Nigeria will begin defence of their West African Football Union Zone B (WAFU B) U-20 Championship title against arch-rivals Ghana in a repeat of last edition’s final in Yamoussoukro, Ivory Coast, on Monday (today).
The Flying Eagles, after winning the 2024 final 2-1 against the Black Satellites at the Stade de Kégué in Lomé, Togo, defended the championship they won for the first time in Niamey in 2022, according to The PUNCH.
Isa Ladan Bosso led Nigeria to victory in 2022, Aliyu Zubairu guiding the side to a successful championship defence two years later.
Nigeria’s championship defence is in the hands of the new head coach, Abdu Maikaba, a former assistant coach of the Flying Eagles, who will be making his first competitive appearance in charge today and is eyeing a winning start.
“We are going for an outright victory against Ghana because our objective is to retain the trophy and we must start winning our matches from Day One,” Maikaba said ahead of the showdown.
The match will begin at 2 p.m. local time (3 p.m. Nigeria time) at Lycée Scientifique de Yamoussoukro.
Nigeria enter the tournament following a 2-1 victory over Athlétique Club de Zenuola in a friendly on Thursday.
The Nigeria-Ghana rivalry dates back to 1951 and has generated some notable encounters throughout senior, youth and women’s football.
A victory over Ghana would leave the seven-time African champions in a great position to qualify for the semi-finals, with Group B matchups against Togo and Burkina Faso still to come.
Nigeria will meet Togo on July 30 at the same site before concluding their group campaign against Burkina Faso on August 2. Both matches are set to start at 2pm local time (3pm Nigeria time)
Hosts Ivory Coast are in Group A with Benin Republic and Niger Republic.
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