Eric Chelle, head coach of the Super Eagles, has named a 24 player squad for Nigeria’s opening matches of the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Madagascar and Guinea-Bissau, with Ola Aina and Benjamin Fredricks returning after almost a year out injured.
Victor Osimhen made the list despite missing recent Galatasaray games due to a hamstring injury, joining regulars such as Alex Iwobi, Ademola Lookman, Moses Simon and Calvin Bassey. George Ihenikhena, Moses Usor and Isaac James earned their first-ever call-ups.
Nigeria will host Madagascar’s Barea at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium, Uyo on September 25, before flying to Bissau to face the Wild Dogs four days later.
Chelle also named a rotated squad for the Eagles’ friendly against Russia’s senior men’s team at the Nizhny Novgorod Stadium on October 6, retaining only Wilfred Ndidi, Moses Simon, Benjamin Fredricks, Stanley Nwabali, Bright Osayi-Samuel, Raphael Onyedika and Akor Adams for both games.
For the AFCON qualifiers, the midfielders listed are Wilfred Ndidi of Besiktas in Turkey, Alex Iwobi of Fulham in England, Raphael Onyedika of Eintracht Frankfurt in Germany and Frank Onyeka of Coventry City in England.
The forwards for the qualifiers are Moses Simon of Paris FC in France, Victor Osimhen of Galatasaray in Turkey, Akor Adams of Venezia in Italy, Samuel Chukwueze of AC Milan in Italy, Ademola Lookman of Atletico Madrid in Spain, Tolu Arokodare of Ajax in the Netherlands, George Ihenikhena of Al Ittihad in Saudi Arabia and Moses Usor of LASK in Austria.
For the friendly against Russia, the goalkeepers are Michael Atata of Ikorodu City, Samuel James of SJK in Finland and Stanley Nwabali of Chippa United in South Africa.
The defenders are Kenneth Igboke of Enugu Rangers, Isaac James of Alverca in Portugal, Benjamin Fredricks of Brentford in England, Emmanuel Fernandez of Glasgow Rangers in Scotland, Victory Akpe of FC Basel in Switzerland, Bright Osayi-Samuel of Birmingham in England and Abdullahi Bewene of FC Banik Ostrava in Czechia.
In midfield for the Russia game are Wilfred Ndidi of Besiktas in Turkey, Raphael Onyedika of Eintracht Frankfurt in Germany, Chibuzo Nwoko of Fulham in England, Stephen Michael of Vendsyssel in Denmark, Igor Wilfred of Kristiansund in Norway, Ridwan Abdulrasaq of Al Wasl in UAE, Suleiman Mubarak of Slavia Prague in Czechia and Aderemi Adeoye of Ikorodu City.
The forwards are Kelechi Iheanacho of Bursaspor in Turkey, Moses Simon of Paris FC in France, Akor Adams of Venezia in Italy, Peter Edokpolor of Benfica in Portugal, Abubakar Umar of Famalicao in Portugal and Abdullahi Umar of Hradec Kralove in Czechia.
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