The senior national team of Nigeria has for the first time in four years dropped out of the top five in African football according to the latest ratings released by world football governing body FIFA.

Super Eagles have endured a poor run of form under manager Jose Peseiro leading to the team losing three straight matches, the height of which was the embarrassing 0-1 defeat at home to Guinea Bissau.

That poor run of form was arrested with a 1-0 win over Guinea Bissau away in Bissau but it had zero or no significant effect as it seems with the team now dropping out of the top five countries in the continent and 40th in the world.

Morocco remains the highest rated African side with a position of 11th in the world, Senegal are second in Africa with a placement of 18th in the world. Tunisia rated 28th occupies third position in Africa while Algeria in 34th spot takes up the fourth spot in Africa.

Egypt displaced Nigeria in the top five coming up with three places in the latest ratings to the position of 5th. Nigeria takes up 5th position with a global rating of 40. Their lowest position since 2018.

Mohammed Mowiz

The U20 team of Nigeria who will play at the U20 World Cup have been told to report to training in two weeks time and not this week as earlier planned, OGN can exclusively reveal.

Sources at the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) said the decision to postpone the resumption of the team for preparation for the World Cup was taken due to paucity of funds and the fact that the football house want to concentrate on the U17 team, who will be leaving for the AFCON soon.

It means the Nigeria U20 team will have less than a month in camp for preparation if FIFA stick to the original date for the tournament despite deciding to strip Indonesia off the hosting right of the tournament.

Already, the other African teams like Senegal, Gambia and Tunisia who will be at the World are in camp already. The situation with Nigeria will no doubt frustrate the plan to inject new players into the team.

Nigeria secured a spot at the World Cup by finishing third at the Africa U20 AFCON but the display of the Ladan Bosso led team made many to call for the addition of new players to the team.  However that move is now under threat with the team now having limited time in camp to assess any potential new player.

Damian Waziri

Portuguese league giants FC Porto have handed a five year deal to their Nigerian winger Marcus Abraham after agreeing to trigger his buy out clause of €750,000 agreed when he joined them on loan, OGN can exclusively reveal.

Abraham has been one of the star performers for the B team of the team and was duly rewarded with a first team appearance in their last league game against Portimonense. A game they won 1-0.

The result saw them move to within ten points of league leaders Benfica and also two points clear of third place Braga after 26 rounds of games. Yesterday’s win was achieved without regular left back Zaidu Sanusi, the senior international of Nigeria wasn’t listed following his return from the international break with Nigeria.

23 year old Abraham, who was capped twice by Nigeria under erstwhile coach Gernot Rohr in the back to back friendly games against Cameroon in 2021 expressed his delight at finally making his bow for the first team after the game.

“Happy to be in this team. Great opportunity and I am happy for my debut and that we won,” he said before revealing what coach of the team Sérgio Conceição told him before the game. “He said I should try to make my game and try to score,” he told Porto Canal. “It’s a good atmosphere. First time I played and happy to have played here”, he rounded up saying.

He will now be handed an extended stay at the club on a five year deal, which will be announced in the summer upon the expiration of his present deal but already terms have been agreed.

Daniel Martins

As Nigeria continue the drive to have more players born outside the shores of the country pledge their allegiance to the senior national team of Nigeria, Dominic Solanke is one name that is expected to be in the list.

This season he has been ever present for Bournemouth, who are facing a huge battle to remain in the English top flight at the end of the season as they are stucked in the relegation zone with 27 points.

For the 18th placed team, Solanke has had a fairly good season with four goals and four assists to his name from 24 games in the league. His form has been one of the few positives for the team.

Speaking on a podcast monitored by OGN, the 25 year old who was once upon a time on the books of Chelsea and later Liverpool revealed he still has dreams of playing for England in the future.

” It’s England for me in the future but it starts with my form at my club. I know a lot has been said about playing for Nigeria but no one has contacted me about it. Maybe they will in the future”, he said when asked on if he sees playing for Nigeria as an option.

Daniel Martins

Gent of Belgium are already planning for life without their red hot Nigerian striker Gift Orban who is on the radar of several top teams in Europe after a whirlwind start to his life at the Belgium club.

Signed from second division Norwegian side Stabæk in January, the 20year old has plundered 14 goals in 11 games making mockery of people who criticized the decision of the club to spend €3m for a player from a second division side.

That form hasn’t gone unnoticed by top teams around Europe and they have already started looking at the possiblity of meeting the €20m price tag Gent will likely slap on him in the event of any serious interests leading to a bid.

Already the club have sounded out 22 year old Nigerian forward Wale Musa Ali according to Belgium based journalist Sacha Tavolieri. Ali currently plays for Czech Republic side Zbrojovka Brno after spells in Estonia and Austria.

He has three goals and six assists this season with one more year left in his contract, he is said to be of serious interest to the Belgium side, who are looking at the possiblity of playing him as a striker instead of on the flanks, where he currently plays.

The scouts of the club are however facing a mild opposition from the head coach of the team Hein Vanhaezebrouck who is sceptical of the player’s ability owing to the not too competitive nature of the league he currently plays.

Daniel Martins

Former captain and coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Sunday Oliseh has explained the aspect of Victor Osimhen which is better than that of legendary Super Eagles forward and time top scorer Rashidi Yekini.

Oliseh played with Yekini at senior level and was asked about his opinion on who Osimhen reminds him off owing to how he has performed so far both at Napoli and the senior national team of Nigeria.

Without mincing words, Oliseh said the obvious name that Osimhen who is powering Napoli to the league title with 21 goals in 23 games reminds him of is Yekini. He said there is however one side of his game that stands him out from other Nigerian strikers.

He however said Osimhen is the closest replacement to Yekini Nigeria have had in the past few years, describing other strikers who have played for the team in the same role in the past as nothing close to the directness of Yekini.

*Osimhen is Rashidi Yekini in a kind of a way , he beats gangling in way , there is something he does better than Rashidi, which is very rare by Nigerian striker. That is the aerial ball, every time I send the ball to Rashidi to head especially when I started to get to know him. I will send it for him to head it”, he told the athlst podcast.

“The man will jump even higher than I sent it. He loves to keep it down on his chest and finish. Initially I didn’t understand then I understood one thing as we started training together, he doesn’t trust his heading so much. So he doesn’t know if he can put it well. He prefers to bring it down and his finishing with his feet, inside, outside or instep very good.

“Now if you look at Osimhen, what I like about him is that since Rashidi stopped for the national team. Our potency upfront just dropped and the strikers we brought in to play the number 9 are the ones that are struggling or like to play with their back to goal and not very direct like Rashidi”, he explained.

Damian Waziri

The handlers of the Nigeria U17 team have dismissed as false reports that majority of the key players in the team failed the Magnetic Imaging Resonance test (MRI) which is meant to curb the menace of age cheats at youth levels.

Nigeria are in camp in Abuja ahead of the Africa Cup of Nations, which they qualified for by winning the WAFU B championship, which was held in Ghana in style. The coach Nduka Ugabde led team is set for a training tour of Germany.

Reports in the local media suggested that the team has been decimated by the test with as many as ten players who were pivotal in the team winning the U17 WAFU B championship affected by it.

We made checks at the team camp of the team and can authoritatively say the report is false and the team only had their second MRI test yesterday with the results expected to come though later today and tomorrow.

The only result the team have from the test is the one that was held before the team embarked on a break for the general election in Nigeria and all of the starting lineup at the WAFU tournament passed it.

Players who failed it were mostly the new ones scouted during the recently concluded open screening. They were meant to help boost the depth of the team ahead of the AFCON and at no point in time were they seen as regulars.

” You just saw our friendly game and we used nine of our regulars at WAFU. Our back four stays the same even with the goalkeeper, the same as midfielders as you can see. Even in attack, we rested one of our two strikers at WAFU. Where did you hear that devilish report from”, coach of the team Nduka Ugabde fumed when we sort for clarity on the report.

Mohammed Mowiz

The English Championship is one league that is home to several English players of Nigerian descent with Luton Town FC 24 year old Gabriel Osho also in the list, OGN reports.

Osho has been a revelation this season in the Championship with surprise package Luton, who are 4th on the log, six points behind second placed Sheffield United who are occupying the final slot for automatic promotion to the English Premier League.

What makes the rise of Osho more interesting is that at the start of the season not many would have thought he would be this important in the team of coach Rob Edwards, owing to the fact that he ended last season with a harmstring injury that saw him miss the last ten games of last season.

Even this season he has missed as many as ten games due to fitness issues yet can still boast of as many as 25 games under his belt with two goals to his name and it includes one against Watford last weekend. As a matter of fact he has played the entire duration of nine of the last ten games.

A center back who is very comfortable on the ball with his coach describing him as a natural footballer who is silky in possession. ‘He’s naturally very talented and silky with the ball, Gabe, and we want to encourage him to keep being brave and doing those things”, he said of the defender.

Eligible for both Nigeria and England, he is yet to be capped by either of the countries at any levels making him not to require any form of switch of allegiance process, which will require some form of approval from FIFA before committing to Nigeria. He is one the handlers of the Super Eagles should put an eye on for a possible call up.

Daniel Martins

As the future of Victor Osimhen at Napoli continues to generate speculations, the club has already started making plans for life without the forward, OGN reports.

Osimhen has 21 goals in 23 Serie A games this season and as expected it has shot him high up the list of several top teams in Europe ahead of the summer transfer window, especially as he will have just two year left on his deal after this season.

Already Napoli have made it clear that they are open to letting the forward leave if an offer of around €150 million is lodged for his services, with reports saying the Serie A top scorer for the runaway title favorite is high on the radar of Bayern Munich, PSG, Chelsea and Manchester United.

According to Daniele Longo, Napoli are aware of the uncertainty around his future and have already picked another Nigerian in 22 year old Union SG forward Victor Boniface as his replacement. A fee in the region of €20m will be able to make it a reality.

According to Longo, even though the forward who is the top scorer in the Europa League is also courting interest from the likes of Lazio, AC Milan and Eintracht Frankfurt of Germany, Napoli still remains the favorite for his signing and they have already sounded out his representatives.

Daniel Martins

The coach of the Nigeria U17 team Ladan Bosso has included two players from the U17 team in his list of provisional players for the U20 World Cup, Owngoalnigeria.com can exclusively reveal.

Nigeria U20 team sealed a spot at the World Cup by making the last four at the recently concluded U20 Africa Cup of Nations, they ended up finishing third with a 4-0 win over Tunisia in the losers play off.

As part of the ways Bosso intends to improve his team for the challenge that lies ahead he has dropped a level to the U17 team, where he has handed a spot to Emmanuel Michael and top striker Abdullahi Abubakar.

A source in the camp of the U17 team revealed that the Niger state born coach met with the coaching crew, where after rounds of talks he decided on the aforementioned duo to be part of his team for the U20 World Cup, which has no date yet following the decision to strip Indonesia off the hosting rights of the tournament.

” Yes we have two players in the U17 team included in the team. The left full back who scores for fun from free kicks and can also play comfortably in the middle. Then there is the striker who scored the winner at the WAFU B championship Abubakar. The two of them will compliment our team”, a member of the technical crew of the U20 technical crew also confirmed.

He went ahead to say the team’s right back Yahaya Lawal is also seriously under consideration for a spot in the U20 team but a decision will be taken before the list is submitted to world football governing body FIFA.

Osas Mahawi