AFCON
AMAZING FACTS: 16 TAKE AWAYS AHEAD OF NIGERIA-TUNISIA FRIENDLY MATCH
BY KUNLE SOLAJA.
Duels of Nigeria and Tunisia are often fiercely contested. So fierce that Sports Village Square reports that two of the encounters have resulted in walkouts. Some had to be decided by tie-breakers while others left national ego badly bruised.
The two teams engage in a friendly match on Tuesday, the first time both will clash outside African shores. Sports Village Square presents the following amazing facts:
- It is Tunisia that Nigerian football legend, Austin Okocha scored the milestone 1,000th goal of the Africa Cup of Nations history. The goal came from the penalty spot in a 4-0 defeat of South Africa in Monastir.
- Both Nigeria and Tunisia suffered the same fate at the last Africa Cup of Nations semi-finals. Both conceded late goals and were condemned to battle for the third place as they did 41 years earlier at Ghana 1978.
- Nigeria and Tunisia scored own goals in their respective semi-final matches at the 2019 Afcon. Tunisia’s loss was occasioned by the after regulation time own goal conceded by Dyran Bronn in the match with Senegal. In the same direction of goal post, where William Troost-Ekong scored Nigeria’s late winner against South Africa in the quarter finals, he turned the ball into his goal net in the semi-final match against Algeria.
- Own-goal is not strange to both Nigeria and Tunisia. The most recalled encounter of Nigeria and Tunisia has an own goal as an indelible memory when Godwin Odiye infamously headed the ball into his goal net in Nigeria’s last qualifying match for the Argentina ’78 World Cup. Even Nigerian football fans not born at the time grew up to know about the November 12, 1977 own goal that denied Nigeria World Cup qualification on home soil.
- Both teams have staged walkout in previous encounters. Nigerian players walked out in their Africa Cup qualifiers against Tunisia on 10 December 1961 in Tunis, CAF awarded the match to Tunisia. Tunisia staged a walkout in the third place match of Afcon 1978 when Baba Otu Mohammed scored a goal that leveled scores at 1-1. CAF Awarded the match to Nigeria.
- Nigeria’s 100th goal in the Africa Cup of Nation’s history was scored by Obinna Nsofor in the quarter finals against Tunisia at Port Said, Egypt in on 4 February 2006. Final score line after extra time was 1-1. Nigeria prevailed 6-5 in Penalty shootout.
- Till date, Nigeria’s national team has been involved in 11 penalty shootout situations. But the first time Nigeria got involved in a penalty shootout was a World Cup qualifying match with Tunisia on 12 July 1980. With Aggregate score line at 2-2, penalty shootout was employed. Nigeria won 4-3.
- When Kadiri Ikhana missed his kick in Nigeria’s penalty shootout with Tunisia on 12 July 1980, he became the first national team players to do so.
- Of the eleven penalty shootout situations involving the Super Eagles of Nigeria, three of them had been in duels with Tunisia in 1980, 2004 and 2006. It was only in the11 February 2004 situation in Rades, Tunisia that won 6-3 after 1-1 scoreline.
- Nigerian football legend, Nwankwo Kanu played in six consecutive Africa Cup of Nations editions from 2000 to 2010. He only found the net once in a penalty shootout with Tunisia in 2006 quarterfinal match.
- Nigeria’s World Cup qualifying match against Tunisia on 12 November 1977 was the last international engagements for the duo of Nigeria rear guards, Patrick Ekeji and Samuel Ojebode.
- Until the 2010 World Cup qualifiers, Nigeria missed all editions of World Cup in which Tunisia fell in the country’s fixtures. First Tunisia eliminated Nigeria from Argentina’ 78 qualifiers. Even after eliminating Tunisia, Nigeria still missed qualifying for Spain ’82. Tunisia eliminated Nigeria from Mexico ’86 qualifiers.
- Tunisia was the first team to eliminate Nigeria from Africa Cup of Nations qualification when Nigeria staged a walkout in the return leg of the 1962 qualifiers alleging bad officiating. Score line at the time stood at 2-2, but Nigeria led 4-3 on aggregate. Match was awarded to Tunisia.
- Apart from the 7-0 defeat on Nigeria by Gold Coast (now Ghana) in 1955, the next heaviest defeat on Nigeria was by Tunisia; a 5-0 defeat in a 29 September 1984 friendly match.
- Former Nigeria coach, Chris Udemezue had his baptism of fire as Nigeria’s coach when his team was walloped 5-0 by Tunisia in a friendly match in 1984. At the time, Adegboye Onigbinde who led Nigeria to the final of 1984 Africa Cup of Nations had been cleverly eased out to assist Shooting Stars in prosecuting club continental assignment.
- Figure six is prominent in Nigeria’s upstaging of Tunisia to grab the 2010 FIFA World Cup ticket. First to be noted is the fact that the Nigerian player that scored an own goal that put an end to Nigeria’s Argentina 1978 World Cup qualification was Godwin Odiye, who wore shirt number six. Sports Village Square notes that six was the number of African teams at South Africa 2010. Six was the number of teams that Nigeria played to qualify. Six was number of matches Nigeria played in the final lap. Six was the number of matches Nigeria had had with Tunisia before the 2010 World Cup qualifiers. Six was the minute that Tunisia scored against Kenya in Nairobi to take the lead in Group B ahead of Nigeria, Mozambique and Kenya. Sixth was the last game Tunisia played to relinquish the group leadership to Nigeria. Six was the number of minutes remaining in Tunisia’s ill-fated match with Mozambique in Maputo before the North Africans conceded the goal that earned Nigeria the World Cup ticket.
NIGERIA vs. TUNISIA: HEAD-TO-HEAD
P W D L F A
Tunisia 16 4 5 7 13 20
Nigeria 16 7 5 4 20 13
- 25 Nov.1961 (Afconq) Nigeria 2-1 Tunisia
- 10 Dec. 1961 (Afconq) Tunisia 2-2 Nigeria *inconclusive (Nigeria walked out).
- 25 Sept. 1977 (WCq) Tunisia 0-0 Nigeria
- 12 Nov. 1977 (WCq) Nigeria 0-1 Tunisia
- 16 Mar. 1978 (Afcon) Tunisia 0-2 Nigeria (w/o) (actual scores 1-1 before Tunisians walked out)*.
- 26 June. 1980 (WCq) Tunisia 2-0 Nigeria
- 12 Jul. 1980 (WCq) Nigeria 2-0 Tunisia * (2-2 on aggregate: Nigeria won penalty shoot-out 4-3).
- 29 Sept. 1984 (F) Tunisia 5-0 Nigeria
- 6 Jul. 1985 (WCq) Nigeria 1-0 Tunisia
- 20 Jul. 1985 (WCq) Tunisia 2-0 Nigeria
- 22 Feb. 1992 (SCSA) Tunisia 1-1 Nigeria
- 9 Aug.1997 (LG Cup) Tunisia 2-0 Nigeria
- 23. Jan.2000 (Afcon) Nigeria 4-2 Tunisia
- 11. Feb.2004 (Afcon) Nigeria 1 -1Tunisia *Tunisia won 6-3 in penalty shoot out
- 4. Feb 2006 Tunisia 1-1 Nigeria (6-5pen)
- 20 June 2009 (WCq) Tunisia 0-0 Nigeria
- 6 Sept. 2009 (WCq) Nigeria 2-2 Tunisia
- 17 July 2019 (Afcon) Nigeria 1-0 Tunisia
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Eritrea marked their long-awaited return to continental football with a 2-0 victory over Eswatini in the first leg of their preliminary round clash in the Africa Cup of Nations 2027 qualifiers on Wednesday.
Playing in Meknes, Morocco, the Eritreans secured a late win to take a strong advantage into the return leg next week.
After a closely contested encounter, Eritrea broke the deadlock in the 81st minute through Siem Eyob-Abraha, whose corner kick evaded everyone in the box and went straight into the net.
The victory was sealed deep into stoppage time when talisman Ali Suleiman produced a moment of brilliance. The forward embarked on a dazzling run down the left before unleashing a powerful shot into the roof of the net to double Eritrea’s lead.
Despite their win, Eritrea could have extended their advantage earlier, but Suleiman missed from the penalty spot after Eswatini goalkeeper Mlamuli Makhanya dived low to his right to make a crucial save.
The match marked Eritrea’s first appearance in AFCON qualification in nearly two decades, with their last outing coming against Eswatini in 2007, where they finished second in their qualification group.
The two sides will meet again in Eswatini for the second leg on Tuesday, where Eritrea will aim to protect their lead and advance to the next stage.
The winner of the tie will progress from the preliminary round to join 42 other teams in the group phase of qualification.
The 2027 Africa Cup of Nations will be co-hosted by Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, marking the tournament’s return to East Africa for the first time in over 50 years.
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The journey to the Africa Cup of Nations 2027 begins this week as 12 nations battle for six available spots in the preliminary round of qualifiers.
The opening phase of the race for AFCON PAMOJA 2027, set to be jointly hosted by Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, will see the continent’s lowest-ranked teams, based on FIFA rankings at the time of the draw, compete over two legs for a place in the group stage qualifiers.
Race for Six Places
Following the success of the 2025 tournament in Morocco, a new qualification cycle gets underway with fixtures spread across Southern, Eastern and Central Africa.
The preliminary round promises closely contested encounters, with teams aiming to gain an early advantage before decisive return legs.
Among the standout fixtures:
- Eritrea face Eswatini in Meknes before the return leg in Lobamba
- Lesotho and Seychelles meet twice in Bloemfontein
- Djibouti and South Sudan clash in back-to-back matches in Juba
- Somalia take on Mauritius across two legs in Mozambique and Saint Pierre
- Chad battle Burundi between N’Djamena and Bujumbura
- São Tomé and Príncipe face Ethiopia, with matches in El Jadida and Dire Dawa
The six winners from these ties will advance to join 42 other teams in the group stage qualifiers.
Some ties present unusual dynamics, notably Djibouti versus South Sudan, where both legs will be played in Juba, giving South Sudan a potential home advantage in both fixtures.
Similarly, Lesotho and Seychelles will contest both legs in Bloemfontein, adding another interesting twist to the qualification format.
Qualification Format and Timeline
The next phase will feature a group stage involving 13 groups of three or four teams. The 13 group winners qualify automatically. They will be joined by three best runners-up. The remaining 10 runners-up compete in a playoff round for the final qualifying spots
Key qualification windows are scheduled for:
- September 21–30, 2026: Match Day 1 and 2
- October 1–6, 2026: Match Day 3 and 4
- November 9–17, 2026: Match Day 5 and 6.
The finals, scheduled from June 19 to July 18, 2027, will mark a historic moment as the first Africa Cup of Nations to be hosted by three countries. It will also be the last to hold under the two-year cycle.
As the preliminary round kicks off, smaller footballing nations have a rare opportunity to build momentum and dream of reaching the continent’s biggest stage.
For the 12 teams involved, the message is clear: the road to AFCON 2027 starts now—and only half will take the next step.
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By Kunle Solaja.
The CAS Director General Matthieu Reeb has stated that the tribunal is prepared to handle the Senegal case against CAF and Morocco efficiently.
“CAS is perfectly equipped to resolve this type of dispute, with the assistance of expert and independent arbitrators,” he said.
“We understand that teams and fans are eager to know the final decision, and we will ensure that arbitration proceedings are conducted as swiftly as possible, while respecting the right of all parties to a fair hearing.”
CAS noted that proceedings will remain confidential while ongoing, with further updates to be provided only when key milestones, such as a hearing date, are confirmed.
The case now sets the stage for a potentially landmark legal battle over the outcome of one of Africa’s biggest football competitions, with the final status of the AFCON 2025 title hanging in the balance.
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