Siasia Fires Back: ‘Mikel Didn’t Pay for Any Flight!’ — Coach Challenges Chelsea Legend to Show Receipts Over Rio 2016 Claim
Samson Siasia has kicked against claims that Chelsea legend John Mikel Obi covered the flight expenses for the Olympic football team in 2016.
The Lokeren legend stated that he was aware of every incident that had transpired during the build-up to the games in Brazil that year.
Attempting to debunk Obi’s claims, Siasia quipped that the Super Eagles legend should find another means of raising funds if he was bankrupt.
He did confirm that Mikel Obi paid part of the hotel bills after the team ran into trouble with accommodation after the Ministry of Youth and Sports denied knowledge of their camping.
However, the former Nigeria under-23 coach said insinuations that the Super Eagles legend had also paid the air fares for the team that headed to South America were not accurate.
“John Mikel Obi did not pay for any flight to go anywhere, nothing. The team only had issues in the hotel where we needed to sort out the bills, and he paid for some of the players. For the flight to Brazil, the former Super Eagles captain did not pay for it.
Mikel did not pay for any flight; he did other things. I am telling you as the head coach. Maybe Mikel is broke now and trying to look for money; he should find other means and not this style.”
Who paid Nigeria’s Rio 2016 flight ticket?
Siasia said that instead, his friend had influenced how Delta Airline conveyed the team to Brazil for the 2016 Olympic Games.
The Olympic silver medallist explained that a certain Nigerian initially booked a plane, but it could not convey the entire team.
There are different versions to this story
– The John Obi Mikel version where he claims he paid for the country’s flight to Brazil.
– The Samson Siasia version where he shared that the team was flown to Brazil for free but a certain “Yemi Idowu” was willing to help pay for it. pic.twitter.com/LIAzg2hOew
— David Adesina (@_DavidAdesina) June 18, 2025
Siasia challenged John Mikel Obi to produce the receipt of the flight payment for Nigerians to be the judge.
“Delta Airline flew us because of the Nigerian delegate, the noise was too much then so a friend of mine went to the chairman of the Airline and he decided to fly us for free.
“Yemi Idowu had paid for our flight tickets, but the plane was too small and couldn’t fly. Mikel should stop talking about this issue. If he has a receipt to that effect, let him show us that he was the one who paid.”
Before the commencement of Rio 2016, the Nigerian government, through former Sports Minister Solomon Dalung, said he was unaware of their training in the USA, per Daily Times.
According to The Mirror, the Nigeria Football Federation claimed that the sports ministry had paid for the tickets, but the money did not reflect in the account of the airline.
Nigeria claimed its only medal of the 2016 Olympic games by defeating Honduras in the bronze match, with Mikel Obi captaining their historic 3-2 win, per BBC Sport.
