Nigeria’s Flying Eagles will on Wednesday face their Ivory Coast counterparts in Abidjan in the first of two friendly matches lined up to keep the team in shape ahead of the U-20 AFCON which comes up between April 26 and May 18.

According to the Nigeria Football Federation, the Flying Eagles delegation landed in Abidjan on Tuesday morning ahead of two friendly matches against the Young Elephants after some days of camping.

Coach Aliyu Zubairu selected 21 players for the task, among whom are team captain Daniel Bameyi, first-choice goalkeeper Ifeanyi Harcourt, defender Haruna Aliyu, midfielder Cletus Simon and forwards Clinton Japhet and Sulaiman Alabi.

The seven-time African champions take on their Ivorian counterparts at the Stade Félix Houphouët Boigny in the Ivorian capital starting from 3.30 pm CIV time (4.30 pm Nigeria time) on Wednesday before they will again clash on Friday at the same venue.

Seven-time champions Nigeria will battle with Egypt, South Africa and Morocco in Group B of the 2025 U-20 AFCON, scheduled for Ivory Coast as well.

The Flying Eagles, champions of Africa in 1983, 1985, 1987, 1989, 2005, 2011 and 2015, won the WAFU-B U20 Championship held in Lome, Togo in October last year to be eligible for the finals in Ivory Coast. They defeated Ghana’s Black Satellites 3-1 in the final match.

The two-time FIFA World Cup runners-up, in 1989 and 2005, came within breathing distance of the semi-finals at the FIFA U-20 World Cup finals in Argentina, before losing narrowly to the Korean Republic after extra time.


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