Nigeria To Return To Abuja National Stadium

All things being equal, Nigeria will play
their remaining Africa Cup of Nations
qualifying matches at the 60,000 capacity
National Stadium in Abuja, the National
Sports Commission has ordered.


This means that they will no longer play in
Calabar, where they have called home for
the past three years following their 3-2
defeat at the hands of Congo on
September 6.

The UJ Esuene Stadium had been an impregnable fortress for the Super
Eagles until their first ever defeat there by the Central Africans.
Goal learnt that the Nigeria Football Federation has been directed to
inform the Confederation of African Football (CAF) that the remaining
Super Eagles matches in the Afcon qualifiers will now be played in Abuja.
The NFF is currently undergoing a lean purse and has been depending
largely on the benevolence of the Cross River State governor, Liyel Imoke
who has single-handedly bankrolled the camping exercise of the Super
Eagles including the players and coaches’ feeding and accommodation
every time the team has a home match to play.

Therefore, the NFF is trying to get the NSC to rescind its decision claiming
that it doesn’t have money to prosecute Super Eagles games in Abuja and
because Abuja fans don't turn up for games that much as well as the
security challenges to confront.

Goal learnt that the NSC irked by the negative publicity generated by the
complaints of the bad pitch in Calabar, has directed the NFF to relocate all
the Super Eagles matches to Abuja National stadium that boast of very
good pitch.

But the NFF are not comfortable with the order as they feel that the cost
of executing matches in Abuja will be too weighty on them and the apathy
of the fans in Abuja towards watching games at the stadium unlike in
Calabar where the stadium is usually full even though it is much smaller.
Undaunted by the directive of the NSC, the Cross Rivers State government
has begun the process of getting the stadium back to shape even as the
NFF tries to convince the NSC to allow the Super Eagles to play Sudan in
Calabar in October. m.goal.com/x/en-ng/news/5113248