One of the longest international rivalries in African football will be rekindled today at the Gtech Stadium, Brentford, England, where the Super Eagles will meet their Ghanaian counterparts in their opening game of the 2025 Unity Cup.
The Unity Cup is a four-game championship involving West Africa’s Nigeria and Ghana as well as the Caribbean’s Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago. Apart from the football on the pitch, it also allows participating countries to exchange ideas on sports and culture, and build economic partnerships.
In the game, which is also one of the semifinals, the Super Eagles and the Black Stars will battle for a right to play in the final against either Jamaica or Trinidad and Tobago. The North Americans met in the opening game yesterday.
The Super Eagles arrived in Brentford on Monday and went to work immediately to prepare for another chapter in the football “war” with the Black Stars. Although Super Eagles Head Coach, Eric Sekou-Chelle, has said that the Unity Cup presents him the opportunity to look at the players at his disposal with an eye on the last leg of the 2026 World Cup qualifying series, the players say they know the pride and bragging rights that are at stake and therefore will approach today’s game with the aim of coming on top.
Super Eagles’ returning captain, Ahmed Musa, promised in a pre-game interview, yesterday, that he would use the game to show that he is still relevant in the national team setup.
The 32-year-old forward, who now plays for Kano Pillars, was last involved with the Super Eagles during the AFCON 2023 tournament under Jose Peseiro. Musa, who is among the 10 home-based players in the Unity Cup team, said being back in the national team is an opportunity to repay fans for their support over the years, adding: “We know that a lot of Nigerians are very disappointed in the Super Eagles, but I’ll always call on them to keep supporting us because that is what we need right now. The support will be of great help to us.”
Like Nigeria, Ghana will also use the invitational to prepare for a final onslaught on the 2026 World Cup ticket. Ghana’s Head Coach, Otto Addo, a former Borussia Dortmund winger, is heading into his fourth clash against the Super Eagles, following his success in the FIFA World Cup playoff in March 2022. Otto lost 2-1 to Nigeria in March last year, and this presents an opportunity for him to record his first win against Nigeria.
He said: “I think first of all the culture meets, competition, it’s a big festival, and it’s very, very nice to be here. And surely, we are using this opportunity to do further tests, to test our players, to see our players on a very, very high level. And yeah, we’re happy that we are getting this opportunity. And for us, it’s surely a good, good test for the upcoming work of qualifying games in September.”
On the rivalry with Nigeria, he said: “It’s a good test. It’s good for our confidence ahead of the upcoming games, and for us. I think everyone knows what it’s about, surely, it’s a friendly game, but it’s not a friendly game. We want our people to be proud of us, and we want our people to talk from a certain perspective, and surely, it’s always about who has the better team. And sometimes margins can decide the outcome of the game.
“I think normally, to be honest; we are on the same level. But we’re hoping that we will win, hoping that we’ll be successful. It’s going to be tough, but I’m sure we can do it.”
Both teams bring several critical elements into the encounter, including a 74-year rivalry in which Ghana have smiled more than Nigeria, but either team has felt like they lost a World War 3 whenever results did not go their way.
Until March last year, when they won a friendly match against the Black Stars 2-1 in the Moroccan city of Marrakech, thanks to goals from Cyriel Dessers and Ademola Lookman, the Super Eagles had not beaten their West African foes in 18 years. That was when Taye Taiwo’s shot from a free-kick outside the box condemned the Black Stars to defeat in a group phase encounter in Port Said, at the 2006 Africa Cup of Nations.
The Black Stars won the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification pitching both teams together, on the away goal rule, and retained the bragging rights of the biggest win in their clashes – a 7-0 spanking of then Red Devils in a Jalco Cup match in Accra on October 30, 1955. Ghana also won the two teams’ only previous clash at Brentford, running away 4-1 victors in a friendly encounter on February 6, 2007.
However, the Super Eagles have equally had their day in the sun, such as the 3-0 trashing of the Black Stars in Port Harcourt to earn passage to the 2002 FIFA World Cup finals, and eliminating the Cup holders from the 1984 Africa Cup of Nations.
Today’s clash in west London is another opportunity for the Super Eagles to prove their mettle, with Head Coach Sekou-Chelle having called an interesting blend of home-based talent and boys based overseas.
