NFF to announce team today, camp opens Saturday in Cairo
Lobbyists, who want to have their wards in the Super Eagles’ squad to the Morocco 2025 Africa Cup of Nations, are allegedly delaying the release of the country’s final squad for the championship, which begins on December 21, a source at the federation has said.
NFF Media Director, Ademola Olajire, told The Guardian yesterday that the federation would announce the final list of players for the AFCON today. But a very reliable source within the federation said that the list would have been released earlier than now, but for the influence of “some top placed individuals lobbying for their players to make the squad.”
CAF gave all the participating teams up to today to submit the list of players they intend to take to Morocco today or risk sanctions.
The teams are allowed to register 23 players, but the countries can also register up to 28 players provided that they will take care of the additional five players.
Failure to meet today’s deadline will cost the offending team two slots out of the 23 allowed; meaning that CAF will only take care of 21 players out of the lot submitted by the offending team.
The source, who pleaded anonymity, said that the NFF had been looking at ways of navigating “the problem” without upsetting Coach Eric Chelle’s plans for the championship. When The Guardian contacted NFF’s Media Director, Olajire over the allegation, he simply said that “the list will come out tomorrow.”
Meanwhile, the Super Eagles’ camp will now open in Cairo on Saturday instead of the earlier advertised December 10, The Guardian has learnt.
The source said that the camping plan changed with FIFA’s ruling that teams can only release their players for the Africa Cup of Nations not later than December 14.
He said: “I don’t know if the friendly game with Egypt will still be played on December 16, as the Nigerian delegation will start arriving in Cairo on December 13. But in any case, we will still have up to three days from the day we arrive to prepare for the game on December 16.”
Nigeria is billed to hold a test game against Egypt on December 14 and another game against a yet to be named country in Cairo before leaving for Morocco ahead of the Super Eagles opening Group C game against Tanzania on December 23 at the Complexe Sportif de Fès in Fès.
The Super Eagles’ second game of the championship is against the Carthage Eagles of Tunisia on December 27 at the same venue, while their last group game is against Uganda on December 31.
With only two automatic qualification spots and a possible third-place route to the Round of 16, Group C is set to be one of the most unpredictable groups in AFCON 2025.
