5 Top events on the Nigeria football 2016 calendar News

Navigation: Home / News / News / 5 Top events on the Nigeria football 2016 calendar

5 Top events on the Nigeria football 2016 calendar

By Daily Sports on January 2, 2016

We look at the top five events on the Nigeria football calendar in 2016

2016 CHAN

Nigeria will make their second appearance at the Championship of African Nations (CHAN), which is for players featuring in their various homes leagues. The CHAN begins on January 16 in Kigali, Rwanda, with Nigeria drawn in a group that also has Tunisia, Guinea and Niger.

In 2014, the home-based Eagles finished third on their debut appearance of the CHAN in South Africa with Ejike Uzoenyi emerging as the tournament MVP.

The Eagles under new coach Sunday Oliseh appear to be more representative team of the best players in the league, but they will also need the rub of the green to conquer Africa at this level in Rwanda.

2017 AFCON DOUBLE HEADER VS EGYPT

The Super Eagles will face group leaders Egypt in a double header on the road to the 2017 AFCON in Gabon.

Nigeria will host the first game in Kaduna on March 26 with the return match in Cairo only days later.

After two rounds of matches, Egypt lead the group, which also has Chad and Tanzania, on six points with Nigeria two points behind.

It is believed that these two games in March will determine Nigeria’s fate in the qualifiers for Gabon 2017.

NFF president Amaju Pinnick has admitted it will be “suicidal” for Nigeria not to qualify for a second straight AFCON after they missed out on the 2015 tournament in Equatorial Guinea.

2018 WORLD CUP DRAW

The draw for the next round of the qualifying tournament for the 2018 World Cup in Russia will be staged on June 24 in Cairo, Egypt.

A total of 20 teams have made it to this stage of the qualifiers, which will be played on a league basis from October 2016 with the five overall winners advancing to Russia 2018.

Nigeria enjoy a lowly FIFA ranking, which will be one of the yardsticks to be used for this draw and if this rating does not improve by the time of this draw, the Eagles could well be drawn against some of Africa’s top teams as they battle to qualify for a fifth World Cup.

2016 RIO OLYMPICS

Nigeria are back in their quest for another Olympic football gold after they were beaten in the final of the event at Beijing 2008.

The country made history when they became the first African team to win Olympic gold in 1996 and with coach Samson Siasia back in the saddle after guiding the team to the 2008 final, expectations are high again.

However, despite winning the U23 AFCON in Senegal in December, Siasia’s Dream Team VI have a lot of work to do if they were to go all the way in Rio from August 5.

It will also be interesting who Siasia will pick as his three overage players for the competition.

2017 AFRICAN WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP

The past year was one to forget in a hurry for the Super Falcons, who are set to defend their African Women’s Championship in Cameroon in November.

Incidentally, the Falcons beat Cameroon 2-0 to win the AWC in Namibia in 2014.

However, their fortunes have since suffered a downturn after they failed to go past the first round of the World Cup in Canada last year and did not qualify for the 2016 Rio Olympics.

The Falcons are now in desperate need of a coach to steer them back to glory with hosts Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea and South Africa now more formidable foes.

In April, they face either Senegal or Guinea for a place at the tournament proper in Cameroon.

•Credit: mtnfootball.com. Photo shows NFF President Amaju Pinnick.

Source Daily Sports

Posted January 2, 2016