The delay in the arrival of Kelechi Iheanacho to the camp of the Super Eagles for the AFCON 2025 qualifiers games against Benin Republic and Rwanda on the 7th and 10th respectively, OwnGoalNigeria.com can exclusively reveal.

Iheanacho missed the team’s first full training session under interim coach Austine Eguavoen this evening, which had as many as 20 players attendance perfecting strategies for the first game over the weekend.

Aside Iheanacho, two others in Victor Osimhen and goalkeeper Maduka Okoye are yet to arrive in the camp of the team, and we gathered exclusively the reason behind the absence of the forward who recently joined LaLiga side Sevilla.

His first flight will be from Sevilla to Barcelona before connecting to Turkey because there is no direct flight from Seville to Istanbul from where he is expected to fly to Nigeria for the game.

Sources say there is every likelihood that he will arrive alongside Victor Osimhen, who recently joined Turkish league giants Galatasaray on a one year loan deal from Napoli yesterday.

The pair are expected to be on the same flight from Istanbul to Nigeria for the game. They are expected to arrive in Lagos in the early hours of tomorrow before connecting a flight to Uyo, the venue of the game.

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

Samson Akinyoola wasn’t included in the squad of Benin Republic for their upcoming AFCON qualifiers game against the Super Eagles of Nigeria due to complexity over his Nigerian roots, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

24 year old Akinyoola was born in the Nigerian city of Lagos, where he started his football career playing for 36 Lions, before taking his trade to Venezuela where he represented Caracas FC.

Two years ago he moved to Egyptian giants Zamalek and subsequently got his first call up to the senior national team of Benin Republic, where he has two caps but it appears it will take a while before he adds to that tally.

Head coach of the Benin Republic team Gernot Rohr has left him out of his team owing to a lack of clarity over his international status, and if he is really eligible to play for Benin Republic.

Rohr is said to be wary of suffering a possible deduction if the forward who is currently involved in a contract dispute with Zamalek plays against the Super Eagles. His attempt to get some help from sources in the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has yielded no result.

The coach who managed the Super Eagles for a period of almost seven years isn’t sure the issue will be cleared anytime soon, and will rather use the players who have no such issues against Nigeria on the 7th of September in Uyo.

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

The Executive Committee of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has approved the recommendation of its Technical and Development Sub-Committee for the appointment of Mr. Aliyu Zubairu as Head Coach of the National U20 Boys, Flying Eagles.

He replaces Ladan Bosso who has been at the helm since 2019 and recently led the team to a quarter final spot at the U20 World Cup in Argentina.

The appointment of Zubairu, who led El-Kanemi Warriors of Maiduguri to win the President Federation Cup at the expense of Abia Warriors FC in Lagos in June, takes immediate effect.

Zubairu’s immediate task is to put together and prepare a team for the WAFU B U20 Championship, scheduled for October/November in Togo, where the zone’s representative will emerge for next year’s Africa U20 Cup of Nations.

Players of the senior national team of Nigeria have expressed their joy in working with the interim coach of the team Austine Eguavoen ahead of the upcoming AFCON qualifiers games against Benin Republic and Rwanda respectively, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

It will begin with a game at home against Benin Republic led by former coach of the Nigerian team Gernot Rohr on the 7th, before the trip to Rwanda as they bid to make it to the 2025 AFCON.

Eguavoen was drafted in as interim coach following breakdown in talks with Bruno Labbadia to take over as coach, in an announcement by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) he will handle the team in both games.

His appointment seen as unpopular by most followers of the team has however made some players of the team excited, due to his management style which they say makes them to play with freedom.

It is the 4th time that he will be in charge of the team and most recently he was in charge of the team for the delayed 2021 AFCON held two years ago in Cameroon, where the team exited the tournament in the round of 16 following a 1-0 loss to Tunisia. They however won all of their group games.

The technical director of the NFF has the trust and respect of the players with a couple of team saying he ranks higher than most indigenous coaches, due to his open style of leadership where he speaks with them before taking any decision on their involvement.

All of them who spoke to us on the condition of anonymity say he is a huge apostle of attacking football, which suits the talents at his disposal in the team at the moment.

Interim Coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Austine Eguavoen has made a slight adjustment to the squad of the team for their upcoming AFCON qualifiers games against Benin Republic and Rwanda respectively, OwnGoalNigeria.com can exclusively reveal.

The coach who will handle the team in interim capacity for both games will be without the services of Fenerbahce defender Bright Osayi-Samuel, who isn’t fully fit according to correspondence from his club to the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).

Eguavoen has moved swiftly by replacing him with Benjamin Tanimu who recently joined English League One side Crawley Town FC from Tanzanian side Singida Black Stars.

Tanimu was pictured arriving in the camp of the team with sources confirming that he was handed a late call up as a replacement for the unfit Osayi-Samuel, who missed the last two games of Fenerbahce. His arrival alongside Samuel Chukwueze swelled the number of players in the camp of the team to 18.

The former Bendel Insurance defender will be hoping to add to his current count of three caps for the senior national team of Nigeria, all coming under the leadership of erstwhile coach Finidi George.

Nigeria international forward Victor Osimhen has parted ways with his agent Roberto Calenda after the entire drama that saw the collapse of his move to either Saudi Arabia side Al Ahli and Chelsea respectively.

All has not been well in the relationship between Osimhen and the agent since then entire drama around his move on transfer deadline day, and his recent actions suggest he has decided to end their relationship which started two years ago, when he ditched his previous agent.

Osimhen who landed in Turkey yesterday to complete a move to Galatasaray in time before their window closes is expected to join on a season long loan deal from Napoli, which has no buyout clause and carries a January termination clause in the event that he gets an offer.

Per reports by Il Mattino (via TMW), the 25 year old handled the negotiation for his move personally with an intermediary in George Gardi after losing faith in his agent Calenda. Despite the involvement of Gardi he handled almost everything himself.

The report also say he has also lost trust in most of his close associates in Nigeria and has decided to represent himself for now.

Calenda didn’t respond to inquiries on parting ways with the forward, who is expected to be in the camp of the senior national team of Nigeria for their AFCON qualifiers games against Benin Republic and Rwanda on the 7th and 10th of September respectively.

The numbers of players in the camp of the senior national team of Nigeria for their upcoming AFCON qualifiers games against Benin Republic and Rwanda on the 7th and 10th of September respectively has swelled to 16, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Yesterday interim head coach of the team Austine Eguavoen had a short talk with 11 players in the camp of the team, but he is expected to have them in a full training session later this evening ahead of Saturday’s game.

Since the last time he spoke with the team, the number has increased significantly especially with the arrival of Nantes forward Moses Simon who is seen as key to the plans of the interim coach, owing to how he utilized him during the AFCON 2021 when he held the same role.

Simon is expected to play on the left in what many expected to be a 4-2-4 formation with the others expected to be Ademola Lookman, Alex Iwobi and Victor Osimhen. Only the latter who recently completed his move to Turkish side Galatasaray is unavailable.

Osimhen and six others namely Maduka Okoye, Raphael Onyedika, Bruno Onyemaechi, Kelechi Iheanacho, Bright Osayi-Samuel and Samuel Chukwueze.

Below is the list of the 16 players in the camp of the team in Uyo as at the time of this report.

William Troost-Ekong

Ola Aina

Semi Ajayi

Ademola Lookman

Olisa Ndah

Taiwo Awoniyi

Fisayo Dele-Bashiru

Wilfred Ndidi

Amass Obasogie

Victor Boniface

Stanley Nwabali

Alex Iwobi

Frank Onyeka

Calvin Bassey

Moses Simon

Alhassan Yusuf

The decision of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to pick Bruno Labbadia as the new coach of the senior national team of Nigeria has been termed as a mistake, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

58 year old Labbadia was announced as the new coach of the senior national team of Nigeria by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), but made a u-turn following breakdown in talks related to failure in finding an agreement on the payment of his taxes.

In response the NFF turned to the head of their technical department Austine Eguavoen to handle the team in interim capacity for the upcoming AFCON qualifiers games against Benin Republic and Rwanda on the 7th and 10th of September respectively.

It will be the 4th time that the former captain of the senior national team of Nigeria will be handling the team, and according to a board member of the football house the chaotic arrangement would have been avoided if they had stuck to the original plan of appointing Belgian coach Tom Saintfeit, who is now the new coach of Mali.

” I think within us (NFF) we knew it was a mistake going out of our shortlist and picking from another shortlist drawn up by the president of the NFF Ibrahim Musa Gusau and some people in high places. The entire episode with Labbadia is disgraceful and we can’t deny that we should have handled it better”, he said.

He however backed the choice to Eguavoen as coach saying among all indigenous coaches the is the one whom the players love the most due to his open nature and the fatherly manner he relates with them in camp , and even during games.

” Eguavoen is the most loved indigenous coach by the Super Eagles players among all that we have here in Nigeria. They see him as a father and like the way he addresses them especially in camp and even during games. He brings calm and unity”, he completed his statement.

The recently concluded search for a new coach of the senior national team of Nigeria ended with the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) settling for German coach Bruno Labbadia, which later took an unexpected turn.

Labbadia was officially announced as the new coach by the NFF whilst discussion was still ongoing on some administrative issues. Talks later broke down and the 58 year old turned his back on the job owing to a dispute over payment of his taxes according to the NFF.

It means the technical director of the football house Austine Eguavoen taking over the role in interim capacity for the games against Benin Republic and Rwanda on the 7th and 10th of September respectively in the AFCON qualifiers.

One of the coaches who applied for the job Roberto Landi has taken a swipe at the NFF in an interview made available to our editorial team. The Italian voiced his unhappiness over the manner he was treated by the NFF.

“I don’t know, but that is crazy”, Landi said. “If that’s the case, it’s crazy. No one wants to be treated that way or disrespected, and you see why one would walk out. I say it, because no one want to be treated in that way”, he said to SportsBoom.com on news that Labbadia walking out on the job happened after first choice Janne Andersson also turned down the offer.

“[Like in my case] I spoke with my agent, and he’s assured that all is well, while looking at some possible offers on the table. I wondered on the silence since my resume got turned in and no one from the federation has reached out.

“All contractual agreements need to be covered before anything becomes official, and a big body like the NFF knows this. I do not know any other details of this story aside what we read from the media, but I believe they know what to do”, he enthused.

He rounded up by saying he will be willing to try again when the opportunity is made available by the NFF since Eguavoen is occupying the role in an interim capacity” “Maybe you want to know what their [NFF] preferences might be. We’re waiting, but everyone knows how big a job the Super Eagles role is,” the Italian tactician said.

“Yes, certainly the lure is still there. Mr Austin [Eguavoen] takes charge of the team’s games for next month, I suppose? I wish him and the team the best of luck in that. Ciao”.

Ade Emmanuel

Samson Akinyoola wasn’t included in the squad of Benin Republic for their upcoming AFCON qualifiers game against the Super Eagles of Nigeria due to complexity over his Nigerian roots, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

24 year old Akinyoola was born in the Nigerian city of Lagos, where he started his football career playing for 36 Lions, before taking his trade to Venezuela where he represented Caracas FC.

Two years ago he moved to Egyptian giants Zamalek and subsequently got his first call up to the senior national team of Benin Republic, where he has two caps but it appears it will take a while before he adds to that tally.

Head coach of the Benin Republic team Gernot Rohr has left him out of his team owing to a lack of clarity over his international status, and if he is really eligible to play for Benin Republic.

Rohr is said to be wary of suffering a possible deduction if the forward who is currently involved in a contract dispute with Zamalek plays against the Super Eagles. His attempt to get some help from sources in the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has yielded no result.

The coach who managed the Super Eagles for a period of almost seven years isn’t sure the issue will be cleared anytime soon, and will rather use the players who have no such issues against Nigeria on the 7th of September in Uyo.

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman