Nigerian Football
Nigeria’s Representatives to WAFU-B Schools Championship to Emerge Friday
Nigeria’s flag bearers to this year’s WAFU-B Schools Football Championship will be confirmed on Friday at the end of a week-long round-robin tournament in Abuja.
The competition, which serves as the national qualifying series, is being staged at the FIFA Goal Project inside the MKO Abiola National Stadium and the Area 3 Football Pitch.
In the female category, representative teams from the FCT, Adamawa, Gombe and Lagos States are battling for honours, while the male category features teams from the FCT, Kaduna, Delta, Enugu, Ekiti and Taraba States.
Winners in both categories will qualify to represent Nigeria at the WAFU-B Schools Football Championship scheduled for Burkina Faso from 27th to 30th November.
According to organizers, while the victorious schools will fly the country’s flag, outstanding players from other participating schools may be drafted into a composite ‘Schools National Team’ for the sub-regional competition.
The WAFU-B event in Burkina Faso is itself a qualifying tournament for next year’s CAF African Schools Football Championship, which will bring together teams from all six regional blocs: CECAFA (East & Central Africa), COSAFA (Southern Africa), UNAF (North Africa), UNIFFAC (Central Africa), WAFU-A and WAFU-B (West Africa).
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The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) on Tuesday flagged off a six-day D-License Coaching Course in Abuja, with 40 coaches participating in the programme designed for beginners in the profession.
NFF Technical Director, Augustine Eguavoen, who spoke at the opening session, said the course is a foundational step for aspiring coaches and a prerequisite for advancing to the C-License programme.
“The D-License is in modules and for beginners, and it must last a minimum of 60 hours,” Eguavoen explained.
“Just as it is in life, everything in football is in stages. We have a lot of talented young ones out there, and it is not the way you coach adults that you coach the young ones. Coaching the young ones requires special training.”
He added that the programme would not be restricted to Abuja alone. “This course is not going to be a one-off. After this national programme, we will have to take it to the Zones, and subsequently to the States.
“We have a total of 40 coaches undergoing this programme, and I can assure you they have a lot to learn,” the former Super Eagles coach said.
The D-License initiative follows a series of technical development courses recently organized by the NFF.
These include the record-setting CAF C-License course for women coaches, which ran from July to September last year with 30 participants; a CAF B-License programme in April 2025 with another 30 participants; and a Coach Educators’ Course in July that trained 25 participants.
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Remo Stars defender Leonard Ngenge has been voted by fans as the club’s best player in last Sunday’s emphatic 4-0 victory over Comoros’ US Zilimadjou in the first leg of their CAF Champions League preliminary round tie.
Ngenge opened the scoring for the Ikenne-based side and later provided an assist as the SkyBlue Stars recorded their biggest winning margin in almost five years.
The recognition marks a remarkable turnaround for the defender, who had previously been criticised for costly errors, including an own goal and conceding a penalty in a past continental outing that ended in a 4-0 defeat for Remo Stars.
In another twist of fate, Ngenge was on the opposing side earlier this year on May 11, when Remo Stars defeated Ikorodu City 4-1 on a day fans dubbed the club’s ‘Coronation Day.’
With his commanding performance against Zilimadjou, the 24-year-old has quickly silenced critics and reestablished himself as a key figure in Remo Stars’ continental push.
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Nigerian Football
24th FIFA U20 World Cup: Flying Eagles take on Australia in another friendly match
Nigeria’s U20 boys, Flying Eagles, will take on their Australian counterparts in a friendly game on Tuesday. The encounter is part of both teams’ preparations for the 24th FIFA U20 World Cup finals starting in Chile on Saturday.
The match, which will be played at the Complejo Deportivo Ruca Mapu in the city of Santiago, will kick off at 5pm Chile time (1pm in Nigeria).
On Saturday, Chile’s U20 boys forced the Flying Eagles to a 1-1 draw in a friendly in Rancagua, with Ahmed Akinyele scoring for Nigeria in the 18th minute, before a 36th minute equalizer by Felipe Faúndez.
Australia will play in Group D alongside Italy, Cuba and Argentina, while Nigeria will contend with Norway, Saudi Arabia and Colombia in Group F.
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