AFCON
How Super Eagles Unite Nigerians –
BY EHI BRAIMAH
As we await the outcome of the 2023 African Cup of Nations final game between Nigeria’s Super Eagles and the Elephants of Cote d’Ivoire in Abidjan, Nigerians are expectant and the excitement across the country’s palpable. Having come this far in the tournament that kicked off with 24 participating countries in the group stages, I do not see what will stop the Super Eagles from lifting the trophy tonight, Sunday February 11, 2024.
All the players are in high spirits, and they are poised to win AFCON 2023 for Nigerians – both at home and in the diaspora – who are united behind them. What do eagles do? They fly very high, and they also show strength with concentration. Eagles also love the storm. We expect the Super Eagles to fly very high over the Elephants during the final showdown at the Alassane Quattara Olympic Stadium stadium in Abidjan.
Right from the first blast of the referee’s whistle, our players should spring into action. There’s no time to waste. Like true eagles with excellent vision, courage and the stamina to fly at high altitudes, the Super Eagles must be relentless, push forward and dominate the game. They must be hungry for early goals. The whole world would be watching. This is our moment; the Super Eagles must grab it and steal the thunder from the Ivorians.
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) announced that Dahane Beida, aged 32, from Mauritania will be the centre referee for the crucial match. Assisting Beida will be Emiliano Dos Santos from Angola and Diana Chicotesha from Zambia. Morocco’s Bouchra Karboubi will serve as the fourth official. The die is cast.
Members of the supporters’ club and football fans in Cote d’Ivoire who have been singing and dancing for the players and Nigeria to win in our national colours are true heroes. You can be sure Nigerians all over the world will be rooting for the Super Eagles as they take on the Ivorian national team.
Every available space – whether in sitting rooms, hotel lobbies, viewing centres or pepper soup/beer parlours – will be will be taken up by football fans who will stay glued to their television sets to watch what promises to be an exciting encounter.
What football is teaching us is that Nigerians love their country. Winning with the Super Eagles and the passion that Nigerians have displayed in support of the national team is a lesson in patriotism.
Suddenly, no one remembers where we come from or how we worship. Tribe and tongue did not play any role in team selection because they are not important. This is not downplaying the value of diversity, equity and inclusion. However, what is important as we have discovered with the current squad, is that it is better to always put our best eleven players forward.
That is what the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) and the coaching crew led Jose Peseiro, the 63-year-old Portuguese, have done. Winning was what mattered. Kudos to them.
Football is a huge cultural phenomenon and intoxicating opium in many countries. When the national team is doing well, people tend to forget their differences and unite behind the team. Everyone shares in the success story. In the age of social media, national team success gives the people bragging rights over other countries.
Winning the African Cup of Nations at this time is a big deal for Nigerians. This tournament which began on January 13 has been a useful distraction. If we lift the trophy tonight, it will be the fourth time. Nigeria has taken part in the tournament 20 times, but we have won the cup only three times.
The first time was in 1980 in Lagos; the second time was in 1994 in Tunis, Tunisia while the third time was in 2013 in Johannesburg, South Africa. The most decorated country is Egypt which has claimed seven AFCON titles – including a hat trick between 2006 and 2010.
When tournament favourites such as the defending champions, Senegal, Egypt and Morocco crashed out, it brightened the chances of the Super Eagles. But no one reckoned with the fact that the Ivorians would bounce back forcefully after their poor group stage performances.
They are now our opponents in the much anticipated final. Home support has been touted as an advantage for the Elephants, but that will not be a problem for the Super Eagles who understand how to rise up to big occasions.
Cote d’Ivoire had home support when they lost 1 – 0 to Nigeria and 4 – 0 to Equatorial Guinea in the group phase. Top players do not allow home support affect their performances.
The Super Eagles’ preparation was like most of the other teams in the tournament because of the Europe-based players. They didn’t have much time together before AFCON 2023 and had to deal with injuries.
Taiwo Awoniyi was ruled out before the squad was announced while Wilfred Ndidi, Victor Boniface, and Sadiq Umar needed to be replaced with Alhassan Yusuf, Terem Moffi and Paul Onuachu respectively.
In this tournament, the Super Eagles started slowly and it was not surprising. They always appeared tentative right from the qualifying rounds.
I watched the 2026 World Cup Qualifier that the Super Eagles played against Lesotho at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, on November 16, last year. The match ended in 1 – 1 draw after Lesotho had gone ahead earlier. The home fans were disappointed.
Although the Super Eagles played a 1 – 1 draw against Equatorial Guinea in their opening game in AFCON 2023 (a predictable pattern), they have won every match since then, with their progress built on a solid defence. Coach Peseiro went into a three-centre-backs system after the first draw and the team did not concede any goal in four matches.
The Super Eagles beat Cote d’Ivoire 1 – 0, Guinea Bissau 1 – 0, Cameroon 2 – 0 in the round of 16, and Angola 1 – 0 in the quarter-final until the semi-final where they played 1 – 1 with South Africa before winning 4 – 2 on penalties.
The national team can overcome the Ivorians if they stay with their match plan and the tactics that have worked for them in the tournament so far. How they organise themselves on the field during the match will make all the difference. In addition, the defence must retain its vibrancy and quick-footedness where split-second decisions are pivotal to routing the Elephants.
The Super Eagles must also not be goal shy; they should take advantage of every goal scoring opportunity, especially in the first half. It will also be a battle of wits, but our players in all departments should not back down from physical battles.
Our strikers have not scored too many goals, but they have worked hard for the team. Victor Osimhen has scored only once in six matches, but he has one assist and has won two important penalties. On his part, Ademola Lookman has scored three goals and Moses Simon has an assist and has earned man-of-the-match performances.
Stanley Nwabali, our goalie who plays for Chippa United in South Africa, has distinguished himself as one of the biggest revelations and safest pair of hands of the tournament. He has been part of the remarkable defence, also comprising William Troost-Ekong, Calvin Bassey, Semi Ajayi and Ola Aina,
As we count down to the big match which Segun Odegbami, former national team player and member of the 1980 Green Eagles that won AFCON, had predicted, Nigeria and Cote d’Ivoire have met 28 times with nine wins each and 10 draws.
What does that tell you?
We are in for a thrilling encounter tonight in Abidjan but the Super Eagles of Nigeria will lift the trophy. That is my prediction. Good luck to our players.
By Kunle Solaja.
Nigeria’s senior national team, the Super Eagles, will discover their route to the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations when the Confederation of African Football (Confederation of African Football) conducts the qualifying draw on May 19, 2026.
This is an exercise that will define the country’s pathway to the historic PAMOJA 2027 tournament.
The draw, coming after the conclusion of the preliminary round, will feature 48 teams, including co-hosts Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. They will be pooled into 12 groups of four teams each. Only the top two teams from each group will progress to the final tournament, setting up what promises to be a fiercely competitive qualification series.
For Nigeria, a three-time African champion and podium finisher in three of the last four editions, the qualification format is familiar, but the stakes are evolving. They will need a good head start to avert the type of tragedy that defined their World Cup 2026 qualification campaign.
The Super Eagles have maintained a strong record in AFCON qualifying campaigns in recent years, yet inconsistency at the tournament proper has raised expectations for not just qualification, but a deeper continental impact.
The six-match qualification series will be spread across three FIFA international windows:
- * September–October 2026 (Matchdays 1 & 2)
- * November 2026 (Matchdays 3 & 4)
- * March 2027 (Matchdays 5 & 6)
This staggered schedule will test squad depth, technical stability, and administrative efficiency, which are areas that have historically influenced Nigeria’s performance as much as on-field quality.
East Africa Return and Logistical Implications
The 2027 tournament will mark AFCON’s return to the East African region for the first time since the 1976 Africa Cup of Nations.
For Nigeria, this introduces a different competitive environment—altitude variations, travel logistics across three host nations, and potentially unfamiliar playing conditions.
The tri-nation hosting model also means that teams must prepare for a geographically dispersed tournament, requiring early planning in scouting, acclimatisation, and logistics—areas where Nigeria has previously faced challenges in major competitions.
CAF is banking on the momentum generated by recent tournaments such as the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations and 2025 Africa Cup of Nations, both of which recorded significant commercial growth, increased sponsorship value, and expanded global broadcast audiences.
For Nigeria, one of Africa’s most marketable football brands, this growth presents both opportunity and pressure. Strong performances by the Super Eagles not only boost national pride but also reinforce Nigeria’s commercial relevance in African football’s evolving ecosystem.
While the May 19 draw will simply allocate opponents on paper, its implications run deeper. A favourable group could ease Nigeria’s passage, but recent AFCON qualifiers have shown that traditional hierarchies are narrowing, with emerging teams increasingly competitive.
For the Super Eagles, the road to PAMOJA 2027 is not just about qualification—it is about reasserting continental dominance in an era where African football is becoming more competitive, more commercial, and more globally visible.
The journey begins with the draw, but for Nigeria, expectations will stretch far beyond simply making the trip to East Africa.
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By Kunle Solaja.
The Confederation of African Football (Confederation of African Football) has formally unveiled the competition window for the landmark Africa Cup of Nations, tagged PAMOJA 2027, setting the stage for what is shaping up to be one of the most politically and structurally significant tournaments in the competition’s history.
Scheduled to kick off on Saturday, 19 June 2027, with the final fixed for Saturday, 17 July 2027, the tournament marks only the second time the AFCON will be staged in the June–July window. The first was the expanded 24-team edition in the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, a shift originally designed to align African football with the European off-season calendar and improve player availability.
A Return to June–July: Progress or Persistent Constraint?
While the timing suggests continuity with the 2019 precedent, it also underscores a deeper tension within African football governance. CAF’s confirmation that the dates required approval from the FIFA Council, following a meeting in Vancouver, raises renewed questions about the confederation’s operational autonomy.
Historically, AFCON scheduling has been vulnerable to external pressures, particularly from European clubs and leagues reluctant to release African players mid-season. The June–July calendar was initially seen as a strategic compromise. However, the necessity of FIFA ratification in 2027 signals that CAF’s flagship tournament still operates within a framework heavily influenced by global football politics.
This development may reignite debate about whether CAF is charting an independent course or increasingly aligning its decisions with FIFA’s broader international calendar priorities.
Beyond scheduling, AFCON 2027 represents a structural leap. For the first time, three nations—Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda—will jointly host the tournament.
This tri-nation model, branded “PAMOJA” (Swahili for togetherness), is more than symbolic. It reflects CAF’s attempt to decentralise hosting rights, reduce infrastructural pressure on single nations, and expand the tournament’s commercial and cultural footprint.
With a projected reach of over 400 million people across East Africa, the tournament offers significant opportunities:
- Market expansion: Opening new commercial corridors in a region historically underrepresented in hosting major football events.
- Infrastructure development: Accelerated investment in stadiums, transport, and tourism across three countries.
- Regional integration: Football as a tool for political and economic cooperation within East Africa.
Yet, the model is not without risks. Multi-country hosting introduces logistical complexities—border coordination, security harmonisation, and infrastructure parity—that CAF has not previously managed at this scale.
Waiting for Key Decisions
CAF has deferred the announcement of which cities or countries will host the opening match and final, decisions that will carry both symbolic and economic weight. These choices could influence regional balance and perceptions of equity among the co-hosts.
AFCON 2027 sits at the intersection of ambition and dependency. On one hand, it embodies innovation—a new hosting model and a reaffirmed global calendar alignment. On the other, it highlights lingering structural challenges, particularly CAF’s reliance on FIFA’s approval mechanisms.
As preparations unfold, the success of PAMOJA 2027 will likely be judged not just by the quality of football on display, but by how effectively CAF navigates these competing forces—continental aspiration versus global integration.
In many ways, AFCON 2027 will be a test of whether African football can expand its horizons without compromising its independence.
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By Kunle Solaja.
Defending champions Morocco will take the first formal step in their title defence when the Confederation of African Football (CAF) conducts the draw for the AFCON PAMOJA 2027 qualifiers on May 19, 2026, two days before the 122nd anniversary of the founding of FIFA.
Fresh from their triumph at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations, the Atlas Lions now face the challenge of sustaining continental dominance as they begin the journey toward the historic East African finals, to be co-hosted by Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.
As reigning champions, Morocco enter the qualifiers with a target on their back. Their recent rise, bolstered by strong World Cup performances and a deep pool of Europe-based talents, has elevated expectations both at home and across the continent.
But history suggests that defending an AFCON title is rarely straightforward. The qualifying format, which includes 48 teams drawn into 12 groups of four, leaves little margin for complacency. Only the top two teams in each group will progress, meaning even established powers must navigate a potentially tricky six-match campaign.
The qualifiers will unfold across three FIFA international windows:
- * September–October 2026 (Matchdays 1 & 2)
- * November 2026 (Matchdays 3 & 4)
- * March 2027 (Matchdays 5 & 6)
For Morocco, maintaining squad cohesion across these windows will be crucial. With players spread across Europe’s top leagues, managing fatigue, travel, and club-country balance will test the technical crew’s planning and depth.
AFCON 2027 will mark the tournament’s return to East Africa for the first time since the 1976 Africa Cup of Nations. The unique three-country hosting model introduces new logistical variables—ranging from climate and altitude differences to travel across multiple venues.
For Morocco, whose recent success has been built on tactical discipline and structured preparation, early adaptation to these conditions could prove decisive in their title defence.
CAF’s recent tournaments—including the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations and Morocco 2025—have recorded unprecedented commercial success, expanding the global reach of African football.
As defending champions, Morocco stand at the centre of this growth. Their performances will not only shape the competitive narrative of AFCON 2027 but also influence the tournament’s commercial appeal and global visibility.
While the May 19 draw will determine Morocco’s immediate opponents, the broader mission is clear: retain continental supremacy in an increasingly competitive African football landscape.
For the Atlas Lions, the road to PAMOJA 2027 is not merely about securing qualification—it is about proving that their recent triumph was not a peak, but the beginning of sustained dominance.
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