8TH AFRICAN NATIONS CHAMPIONSHIP: CHELLE PICKS NDUKA, ÒBAJE, ALIMI, 20 OTHERS ... Team flies to Zanzibar Thursday night

By Emmanuel Chibuzor Orji - Topstriker, Sports Editor

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July 24, 2025, 4:53 a.m.

Head Coach Eric Chelle has selected team captain Junior Harrison Nduka, defender Sikiru Alimi and forward Godwin Obaje among a list of 23 players that make up the final squad of Super Eagles B for the 8th African Nations Championship taking place in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, 2nd – 30th August. Also listed are goalkeeper Ozoemena Ani, defenders Sodiq Ismaila and Stephen Mayo, midfielders Hadi Haruna and Alex Oyowah, and forwards Anas Yusuf, Sikiru Alimi and Ijoma Anthony. The contingent is set to travel out of the country to Zanzibar on Thursday evening, aboard an Ethiopian Airline aircraft. The team has been training for several weeks at the Remo Stars Sports Institute in Ikenne-Remo, Ogun State. Already, the Nigeria Football Federation has arranged a second-phase training camp for the team in Zanzibar, from 25th – 31st July, before the 2018 silver medallists will move into official accommodation on the island. The NFF has also firmed up arrangements for two friendly matches between the Super Eagles B and the Senior National Team of Zanzibar, first on Monday, 28th July and then on Thursday, 31st July. Nigeria, also bronze medallists in 2014, are housed in group D of the 19-team tournament, alongside Cup holders Senegal, Sudan and Congo. The Super Eagles will play their first two matches of the competition, against Senegal and Sudan, at the Amman Stadium on the island of Zanzibar, before taking on Congo at the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in Dar es Salaam. SUPER EAGLES B FOR 8TH AFRICAN NATIONS CHAMPIONSHIP Goalkeepers: Henry Ozoemena Ani (Enyimba FC); Nurudeen Badmus (Kwara United); Lawal Mustapha (Shooting Stars) Defenders: Sodiq Ismaila (Remo Stars); Bankole Afeez (Kwara United); Taiwo Abdulrafiu (Rivers United); Uzondu Harrison (Ikorodu City); Junior Harrison Nduka (Remo Stars); Ngengen Leonard (Ikorodu City); Steven Mayo Egbe (Rivers United) Midfielders: Adedayo Olamilekan (Remo Stars); Hadi Haruna (Remo Stars); Otaniyi Taofik (Rivers United); Akanni Qudus (Remo Stars); Michael Tochukwu (Remo Stars); Alex Oyowah (Remo Stars) Forwards: Anas Yusuf (Nasarawa United); Shola Adelani (Ikorodu City); Sikiru Alimi (Remo Stars); Temitope Vincent (Plateau United); Ijoma Anthony (Abia Warriors); Godwin Obaje (Rangers International); Jabbar Malik (Remo Stars)

MISSION X: WE ARE FOCUSED ON LIFTING WAFCON TROPHY - MADUGU

Nigeria will go up against hosts Morocco at the Olympic Stadium in Rabat from 9pm on Saturday night, in what has been labelled as the most-anticipated match of the 13th Women AFCON – a clash of the dominant power and one of the emerging powers of women’s football on the continent.

MISSION X: NIGERIA’S CAPTAIN, AJIBADE INCHES TOWARDS ‘PLAYER OF THE TOURNAMENT’ AWARD

The lithe and self-effacing Nigeria leader is also highly motivated by the fact that the Super Falcons have never lost a final match at the Women AFCON, going back to the first competition that Nigeria hosted in 1998.

WAFU B U20 BOYS TOURNEY; FLYING EAGLES LOSE 1-0 TO IVORIAN ELEPHANTS IN FINAL

Seven-time African champions Nigeria turned out a hard nut to crack for the Ivorians in Wednesday’s final, but they finally found a way through when goalkeeper Ebenezer Harcourt dropped the ball from a free-kick in added time.

MISSION X: NIGERIA BEAT SOUTH AFRICA TO REACH WAFCON FINAL FOR 10TH TIME

Nigeria’S MICHELLE ALOZIE scored a dramatic stoppage-time winner to seal a two-one defeat of the South Africans, who are the defending champions.

WAFU B U20 Boys Tourney: Flying Eagles Strategise to Stop Rampaging Ivorians in Final

In their semi final, two-time FIFA U20 World Cup runners-up Nigeria edged the U20 boys of Niger Republic 4-3 after a penalty shootout, following 0-0 in regulation time.

MISSION X: SUPER FALCONS CONFIDENT OF CRUSHING BANYANA BANYANA IN CASABLANCA

In the competition’s 27-year history, the Super Falcons have never failed to make the semi finals, and boastful Zambia turned out to be too weak to shred that record when both teams met in the quarter finals on Friday, an encounter from which the Super Falcons ran out 5-0 winners.