Ahead of the 2023 African Cup of Nations, three-time winners, Super Eagles will begin a 7-day camping exercise in Abu Dhabi, capital city of the United Arab Emirates.
The 34th edition of the biennial African association football tournament organised by Confederation of African Football (CAF) is scheduled to kick off on January 13, 2024 and end on February 11, 2024.
All the 25 players except for Samuel Chukwueze, William Troost-Ekong and Francis Uzoho will arrive late.
It will be noted that the trio were given permission by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to report late following requests from their clubs.
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Super Eagles AFCON camp open today in Abu Dhabi
AC Milan, Greek Super League team PAOK Salonica and Omonia Nicosia sought permission from NFF to use the Chukwueze, Trost-Ekong and Uzoho respectively in crucial club games today. The trio are expected to arrive Abi Dhabi camp on Wednesday
According to the NFF, the training camp will last until Tuesday, 9th January. The team will fly back to Lagos on Tuesday 9th January, and then fly into the Ivorian capital, Abidjan on Wednesday, 10th January.
The Super Eagles, in their quest for a fourth continental title, will take on Equatorial Guinea on Sunday, 14th January in their first match of Group A, before further clashes with host nation Cote d’Ivoire (18th January) and Guinea Bissau (22nd January).
Meanwhile, coach Jose Peseiro has revealed why he chose a 25-man squad instead of 27-man squad.
“The number is from the Nigeria Football Federation. NFF decided to take 25 players. I agreed, twenty-five players are enough to manage. Since the first moment NFF decided to take 25 players,” Peseiro told the Super Eagles media.
“We did a big list of 41 players and these chosen players worked with us until now. The performance in the selection because some players show good performance in the clubs but didn’t show in our national team.
“It can happen the same in the opposite, some players play very well in the national team, they didn’t play well in the clubs – it’s different atmosphere, different context,” he said.
In the same vein, in a social media post, former Super Eagles goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama hinted that he might rejoin the team, saying he would be training with Nigerian players and staff before the 2023 AFCON.
Reacting to a post about the AFCON preparations of the team on the official Instagram account of the Super Eagles, Enyeama posted a comment saying; “Let’s go, See you in camp. Time for business.”
