With this increase, each player will now get $15,000 win bonus per game as against the $10,000 per game agreed with the players before the tournament kicked off.

The increase in bonus comes after their loss to Croatia in their opening game on Saturday.

Making the increase known, the Minister of Sports, Solomon Dalung, also called on Nigerians to continue to support the team

“It is unfortunate that we did not win, which would have served as a morale booster at the group stage, but we will not lose hope.

“The federal government is doing its best to ensure that the Super Eagles excel in Russia. Even President Muhammadu Buhari took time out to motivate the players yesterday [Saturday] and to assure them of his unflinching support for the team,” Dalung said.

“I personally added $5,000 to their winning bonus to motivate the team, but we must still keep our hopes alive because this is just the beginning.

“I urge the players to remain focused while the technical department will have to put heads together with the coach to salvage our next two matches against Iceland and Argentina. If we win our next matches against Iceland and Argentina, then we can qualify from the group,” Dalung added.

Nigeria will play their next group game against Iceland on Friday in Volgograd in a bid to qualify from Group D.