Nigeria’s Under-17 men’s football team, Golden Eaglets, will resume camp on Wednesday after taking a break due to the general elections.

Nduka Ugbade, coach for the U-17 team, told journalists in Abuja that about 90 of the players who had undergone an earlier Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) would return to Abuja.

According to Ugbade, the number will be reduced to 60 after an official MRI by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).

“I am greatly satisfied with the number of talents seen so far. I have a pool of athletes to choose from, but talent, in itself, is no longer enough. The talent has to be utilised, trained, and go through the necessary requirements to produce results in the game,” he added.

The team is preparing for the U-17 Africa Cup of Nations scheduled to be held in May in the cities of Algiers, Constantine and Annaba in Algeria.

The U-17 male team has been drawn into Group B.

After an impressive showing in the WAFU Zone B Championship in June 2022 ended with them emerging as champions, the Ugbade-tutored team qualified for the group stage of the Nations Cup.

They were drawn alongside Morocco, South Africa and Zambia.

The Golden Eaglets have won the competition twice, with their most recent title coming from the 2007 squad that went on to win the World Cup.

In the last edition of the tournament in 2019, FC Copenhagen winger Akinkuni Amoo was in the squad that finished fourth in the competition.

The best four teams from the Africa Cup of Nations will qualify for the 2023 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Peru between November and December 2023.

Group A has Algeria, Senegal, Congo, and Somalia, while Group C has Cameroon, Mali, Burkina Faso and South Sudan.

(NAN)