By Victor Kanayo
Ahead of the U23 Africa Cup of Nations final lap qualifier against Guinea, there are indications that up to 16 out of 30 invited Nigerian players are engulfed in age discrepancies.
This much was revealed, after the invited players’ documents were scrutinised by the Nigeria Football Federation, (NFF) a top official revealed.
The official, who choose not to disclose working identity, said it was discovered that some of the players parade different age in their various official documents such as; the National Identity Card, Drivers license and International Passport.
“Only 14 of them scaled through checks. Others were discovered to be parading different date of births,” the source said.
Heritage Times HT reports Nigeria U23 team also known as, ‘Olympic Eagles’ will first host Guinea in the last round of the qualifier inside Moshood Abiola Stadium, Abuja on Wednesday March 22.
In the return leg, Guinea will host Nigeria, five days after.
To reach this stage of the series, the 1996 champions defeated the Tanzania U23 team 3-1 on aggregate in October 2022, winning 2-0 at the Lekan Salami Stadium, Ibadan, after both teams stalemated the first leg in Dar es Salaam at 1-1.
The winner over two legs between Nigeria and Guinea will advance to the finals of the Africa U23 Cup of Nations scheduled to be hosted by Morocco later in the year.
It is also at the tournament in Morocco, that Africa’s flag bearers at next year’s Men’s Olympic Football Tournament in Paris will emerge.
Nigeria is pushing for a return to the Olympic Games, with a focus to grab football ticket to 2024 Paris games.
