Confederations Cup 2013: Nigeria settle bonus dispute

 Nigeria will play in the Confederations Cup in Brazil next week after a dispute about bonus payments was settled.

The Super Eagles' first match in the tournament is on Monday, but the players refused to leave their hotel in Namibia and missed a scheduled flight.  But they will now fly to south America in time for the game against Tahiti.

It is claimed the Nigerian players were angry over unpaid bonus money promised to them after they beat Kenya 1-0 in a World Cup qualifier last week.

The players wanted to be paid £6,370 ($10,000) but the cash-strapped Nigeria Football Foundation, who have been forced to cut back on backroom staff of the various national teams, refused.

The Nigerian players had then been offered a bonus £1,590 ($2,500) following their 1-1 draw in Namibia in another World Cup qualifier on Wednesday, but the players wanted more.

"Their officials all departed on an earlier flight, but the players and technical staff are still in Namibia," said Namibia Football Association general secretary Barry Rukoro.

Fifa Secretary-General Jerome Valcke told reporters in Brazil that the world governing body believed the row to be solved.

"They will be in the plane on Saturday and will be at the Confederations Cup - the problem is solved," Valcke told a news conference in Rio de Janeiro.

Nigeria's first game takes place in Belo Horizonte against Tahiti on 17 June, before playing Uruguay in Salvador on 20 June and then Spain in Fortaleza on 23 June.