Nothing but the title will do for Eagles, Ekong says

Super Eagles Captain, William Troost-Ekong, has warned Nigeria’s opponents at the Morocco 2025 Africa Cup of Nations that his team would be battle ready to win the championship title at the end of competition on January 2026.

The Super Eagles, led by Ekong, finished in second position at the last edition of the championship won by hosts, Cote d’Ivoire. Now, the Saudi Arabia-based defender has warned that his team aims to go a notch higher this term.

At the draws held in Morocco on Monday, Nigeria was pitted against Tunisia, Uganda and Tanzania in Group C.

Reacting to the draw yesterday, Ekong said in a video report sent to The Guardian by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) that the Super Eagles are better equipped to go all the way in Morocco.

He said: “The AFCON 2025 draw is now over. It’s very exciting to see the new group. Tunisia, Uganda and Tanzania are three teams that need to be respected. I think we have the experience now to know how to handle these situations.

“There’s no such thing as an easy game in Africa, and I stand by that, but I believe we have everything on our team to get out of this group, and this time, go all the way.”

He said that the Super Eagles learnt great lessons from their bitter-sweet experience in Cote d’Ivoire, adding that the team will go for gold under new coach, Eric Chelle.

“We learned so much last year from the AFCON in Abidjan and this time we’ll be more ready. We’ll be working hard all year to make sure everyone is fit and ready, and everyone is looking forward to getting going under the new coach. It’s an exciting year ahead and I’m very happy with the AFCON draw,” he said.