WAFU B U20: AFCON Ticket, Not Negotiable - Flying Eagles Coach

WAFU B U20: AFCON Ticket, Not Negotiable - Flying Eagles Coach

By Niyi Busari

Flying Eagles Coach, Aliyu Zubairu has assured Nigerians that he will lead the Nigeria U20 boys to the 2024 West African Football Union (WAFU) B U20 Championship and pick one of the two tickets to the CAF U20 African Nations Cup, BSNSports.com.ng can report.

The coach reacting to questions from www.bsnsports.com.ng said: "the major competition before us now is WAFU B championship, and I believe that qualifying for the U20 AFCON is not going to be negotiable. Certainly, Nigeria must pick ticket to the CAF U20 Nation Cup. That's not negotiable. He told BSN Sports.

 Following shortage of time for preparations, he has, however, asked the NFF to help with the list of experience and eligible players who have played in the competition before, "we have asked the Secretariat to give us the list of players who are still eligible to play, then we are going to see if we can get one or two from them, definitely, one can't buy experience in the market.

He continued, "As we all know we have a very limited time to prepare and we need to combine both; trying to get the right players and preparing the team as well because you cannot leave one for the other.

"You can't be preparing the team without right players and one can't concentrate on getting the right players without moulding them into a good team. So the two go hand in hand. What is important in the matches is to know at which level are we now? He said.

The WAFU Zone B U-20 Championship is an age grade regional football tournament that is contested by national teams of Zone B of the West African Football Union.The current champions are Nigeria, who won the 2022 edition.

The 2024 WAFU B U20 Championship is scheduled for October and November in Togo.