The father of Super Eagles star at the recently concluded AFCON has cried out over the decision of his son to drop his name as his surname in favour of his mother’s maiden name, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Calvin Bassey was arguably the best defender at the tournament leading Nigeria to three straight clean sheets in the knock out round. He missed the third place playoff game against Egypt due to suspension.

According to a close ally of his father Digidi Dunhill, Bassey is not his surname rather the maiden name of his mother, who changed his original surname which is Ughelumba after a messy separation from the defender’s father.

“This is my friend (Iyk) Kingsley Ikenna Ughelumba, father of Calvin whose surname was changed by his mother. Iyk had marital issues with his ex in Italy and we all know how foreign policies is at the advantage of women. His kids minds were turned against him . It hurts when you are the one looking for your son to tell what happened. One day truth shall prevail”, he posted on his Facebook page with a picture alongside the father of the defender.

It’s not the first time that this issue is coming to the fore in the last few years, with the father lamenting that his son, who plays at Fulham has totally abandoned him and refusing to hear from him what actually went wrong.

He said all attempts to get close to him to state his own part of the entire mess that led to his separation from his children has not yielded any fruits.

Ade Emmanuel

The protest by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) on DR Congo fielding ineligible player will no doubt be a full drawn out case owing to what we exclusively gathered.

NFF protested against seven players of DR Congo, who have dual nationality as against the provisions of the country’s constitution which forbids having another passport.

FIFA per what OwnGoalNigeria.com exclusively gathered will rule on the case in February before DR Congo take part in the intercontinental playoff with Nigeria seeking for them to be disqualified, and their slot handed to them.

Top of what FIFA will seek to establish will be how the affected players were able to get the Congolese passport, that they submitted for clearance, without renouncing their other citizenship as contained in the country’s constitution.

The argument that sporting eligibility trumps national eligibility will not stand before FIFA, because not all players who have roots with another country can switch and play.

Also the manner which the passport was acquired is also key as seen in the case that led to the fine and ban on Malaysia, according to a FIFA chief who was at the recently concluded AFCON.

” It’s not about acquiring the passport, but how it was gotten and if it satisfies national laws. If we don’t go by that they we can have countries handing passports to all manner of people to represent them”, he said.

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

Super Eagles trio of Wilfred Ndidi, Bright Osayi-Samuel and Alex Iwobi has told the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to make sure that Eric Chelle continues as the coach of the team despite not meeting the target of winning the recently concluded AFCON, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Chelle wasn’t sure of his future with the team after the tournament, stating that he will know more after a meeting with the NFF, but it appears the players have already given him the vote of confidence required to continue in the job.

“For continuity, I feel like the NFF should keep the coach because he’s a wonderful manager,” Ndidi told ESPN.

“The only thing we need now is continuity, not to try to change things now because we didn’t get to a final.

He praised the way the coach has handled the team, saying it’s largely why they performed at a very good level at the AFCON.

“Things have been amazing for a long time, and that boils down to the coach and the leaders of the team for the future.

“We have to focus on the competitions ahead,” Ndidi added. “There are so many games ahead, and to focus on the team right now, I am proud of this set of players.

On his part Iwobi midfield star Iwobi praised the way the coach has brought togetherness in the camp of the team, and which has to a large extent foster a happy environment and healthy competition among the players.

“There’s one thing that we have in our camp and it’s a message we say all the time that it doesn’t matter how you are physically, you have to make sure you are ready mentally and the coach says it to us all the time.

“Also off the pitch, there’s big unity, there’s a big family and it starts from the coach. He’s brought that brotherhood and it’s nice because we are one big family and you can see on the pitch that we are fighting for each other.

“That’s bringing out the best, not just in me but in all the players.”

Ndidi says that has fostered a collective ethos that prioritizes team over individuals: “We’re not a one-man show, it’s not just one person carrying the team. Even for new players coming in, they see we have one philosophy; that the team is bigger than anybody.”

“That’s when I talk about standards, he’s the one who sets these standards. If you come, you have to come correct.”

Despite the high expectations, Chelle maintains an approachable demeanour that resonates with the squad.

“He’s a lovely guy, playing all the time,” Ndidi said. “Apart from being the manager, he plays with everyone.”

Defender Osayi-Samuel who had a tournament to remember mentioned the formation of the coach as key to the team’s performance at the AFCON.

“The team is getting better match after match,” Osayi-Samuel said. “The manager is responsible. The formation that we are playing, the way we start games, kudos to the manager. There is confidence within the team.”

He acknowledged that there was a learning curve involved in adopting the new system: “It’s a lot of information. This is a formation that we only just started playing. You can see everyone is starting to understand and each game we are growing together as team.”

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

Carney Chukwuemeka of German Bundesliga side Borussia Dortmund is open to the idea of playing for the senior national team of Nigeria, OwnGoalNigeria.com can exclusively reveal.

Born to parents of Nigerian descent in Austria and raised in England, the 22 year old is eligible for all three countries but so far he has only represented England at various youth levels.

Like we exclusively reported last year, he was torn between all three countries but was more hopeful on getting a chance with Austria, but it appears that is not as feasible as the chance of playing for the Super Eagles of Nigeria.

” I will say there is a huge chance with playing for Nigeria now. Some form of contact already took place with head coach of the Nigerian team Eric Chelle, and he is seriously considering the option”, a source close to the player’s camp revealed.

He was however not applied for a switch of nationality process with FIFA, but that is according to our source a matter of time. ” It’s a matter of time and patience. He will apply for it when he is ready for the next step”, he stated.

Legendary Senegalese striker El Hadji Diouf says the winners of the recently concluded AFCON Senegal and the Super Eagles of Nigeria who finished third at the tournament are the best two teams during the tournament, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

In what look like a swipe at the host Morocco who were beaten finalist at the tournament by Senegal. A final marred by poor officiating which led to Senegal staging a walk out when Morocco were awarded a late penalty, before returning after ten minutes.

Morocco missed the resultant spot kick stretching the game into extra time, where Senegal got the winner in the opening minutes of the 30 minutes time added on.

Speaking after the game , Diouf who was among those who convinced Senegal to go back to the pitch gave his assessment of the tournament, praising the winners Senegal and Nigeria for their performance.

” We saw a very good tournament, properly organised and also won by the best team in the tournament. Senegal and Nigeria played the best football at the tournament to me”, he said in an interview.

Ade Emmanuel

The president of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Ibrahim Musa Gusua was verbally assaulted by the president of the Morocco FA Fouzi Lekjaa after the CAF executive committee meeting on Jan 16, 2026, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

According to French investigative journalist Romain Molina, Gusau confronted CAF President Patrice Motsepe over the poor officiating witnessed at the AFCON, and in particular the game between Nigeria and Morocco.

His complains was met with fierce resistance from Lekjaa who is also the Vice President of CAF , and during what was reported as a tense and heated disagreement Lekjaa resorted to using harsh words on the Nigerian.

Lekjaa allegedly insulted Gusau, calling him ungrateful and using profanity, claiming he’d helped him previously. No physical violence confirmed but he used words like ingrate, son of a bitch among others on Gusau. The Nigerian kept his cool despite the provocation.

His calmness saved the entire incident from developing into a fist cuff between both men.

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

Moses Simon has been handed the task of convincing his teammate at Paris FC Lucas Koleosho to shun Italy and pledge his international future to Nigeria, OwnGoalNigeria.com can exclusively reveal.

The 21 year old joined the Ligue 1 side on loan from English Premier League side Burnley, after terminating his loan deal with Espanyol where he spent the first half of the season on loan.

He made an instant impact on his debut by scoring the winner against Nantes, and has been tipped to be a hit in the league for the team of Simon, who was away at the AFCON with Nigeria.

Simon has now been tasked with speaking with the Italian youth international to switch his international allegiance to Nigeria, and be a part of the rebuilding process of head coach Eric Chelle ahead of the AFCON next year.

Nigeria will begin the qualifiers by March, and Chelle is expected to keep his job despite failing to meet the target of at least reaching the AFCON final. They finished 3rd but played a brand of football that won them lot of admirers.

Ade Emmanuel

Head coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Eric Chelle will continue as the coach of the senior national team of Nigeria, despite receiving offers from a couple of countries who are willing to pay him more than what he is currently earning with Nigeria.

Chelle like we exclusively revealed has the backing of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to continue as coach, despite failing to meet the target of reaching the final of the recently concluded AFCON.

The decision of the NFF to continue with the Malian is hinged on the fact that the team’s style of play at the tournament, showed that they are in the right direction and with the AFCON qualifiers set to begin in March they decided to stick with the Malian.

Meanwhile, the performance of the Super Eagles at the AFCON where they finished third, already caught the attention of other teams in Africa notably Uganda, Tanzania, Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso and Egypt.

A return to Mali was quickly ruled out by Chelle, and he feels he is more settled with the Super Eagles hence won’t take the option of weighing juicy financial offers from Burkina Faso, Egypt and Uganda who are all willing to double his current wage with Nigeria.

Already a meeting has been held with the chairman of the National Sports Commission (NSC) Alhaji Shehu Dikko and his representative, where salaries, allowances and other issues were thrashed out.

However there will be no extension to his current deal, which will run till 2027 hence fresh terms won’t be discussed.

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

The senior national team of Nigeria moved 12 places in the recently released FIFA ranking moving from 36th in the world to 26th, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Their rise is largely due to their performance at the recently concluded AFCON in Morocco, where they finished as third by beating Egypt 4-2 in the losers final on Saturday.

Beyond the semi final defeat to Morocco on penalties, they won six of their seven games at the tournament, including convincing wins over highly ranked Tunisia and Algeria in the group state and quarter final respectively.

In Africa, only Morocco who are 8th in the world and Senegal who are ranked 12th are higher than the Super Eagles. Algeria, and Egypt who were defeated in the third place playoff by Nigeria completes the top 5 in Africa.

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

Head coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Eric Chelle has made four changes from the team that started the semi final defeat for today’s third place playoff game against Egypt at the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Chelle’s team were beaten in the semi final by Morocco 2-4 on penalties after both teams remained locked at 0-0 after extra time. As expected he has ring the changes for today’s game.

Samuel Chukwueze who missed one of the penalties was handed a start, with Igho Ogbu coming in for the suspended Calvin Bassey who has two yellow cards in the knock out round.

Fisayo Dele-Bashiru was handed a start and Paul Onuachu comes in to play in the attack. Both players scored their spot kicks during the shoot out.

Ademola Lookman and Victor Osimhen were given a rest for the game.