Five-time world champions, Nigeria, and three-time world champions, Ghana, are part of the seven-team West African Football Union (WAFU B) U-17 tournament taking place in Lome, Togo from January 5 to 20, 2021.
Nigeria’s U-17 boys, Golden Eaglets, will fly into Lome today from Lagos, with a squad of 25 players, who are expected to pick the ticket from the WAFU tournament to represent the region in this year’s CAF U-17 Cup of Nations taking place in Morocco.
Nigeria conquered the world in 1985, 1993, 2007, 2013 and 2015.
Ghana also dominated cadet football on the African continent, while Mali, Cote d’Ivoire and Senegal are forces to be reckoned with.
The Eaglets’ first encounter in Lome will be against the Ivorians at the Stade Municipal on Wednesday from 4pm.
The encounter will serve as a pointer to how much the Eaglets are keen to conquer Africa again.
On Saturday at the same venue, they will clash with Ghana’s Black Starlets in a potentially explosive encounter between two teams with eight world titles between them.
Hosts Togo will open the two-week tournament against Niger Republic at the Stade Kegue on Tuesday, hours before Group A’s other teams Benin Republic and Burkina Faso clash at the same venue.
Nigeria, Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire make up the three teams in Group B.