By Amr Shaheen BBC Sport, Cairo

Ex-Nigeria star Amokachi is unhappy with medical back-up for African players

Amokachi helped his country win Olympic gold in Atlanta in 1996, but his form plummeted after sustaining a knee injury at the World Cup finals in 1998.

After a few operations and several attempts to return to competitive football he was forced to quit playing the game.

Amokachi claims that a mis-diagnosis of his injury and then underestimating its consequences were the real reasons behind his retirement from professional football.

We spend a lot on foreign coaches we should spend the same on keeping them alive! Daniel Amokachi

"I was just another name on the long list of casualties of African players who were forced to retire due to poor medical care," he said.

Amokachi, who is now on the coaching staff of the current Nigerian Olympic team, was referring to other stars like Emmanuel Amuneke, who was his team-mate at the 1996 Olympics.

"I know many outstanding players whose careers have ended at very young ages in Nigeria due to injuries that would have been considered trivial in places like Europe," Amokachi says.

He also believes that the problem is not just threatening Nigeria but the African continent as a whole.

Kanu's good fortune

Amokachi is insistent that the death of late Cameroon midfielder Marc Vivien-Foe at the Confederations Cup was an avoidable incident.

"What happened to Marc-Vivien Foe at the Confederations Cup was not a sudden accident," he claims.

"If he had been well monitored and had regular medical check-ups, he would have survived," he claims.

Amokachi points out that Arsenal's Nwankwo Kanu was lucky that his heart problems were spotted during his medical before he signed for Inter Milan.

He said that the unecessary death of players would be a thing of the past if African football association regard the health of the players as a top priority.

"African countries spend a lot of money to bring foreign coaches to improve our tactical and technical standards and we should be spending just as much to keep those players alive!"