Following the circumstantial cancellation of the planned friendly matches between the Nigeria U20 team and their Egyptian counterparts, the Nigeria Football Federation has secured a replacement team, in order for the Flying Eagles not to leave camp without testing their strength ahead of the forthcoming Africa U20 Cup of Nations.
The seven-time African champions will now play AFCON host nation, Cote d’Ivoire in two matches scheduled for Wednesday, 26th February and Friday, 28th February 2025 in the Ivorian capital.
Aliyu Lawal Ibrahim, Team Administrator of the Nigeria U20 side confirmed that the team, which has been in camp in Abuja for weeks after Head Coach Aliyu Zubairu called up 30 players for the planned games with Egypt’s Young Pharaohs, is expected to depart Abuja for Abidjan on Monday, 24th February.
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The Flying Eagles defeated the Ivorians 2-1 in a group stage encounter at the WAFU B U20 Championship in Togo in October last year – a result that qualified the Cup holders to the semi-finals of the competition which they eventually won to retain the trophy.
Forty-two years ago, Nigeria edged the Ivorians 4-3 in a memorable two-leg final of the Tessema Cup (the trophy for Africa’s U20 champions, named after then CAF President Ydnekatchew Tessema).
Both teams had already qualified for the FIFA World Youth Championship (now FIFA U20 World Cup) finals in Mexico, but the fixture was staged to determine the champions of Africa. The first leg in Abidjan ended 2-2, but a long-range strike by Dahiru Sadi in the second half gave Nigeria a 2-1 win in the return leg at the National Stadium, Lagos.
The games with the Pharaohs were rendered nullity after both Nigeria and Egypt were drawn in group B (alongside Morocco and South Africa) of the Africa U20 Cup of Nations taking place in Cote d’Ivoire from 26th April to 18th May. All four semi-finalists at the AFCON will qualify to represent the continent at the FIFA U20 World Cup finals in Chile, 27th September – 19th October.