Nigeria has been pitted against Benin Republic and Cote d’Ivoire in the group stage of the WAFU B zonal qualifiers for this year’s CAF Schools Football Championship. The zonal qualifying tournament will hold in Ouagadougou, capital of Burkina Faso, this week.
The four-day fiesta will witness competition in both boys’ and girls’ categories, though Nigeria is taking part in only the boys event. Group A of the boys competition has hosts Burkina Faso, Ghana and Niger Republic, with Cote d’Ivoire, Nigeria and Benin Republic in Group B.
In the girls’ category, hosts Burkina Faso are up against Cote d’Ivoire in the two-team Group A, with Ghana, Benin Republic and Niger Republic in Group B.
The Nigerian squad, made up of players from a number of schools that took part in the national competition in Abuja two months ago, will take on their counterparts from Cote d’Ivoire at the Stade August 4 in Ouagadougou, from 11.00 a.m., today.
On Tuesday, at 9.00 a.m., the Nigerian school boys will take the pitch against their counterparts from Benin Republic.
Semifinal matches are scheduled for Wednesday while the loser’s final and final matches will be played on Thursday.
The Nigerian contingent, made up of 19 players and six officials, travelled through Lagos and Abidjan before arriving in Ouagadougou on Saturday, and are lodged at the Hotel Splendid in the Burkinabe capital.
The 19 players in the Nigeria team are drawn from the Government Basic Education School, Kaduna; Government Junior Secondary School, Jalingo; Adaigbo Secondary School, Ogwashi-Ukwu; National Grammar School, Enugu and Ekiti Parapo College, Ido-Ekiti. The team is led by Coach Oluwaseun Oyeniyi.
In the team are goalkeepers Sa’adu Tukur (Government Junior Secondary School, Jalingo); and Joshua Chima (Adaigbo Secondary School, Ogwashi-Ukwu), while the defenders are Mujaheed Nura (Government Basic Secondary School, Kaduna); John Oruomoni (National Grammar School, Enugu); Hamza Ibrahim Aliyu (Adaigbo Secondary School, Ogwashi-Ukwu); Tobiloba Adedeji (Ekiti Parapo College, Ido-Ekiti); Divine Juwe ((Adaigbo Secondary School, Ogwashi-Ukwu); and Timothy Ijachi (National Grammar School, Enugu).
The midfielders in the squad are Yusuf Auwal (Adaigbo Secondary School, Ogwashi-Ukwu); Isaac Ajang (Government Junior Secondary School, Jalingo); Thomas Titus (National Grammar School, Enugu); Peter Moses (Government Basic Secondary School, Kaduna); Abdulsalam Mohammed (Government Basic Secondary School, Kaduna); Ayomide Adeleke (Ekiti Parapo College, Ido-Ekiti); and Nnamdi Echeruozo (National Grammar School, Enugu).
To search for goals in the championship are Marcus Adeyanju (Ekiti Parapo College, Ido-Ekiti); Wisdom Okonkwo (Adaigbo Secondary School, Ogwashi-Ukwu); Umar Faruk Shuaibu (Government Basic Secondary School, Kaduna); and Abdulrazzaq Mufutau (Ekiti Parapo College, Ido-Ekiti).
