The Confederation of African Football (CAF) yesterday released the list of approved stadia for the final rounds of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.
According to the list released by CAF, the only Nigerian stadium deemed fit to host the qualifiers is the Godswill Akpabio Stadium otherwise known as the Nest of Champions in Uyo while rejecting the Moshood Abiola stadium where the Super Eagles had played their last home games.
It will be recalled that CAF had approved the use of the Abuja stadium for the qualifiers at a same time when FIFA sanctioned Nigeria over fans’ invasion of the stadium in the wake of crowd disturbances after the March 29 second leg World Cup 2022 playoff game between Super Eagles and Black Stars of Ghana.
There have been concerns about the Abuja stadium as regards the playing turf despite the $1m invested by billionaire businessman and Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote to renovate the edifice adopted by him under the Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare’s Adopt-a-Pitch initiative.
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With the return to Uyo, the Super Eagles will be looking forward to a good run at home as experienced during the 2018 World Cup and 2019 AFCON qualifiers.
The Super Eagles on June 18th will play away to Sierra-Leone before hosting Sao Tome and Principe in Uyo in September. Nigeria leads Group A with 9 points while Guinea-Bissau is placed second with 7 points from four games played so far.
Next year’s AFCON is expected to be hosted by Cote d’Ivoire.
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