April 12, (THEWILL) – Nigeria’s Under-17 football team, the Golden Eaglets, are set to make their record tenth appearance at the U-17 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournament in Algeria this month.
The young team hopes to clinch the championship for the first time since 2007 and live up to the expectations of over 200 million Nigerians worldwide. The Golden Eaglets qualified for the tournament after a 3-1 victory against Cote D’Ivoire in the semi-final of the WAFU B.
The two-time champions will compete in Group B, which is considered the “group of death” by bookmakers, alongside Morocco, Zambia, and South Africa. Nigeria’s group games will be played in the Algerian football-loving city of Constantine, with their first match against Zambia on April 30, followed by matches against Morocco on May 3 and South Africa on May 6.
Nduka Ugbade, a former defender for the Super Eagles and now head coach of the Golden Eaglets, will lead the team during this edition of the tournament. Ugbade led Nigeria to the WAFU B triumph and assembled a squad of mostly home-based players for their preparations camp in the build-up to the tournament.
Among the dominant local clubs producing U-17 national team players is Enyimba International, winners of the CAF Champions League in 2003 and 2004.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
