined Zulte Waregem after the Games, later Odense in Denmark |
| Shehu Abdullahi | Uniao da Madeira | Played at the 2018 World Cup; reported in April 2026 to have quit football for politics |
| Saturday Erimuya | Kayseri Erciyesspor | Not publicly confirmed |
| William Troost-Ekong | Haugesund | AFCON 2023 Player of the Tournament; retired from international football in December 2025 with 83 caps |
| Aminu Umar | Osmanlispor | Long career in Turkey, including Rizespor and Tuzlaspor |
| Oghenekaro Etebo | Feirense | Joined Stoke City in 2018 and played at the World Cup that summer |
| Imoh Ezekiel | Anderlecht | Konyaspor, Las Palmas, Kortrijk, then Al Jazira in the UAE |
| John Obi Mikel (overage) | Chelsea | Retired in September 2022; now hosts The Obi One Podcast |
| Junior Ajayi | Al Ahly | 161 games and 11 trophies at Al Ahly |
| Saliu Popoola | Seraing United | Not publicly confirmed |
| Sadiq Umar | Roma | Real Sociedad, then a permanent move to Valencia in January 2026 on a deal to 2028 |
| Azubuike Okechukwu | Yeni Malatyaspor | Pyramids, Istanbul Basaksehir, then Erzurumspor in 2024 |
| Ndifreke Udo | Abia Warriors | Not publicly confirmed |
| Stanley Amuzie | Olhanense | Sampdoria and Lugano, then spells in Slovenia and Finland |
| Usman Mohammed | Uniao da Madeira | Not publicly confirmed |
| Emmanuel Daniel (GK) | Enugu Rangers | Not publicly confirmed |
Siasia's own story turned darker. FIFA banned him for life in 2019 for accepting bribes linked to match manipulation. In June 2021 the Court of Arbitration for Sport cut that to five years from August 2019, as our report on the CAS ruling explains.
Our view: that bronze was won in spite of the system, not because of it.
This article was most recently revised and updated 33 seconds ago
