Future Eagles billed for eight-nation tournament in Japan

The U-15 national boys team, known as the Future Eagles, has been invited to take part in an eight–nation tournament in Japan in June this year.Known as the U-16 International Dream Cup, the tournament started in 2015 and has welcomed teams from a number of the world’s leading football nations, including France, Spain and The Netherlands. Senegal, Mali and Guinea are among the African nations to have participated in previous editions.
 
According to thenff.com, administrator of the U-15 national boys team, Adewale Adeyinka yesterday disclosed that the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) had already responded positively to the invitation.Players for the U15 team are selected during the annual NFF/Zenith Bank Future Eagles Championship. Last year, the Future Eagles won the silver medal of the football event at the third African Youth Games in Algiers. A good number of the players made the U17 national team that won the WAFU Cup in Niger Republic in September last year, to qualify for this year’s Africa U17 Cup of Nations taking place in Tanzania.
 
At the U16 International Dream Cup Tournament, hosts Japan, Chile and France finished in that order at the inaugural edition in 2015, while Mali, Japan and Hungary were the top teams in 2016. Host Japan, The Netherlands and Guinea were top of the pile in 2017, and last year, Spain, Paraguay and Senegal finished in that order.This year’s tournament will hold June 12 to 16 in the city of Sendai.