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Five players initially invited to the Super Eagles B camp for the upcoming 2025 African Nations Championship (CHAN) have been ruled ineligible after securing transfers to clubs outside Nigeria.
The affected players are:
Papa Daniel Mustapha (formerly Niger Tornadoes) Waliu Ojetoye (formerly Ikorodu City) Saviour Isaac (formerly Enugu Rangers) Abubakar Sadiq (formerly Plateau United) Philip Adejo (formerly Abia Warriors)
The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) confirmed their ineligibility shortly after the team’s training camp opened this week in Ikenne, Ogun State.
“These five players have become ineligible to feature for Nigeria at the CHAN tournament. They have all moved out to sign for clubs outside of Nigeria,” the NFF stated.
The CHAN tournament, unlike the AFCON, is exclusively for players actively playing in their country’s domestic leagues. A player who signs for a foreign club becomes automatically disqualified from participating.
Some of the dropped players were instrumental during Nigeria’s CHAN qualifiers, particularly in the high-profile two-legged tie against Ghana last year.
Camp Updates and Injuries
As of Wednesday, 28 players had reported to camp. The initial group of 35, invited by head coach Eric Chelle, began training on Monday with 21 players. Five more joined the following day to bring the number to 26, and 28 players took part in Wednesday morning’s session.
The NFF also confirmed two additional absentees:
Ifeanyi Onyebuchi (Enugu Rangers) – ruled out due to injury Ifeanyi Harcourt (Sporting Lagos) – currently on international duty with Nigeria’s U-20 team
It remains unclear whether the coaching crew will replace the five ineligible players, as the team continues preparations for the tournament, which kicks off on August 2.
CHAN 2024: Nigeria’s Group Stage Journey
Nigeria, runners-up in 2018 and third-place finishers in 2014, will compete in Group D of the 19-nation tournament, alongside defending champions Senegal, Sudan, and Congo.
The Super Eagles B will play their first two group matches—against Senegal and Sudan—at the Amman Stadium in Zanzibar, Tanzania, before traveling to Dar es Salaam for their final group game against Congo at the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium.
The eighth edition of the CHAN tournament will be co-hosted by Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda, running from August 2 to 20, 2024. Nigeria will be aiming to lift the trophy for the first time, having come close twice in the past decade.