hree –time champions and four-time runners-up Nigeria will know their group opponents when the draw for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualification series is staged at the SuperSport Studio in Johannesburg, South Africa on Tuesday evening. The event will commence at 6.30pm Nigeria time (which is 7.30pm in South Africa).

A total of 48 teams will be divided into 12 groups of four teams each, with only the winner of each group guaranteed a slot at the 34^th Africa Cup of Nations that Cote d’Ivoire will stage next year summer. Hosts Cote d’Ivoire are guaranteed a place, alongside the best three second –placed teams in all the 12 groups.

Nigeria, who finished in third place at the 2019 finals in Egypt and reached the Round of 16 at this year’s championship in Cameroon, is among the 12 teams in Pot 1 – the teams that will head the 12 qualification groups. Others in Pot 1 are reigning champions Senegal, Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia, Cameroon, Algeria, Mali, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Democratic Republic of Congo and Cote d’Ivoire. Cote d’Ivoire’s participation will be only for formality sake.

Being in the same pot guarantees that none of these teams can be in the same group during the qualification campaign that will last between June 2022 and March 2023. The first two matchdays are in June, with two other matchdays in September and the final two matchdays to take place in March 2023.

In Pot 2 are South Africa, Cape Verde, Guinea, Gabon, Benin Republic, Uganda, Zambia, Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Madagascar, Kenya and Sierra Leone.

Pot 3 comprises of Namibia, Mauritania, Guinea-Bissau, Niger Republic, Libya, Mozambique, Malawi, Togo, Zimbabwe, The Gambia, Angola and Comoros.

Tanzania, Central African Republic, Sudan, Rwanda, Burundi, Ethiopia, Swaziland, Lesotho, Botswana, Liberia, South Sudan and Sao Tome & Principe make up Pot 4.   

Nine –time champions Nigeria will know their group phase opponents at the 12^th Women Africa Cup of Nations when the draw is staged on Monday, 25^th April 2022.

Goals by new birds Ifeoma Onumonu and Esther Okoronkwo steered the Super Falcons to a 3-0 aggregate win over Cote d’Ivoire in the final round of the qualifiers in February. In the earlier round, forward Uchenna Kanu scored both goals in Lagos to lift the Falcons past the Black Queens of Ghana, who won the return leg 1-0 in Accra.

Nigeria won the first edition of the Women Africa Cup of Nations (then known as African Women Championship) staged in the country in 1998, and has won seven other championships. The only times the Super Falcons did not emerge victorious in the history of the competition were when the tournaments were staged in Equatorial Guinea, in 2008 and 2012.

This year’s tournament in Morocco, 2^nd – 23^rd July comes with added impetus as the four semi finalists will represent Africa at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup finals in Australia/New Zealand.

The 12 teams that have qualified to play at the 12^th Women Africa Cup of Nations are: Morocco, Nigeria, Uganda, Burundi, Zambia, Togo, Senegal, Tunisia, Botswana, Cameroon, South Africa, Burkina Faso.

They will be divided into four groups of three teams each. 

The Black Satellites were drawn to take on the Flying Eagles in Group B of the tournament to be played in Niger Republic.

The Ghanaians will also play Burkina Faso in the three-team group of the tournament to be held in Niamey, the capital of the West African country.

Hosts Niger were drawn in Group A to face Cote d’Ivoire, Togo and Benin following the draw conducted at the headquarters of the Niger Football Federation.

The top two teams from each group will advance to the semi-finals of the seven-team competition reserved only for youth footballers.

The Black Satellites were drawn to take on the Flying Eagles in Group B of the tournament to be played in Niger Republic.

The Ghanaians will also play Burkina Faso in the three-team group of the tournament to be held in Niamey, the capital of the West African country.

Hosts Niger were drawn in Group A to face Cote d’Ivoire, Togo and Benin following the draw conducted at the headquarters of the Niger Football Federation.

The top two teams from each group will advance to the semi-finals of the seven-team competition reserved only for youth footballers.

Meanwhile in the U17 draw, host country Ghana were pitted against Nigeria in Group A of the competition.

The Black Starlets will also face Togo in the three-team group while Cote d’Ivoire, Benin, Burkina Faso and Niger will make up the other group.

The top two teams from each group will advance to the semi-finals.

The championship, which serves as qualifiers for the 2023 edition of U17 Africa Cup of Nations, will be hosted in the Ghanaian city of Cape Coast.

It will be staged from Saturday June 11 to Friday June 24, 2022.

The participating teams will challenge for the trophy as well as tickets to the Africa Cup of Nations in Algeria next year.

The full WAFU B U20 draw:

GROUP A – Niger, Cote d’Ivoire, Togo and Benin.

GROUP B – Ghana, Nigeria and Burkina Faso.

The full WAFU B U17 draw:

GROUP A – Ghana, Nigeria and Togo.

GROUP B – Cote d’Ivoire, Benin, Burkina Faso and Niger.

Yussuf Alli who was Team Nigeria captain at the Olympic Games in 1984 and 1988 is expected to bring his experience to bear at the Commonwealth Games

The Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development has appointed former international athlete and Chairman of the Edo State Sports Commission, Yussuf Alli, as the Coordinator of Team Nigeria for the 2022 Commonwealth Games that are scheduled for Birmingham, England from July 28, 2022.

Alli, who was the captain of Team Nigeria in two consecutive Olympic Games in 1984 and 1988, is expected to bring his experiences as a former athlete and his expertise as an administrator to bear on Nigeria’s participation at the Games.

Alli is also a Commonwealth Games gold medalist following his feat at the Auckland 1990 Games where his leap of 8.39m was good enough for a first-place finish.

He will, in collaboration with the Ministry, coordinate and ensure the success of Team Nigeria by working as a bridge between the athletes, federations, and the Ministry, ensuring there is synergy in the team.

Nigeria finished in ninth place at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia, winning nine gold, nine silver and six bronze medals while her best performance ever was in Victoria, Canada in 1994 where she won eleven gold, thirteen silver, and thirteen bronze medals to finish fourth.

Some of the appointed coaches are making a return to the under-age national teams

The Executive Committee of the Nigeria Football Federation has approved the recommendation of its Technical and Development Sub-Committee for the appointment of Salisu Yusuf as the Head Coach of the Super Eagles B (otherwise known as the CHAN team) as well as the U23 (Olympics) team.

Yusuf, who was Head Coach of the Super Eagles B when the team emerged runner-up at the African Nations Championship in Morocco in 2018, will work with Kennedy Boboye (Assistant Coach); Fatai Osho (Assistant Coach); Abubakar Bala Mohammed (Assistant Coach); Fidelis Ikechukwu (Assistant Coach); Eboboritse Uwejamomere (Match Analyst), Ike Shorounmu (Goalkeepers’ Trainer) and Suleiman Shuaibu (Goalkeepers’ Trainer 2).

In other appointments, Ladan Bosso retains his position as Head Coach of the U20 Boys. He will work with former U17 Head Coach, Fatai Amao (Assistant Coach); Oladuni Oyekale (Assistant Coach); Jolomi Atune Alli (Assistant Coach), and Baruwa Olatunji Abideen (Goalkeepers’ Trainer)

For the U17 Boys, Golden Eaglets, Nduka Ugbade was named Head Coach. He will work with Ahmad Lawal Dankoli (Assistant Coach); Omoniyi Haruna Ilerika (Assistant Coach); Yemi Daniel (Assistant Coach) and; Mohammed Nasiru Isah (Goalkeepers’ Trainer). Ugbade captained Nigeria’s first cadet team that won the FIFA U16 World Cup in China in 1985.

For the U13/15 Boys known as Future Eagles, Patrick Bassey will be Head Coach and will work with Abdullahi Tyabo Umar (Assistant Coach); Mohammed Kalli Kachalla (Assistant Coach); Ifeanyi Uba (Assistant Coach); Alh. Mohammed Kwairanga (Assistant Coach) and; Abubakar Abdullahi (Goalkeepers’ Trainer).

The NFF also stated that a new Head Coach for the Super Eagles will be announced and officially unveiled once the processes for his engagement and contract signing are concluded.

The NFF Executive Committee has also approved the recommendation of the Technical & Development Sub-Committee for the new Head Coach to work with Coach Salisu Yusuf (whenever he is available from Super Eagles B/U23 Team duties) as 1st Assistant. Former Nigeria international Finidi George will be the 2nd Assistant, with Usman Abdallah as the 3rd Assistant. Eboboritse Uwejamomere will be the Match Analyst and another former Nigeria international, Ike Shorounmu, will be the Goalkeepers’ Trainer.

Super Eagles players have helped their teams book places in the Europa League and the UEFA Europa Conference League semi-finals.

Some Super Eagles stars are still in the hunt for glory across all the European club competitions following the impressive results secured Thursday night with their respective teams.

Twenty-four hours after Samuel Chukwueze progressed into the Champions League semi-final with Villarreal, his national teammates also booked places in the Europa League and the UEFA Europa Conference League semi-finals.

Europa League

At the Ibrox stadium, Super Eagles midfielder, Joe Aribo, had a good game; producing an assist in Rangers’ 3-1 win over Braga in their quarter-final second-leg tie.

Aribo’s sublime pass to James Tavernier gave Rangers a dream start as he shot his side into the lead two minutes into the game.

The Nigerian midfielder who worked tirelessly was substituted in the 106th minute for Fashion Sakala after an impressive display.

Rangers’ victory was not all about Aribo as the duo of Leon Balogun and Calvin Bassey were also in action as they produced a solid defence to prevent Braga from denying them a place in the semi-final.

Rangers will now travel to Germany to face RB Leipzig for their semi-final first leg on 28 April before returning to Ibrox the following Thursday for the second leg.

RB Leipzig edged out Serie A side Atalanta to set up the clash with Rangers.

The other Europa League quarter-final ties saw West Ham overpowering Lyon 3-0 away from home to book a semi-final date against Eintracht Frankfurt who surprisingly knocked out Barcelona.

The Bundesliga side picked a famous 3-2 win at Camp Nou after being held to a 1-1 draw in the first leg.

UEFA Europa Confernce League

Though less-fancied compared to the Champions League and Europa League, Nigerian players are in the run for glory in this maiden edition of the UEFA Conference League.

On Thursday, Kelechi Iheanacho and Ademola Lookman featured for Leicester as they came from a goal down to beat PSV 2-1 and qualify for the semi-finals.

This is the first time Leicester City have qualified for a European club competition semi-final.

Iheanacho was in the starting 11 before going off in the 65th minute.

For Lookman, who had a hand in Leicester’s winner, he came on for Harvey Barnes before the start of the second half.

Leicester have a tough hurdle ahead of them as they will battle Serie A giants AS Roma in the semi-finals.

Jose Mourinho’s men crushed Bodo/Glimt 4-0 on Thursday to progress with a 5-2 aggregate scoreline.

Elsewhere, out-of-favour Super Eagles striker, Cyriel Dessers, bagged a brace as Feyenoord defeated Slavia Prague 3-1 away and booked a place in the semi-finals.

Feyenoord qualified for the semis 6-4 on aggregate after the first leg ended 3-3.

Dessers’ Nigerian compatriots, Peter Olayinka, and Collins Sor were in action for Slavia Prague but they could not help their team to the semi-final ticket. Dessers and his Feyenoord teammates will take on Marseille in the semi-final.

The first legs will be played on April 28, and the second legs will come up on May 5, 2022.

World Cup countries will use the Super Eagles to test their readiness as they continue preparation for Qatar 2022

The NigeriaFootball Federation has announced a second friendly match for the Super Eagles.

In a statement on Friday, the NFF wrote, “The Nigeria Football Federation and the Federación Ecuatoriana de Fútbol on Friday announced that the ‘A’ National Teams of both countries will play a friendly match in New Jersey, United States of America on Thursday, 2nd June 2022.”

After non-qualification for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, the Super Eagles became friendly match material for World Cup teams that have African teams like Senegal and Cameroon in their groups.

Ecuador is in Group A with Senegal, Qatar, and the Netherlands.

The NFF release reveals the venue of the encounter to be the “25,000-capacity Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey-home to Major League Soccer’s New York Red Bulls.”

Ecuador qualified fourth in the South America qualifiers while the Super Eagles were beaten to the World Cup ticket on away goals against Ghana. This meeting with the three-time African champions will be their first-ever senior team clash.

The match comes five days after Nigeria play Mexico at the AT & T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The NFF has not named a substantive manager for the Super Eagles although the back room staff has been chosen.