Cameroon and Mali are the former champions who will face off in the same group at the TotalEnergies Under-17 AFCON. The draw for the tournament to be held in Algeria was released recently, and has some exciting group matches lined up. If you are a sports betting enthusiast, this tournament will allow you to test your knowledge of African football. Let’s take a look at the groups.

U17 Afcon 2023 Groups

Group A

Algeria, the tournament’s host, is in Group A with Senegal, Congo, and Somalia. The Group A matches will be played at the capital city of Algiers, where Algeria will hope the support of home fans can help them progress to the tournament’s next stage.

Group B

Group B includes two-time winners Nigeria, Morocco, South Africa, and Zambia. All Group B matches will be played in the city of Constantine.

Nigeria won the U17 AFCON title in 2001 and 2007. They were the runners-up in 1995 and 2013 and finished third in 2003. Additionally, the Super Eaglets finished fourth twice in 2015 and 2019.

South Africa’s best finish was runners-up in the 2015 tournament, while Morocco managed a fourth-place finish in the 2013 tournament, which they hosted.  

Group C

This is a tough group as it brings together two two-time winners, Mali and Cameroon. The other nations in this group are former champions Burkina Faso and South Sudan, who are debutants. This group’s matches will be played in the city of Annaba.   

Cameroon is the defending champions after winning the tournament in 2019 in Tanzania. The African soccer giants also won the tournament in 2003. Also, the Cameroon camp had to deal with age-cheating claims during the qualifiers. Nonetheless, they are undoubtedly the favorites for bettors on soccer betting platforms like Betway to retain the title.

Mali is also a two-time winner of the tournament, having won the tournament in 2015 and 2017. They were also the runners-up in the 1997 tournament. Burkina Faso won the tournament in 2011

When Was The Draw?

CAF Director of competitions Khaed Nasser conducted the tournament’s draw at Cercle National de l’Armee in Algiers, Algeria, on Wednesday, February 01. The draw was conducted after the conclusion of the qualifiers, which took place across the continent.

Mr. Khaed was helped by African football legends Herita Ilunga of DR Congo and Ibrahim Bekakchi of Algeria to conduct the draw. Football betting fans on Betway must have followed this draw keenly as they prepare their wagering strategies for the tournament.

When Is The U17 AFCON Tournament?

The U17 African Cup of Nations will start on April 29 and end on May 19. Furthermore, Under-17 football fans will be glad to see the tournament’s return after a brief break.

They will play the matches in three stadiums in three cities as outlined below:

• Algiers – Nelson Mandela Stadium
• Annaba – May 19, 1956, Stadium
• Constantine- Chahid Hamlaoui Stadium

This is an important tournament for the participants because the top four will qualify for the World Cup to be played later in the year.

The massive earthquake that rocked some parts of Turkey is reported to have claimed at least 1,000 lives. It has been described as one of the heaviest to have hit the country in recent years.

A lot of people have been reaching out to their loved ones to ensure they are safe with reports of thousands of people trapped in the wreckage. So far the news has been more about Ghana’s footballer Christian Atsu.

Atsu plays for Turkish side Hataysport, a club he joined last summer and is located in the province that has been severely hit by the earthquake, which is measured at 7.7 magnitude. His case isn’t an isolated one we gathered.

Nigeria international forward Henry Onyekuru who plays for Adana Demirspor on loan from Olympiakos hasn’t been heard from for the past three days. He has been unusually silent on social media as well.

His Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter and Facebook handles have been inactive for days and recent reports suggest that all efforts to reach him on the phone haven’t been successful. There is no information from his club on his safety as well.

A source close to the player in a chat made available to OGN claimed he is safe and doing well but there is still no official confirmation on his safety or whereabouts.

Also two other Nigerian players in David Babajide, a teammate of Onyekuru and young goalkeeper Emmanuel James of Gaziantep have also not been heard from since the disaster that has left the entire country in shock.

Daniel Martins

The coach of the Nigeria U20 team Ladan Bosso has picked a pool of 25 players who will be heading to the team’s training camp in Morocco for the final phase of preparation for the U20 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt.

Bosso’s squad is way different from the team that won the WAFU B championship in Niger Republic with the coach bringing in over nine new players to beef up certain areas in the team and also compensate for the absence of some players due to several issues.

OGN picks five new players who are set to play a pivotal role for the team when the tournament begins in Egypt.

1. Adams Olamilekan : A winger turned striker by Bosso. The Remo Stars forward has all it takes to be a big hit at the AFCON. He is strong, moves well and goes into tackles to put the press on defenders. He is always moving to create space for himself making it hard to pin him down. He can also shoot very well with his left foot.

2.Nicholas Jonathan: Drafted in from Kaduna based side Simoiben Football Academy. The left footed playmaker creates goal scoring chances with ease and his bags of tricks makes it easy for him to beat the press with ease. Very comfortable playing behind the main striker and can also score belters as seen in some of their test games.

3. Jude Sunday: Strong, quick and also deadly. He tends to put defenders on the back foot with the way he runs at them directly. The Real Sapphire Academy prospect is one of the latest lieutenants in the Bosso’s squad for the war in Egypt.

4 . Benjamin Fredrick: Probably not really new but set to play a prominent role. Registration issues denied him a chance of getting into the WAFU B championship team but he was part of the enlarged squad. Now a prominent player, the manner with which he slotted into the defence in the win over Zambia led to talks of how well he dovetails nicely with Daniel Bamaiyi. His performance has no doubt put him in pole position to nail a permanent spot in the team.

5. Emmanuel Uchegbu- Plugged from GBS Football Academy of Jos. Left footed, quick, strong and very clinical when he operates from the right. Scored a striker’s goal against Zambia and the manner which he takes up clever position in the box isn’t quite popular. He will no doubt trouble defenses at the AFCON.

Mohammed Mowiz 

The recent revelation by former Super Eagles forward Odion Ighalo that the lineup for the senior national team of Nigeria in the world cup playoff was changed few minutes to the game has been confirmed.

Ighalo in an interview with Oma Akatugba said the team trained ahead of the game with a lineup that was to start the game and practice a certain style and tactics to use in the game days before the game. According to Ighalo it was changed with less than two hours to the game.

Nigeria ended up drawing the game 1-1 and crashed out on the away goals rule. The country missed out on a spot at the World Cup in Qatar leading to a rebuild and the sacking of the technical crew. Jose Peseiro was appointed to lead the rebuild.

Speaking with another player who was a part of the team shed more light on the starting lineup which he said was altered by then head coach Austine Eguavoen without the knowledge of some of his assistants.

” Ighalo is right. One of the assistants explained to me that I won’t be starting because they want to play in a certain way and formation. I was shocked to hear my name in the starting lineup. I asked the person who spoke with me and he said it’s the decision of the coach”, he told OGN in an exclusive chat.

” The training on the eve of the game was intense and very tactical and around four players who started the game weren’t in the starting lineup during the session. I can tell you the lineup with ease. Francis Uzoho was to start in goal.

” William Troost Ekong, Leon Balogun, Zaidu Sanusi were the back four but somehow Calvin Bassey was picked ahead of Zaidu at left back. The idea was a 4-4-2 formation so four players namely Oghenekaro Etebo, Joe Aribo, Moses Simon and Ahmed Musa. Simon and Musa will operate from the wings but drop down to defend without the ball.

” It changed on matchday with Simon and Musa going out for Emmanuel Dennis and Ademola Lookman while upfront was to be Odion Ighalo and Victor Osimhen. We wanted to score first so playing with a two man attack was agreed but we started with just a man in attack as if we are defending.

” If you notice , all of the players I mentioned were introduced as substitutes in the game and we switched to 4-4-2. That was the original idea but it became plan B overnight. Ighalo didn’t lie”, be rounded up saying.

The coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Jose Peseiro has penciled down four players of the Nigeria U20 team who will train with his team when they resume camping for the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, OGN can exclusively reveal.

Peseiro has watched the team in training and also test games since his return to Nigeria to prepare for the March double header against Guinea Bissau. Last weekend he was among the spectators who watched the team secure a 4-2 win over Zambia in a friendly game at the Moshood Abiola stadium in Abuja.

We gathered after the game that the Portuguese coach has already picked four players in the team who he thinks will benefit from the experience of training with the senior national team of Nigeria.

Sources revealed to OGN that the players are Daniel Bamaiyi who is the new captain of the team, Adams Olamilekan, Daniel Daga and Onuche Ogbelu. The decision was reached after consultation with coach of the Nigeria U20 team Ladan Bosso.

Peseiro will in two weeks release the list of players for the AFCON qualifiers and around that time, the Flying Eagles will be in Egypt campaigning at the U20 Africa Cup of Nations. It’s after the tournament that the aforementioned quartet will team up with the team.

Waziri Damian

The football family in Nigeria was once again hit by another tragedy following the death of relatively unknown Ado Hadi during a league game in Spain where he plays in the Terceira division for CD Madridejos.

He collapsed during the game against Cabanillas  on Sunday. His death was confirmed by the league body afterwards with a statement on how all attempts to resuscitate him by the medical team failed.

The statement from the Castilla-La Mancha Football Federation read thus, Hadi reportedly collapsed “for no apparent reasons” in the 39th minute of the ill-fated match, a report by The Nation says.

The medical team on the ground at the Municipal Toledo ground immediately came to his aide but efforts to revive him proved abortive as he was later pronounced dead minutes after.

“The Castilla-La Mancha Football Federation and Castilian-La Mancha football, with its President Pablo Burillo at the helm, are totally dismayed at such an event,” the statement added. “For this reason, the federative body remains at the disposal of CD Madridejos for everything it needs in these difficult times.”

His known club in Nigeria was Jigawa Golden Stars. A team he played for three seasons ago before moving to the Spanish side two summers ago.

Until his death, Hadi was one of the four Nigerian players playing for CD Madridejos.

Club Deportivo Madridejos is a football club based in Madridejos, Castile-La Mancha in Spain. Founded in 1968, the team plays in Tercera División Group 18. The club’s home ground is Nuevo Estadio, with a 2,000-seat capacity.

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The Nigeria U20 team showed their resilience against their counterparts from Zambia to edge a competitive six goal thriller 2-4 in a pre U20 AFCON friendly game played at the Moshood Abiola stadium in Abuja.

Ladan Bosso led side dominated the early proceedings with Ayuba Francis twice coming close to opening scoring. Danial Daga was also denied twice with long range efforts. On their parts Zambia were threatening in patches with Moses Mulenga in particular putting the Nigerian defence on the back foot.

Zambia were very resolute in defence but had no answer to the enterprising Haliru Sarki who was causing them all sort of problems cutting in from either flanks. His performance had the entire Zambian defence ratteled with goalkeeper Jeban Tembo forced into making two saves from his effort.

One was from a well hit freekick while the other was a drive after using his fancy footwork to displace two of his markers on the left. There was however no denying him in the 43rd minute as he rifled home the opener after a mazy solo run .

Sarki’s goal was the difference at half time but Zambia showed they didn’t come to Nigeria for a party when they drew level ten minutes after the break. A combination of indecision and poor goalkeeping allowed Derick Bulaya the chance to drag home his effort on the post Nathaniel Nwosu is guarding.

Nigeria immediately turned on the after burner with coach Ladan Bosso throwing in the quartet of Jude Sunday, Emmanuel Uchegbu, Nicholas Jonathan and Adams Olamilekan. The subs got in on the mix upon their introduction in a bid to restore the lead of the Nigerian team.

Three minutes after the half hour mark. Olamilekan who was guilted of missing a header after a diagonal pass from Sarki made amends with a firm header from a pin point delivery from Solomon Agbalaka.

Three minutes after retaking the lead, the Flying Eagles lost it again with Lasmond Phiri the quickest to react with a header after Nigeria failed to clear their lines from a corner kick. Again Nwosu was caught in no man’s land and didn’t have any form of connection with his defenders.

Not letting their head drop, Bosso introduced Benjamin Fredrick for Abel Ogwuche, and the Simoiben Football Academy graduate immediately showed why he is so highly rated with some command on the ball which was helping the team to build from the back.

15 minutes from full time, Olamilekan who has been troubling the Zambians with his physical presence and movements robbed Tembo off the ball as they tried to build from the back. He squared for his fellow substitute Uchegbu to help Nigeria regain their lead for the third time in the game.

Bosso added more guile to his midfield with the introduction of Samson Lawal and he showed his predatory instincts by finishing off a move started by Fredrick with a curler to put the game beyond the reach of Zambia. It could have been 5-2 but Olamilekan didn’t get the first touch required to finish off a well weighted pass from Jonathan.

The game ended 4-2 with both teams now turning their attention to the Africa U20 Cup of Nations which is the qualifiers for the U20 World Cup later in the year.