Nigeria national under-20 football team

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Nigeria Under-20
Nickname(s)Flying Eagles
AssociationNigeria Football Association
ConfederationCAF (Africa)
Sub-confederationWAFU (West Africa)
Head coachMitchell Adebanjo
Home stadiumAgege Stadium
FIFA codeNGA
First colours
Second colours
FIFA U-20 World Cup
Appearances12 (first in 1981)
Best resultRunners-up (1989, 2005)
Africa U-20 Cup of Nations
Appearances18 (first in 1978–79)
Best resultChampions (1983, 1985, 1987, 1989, 2005, 2011, 2015)
WAFU Zone B U-20 Tournament
Appearances3 (first in 2018)
Best resultChampions (2022)

The Nigerian men's national under-20 football team represents Nigeria in men's international football also known as the Nigeria Under-20s or nicknamed the Flying Eagles. The Flying Eagles is the youth team for the national soccer in Nigeria. It plays a large role in the development of Nigerian football, and it’s considered to be the feeder team for the senior team. It is controlled by the Nigerian Football Federation. The team has won a record of seven African U-20 Cup of Nations titles and are also two-times runners-up of the FIFA U-20 World Cup.

Competitive record[edit]

FIFA U-20 World Cup record[edit]

Africa U-20 Cup of Nations record[edit]

Africa U-20 Cup of Nations
Year Round Position GP W D* L GS GA
1977 Did not enter
1979 Semi-finalists 3rd 4 1 2 1 4 3
1981 Semi-finalists 3rd 4 1 0 3 7 8
1983 Champions 1st 8 5 1 2 13 7
1985 Champions 1st 8 4 2 2 14 8
1987 Champions 1st 8 6 1 1 11 9
1989 Champions 1st 8 5 3 0 16 6
Egypt 1991 Did not enter
Mauritius 1993 Group stage 5th 3 1 0 2 2 2
Nigeria 1995 Third place 3rd 5 3 1 1 8 6
Morocco 1997 Did not qualify
Ghana 1999 Second place 2nd 5 3 1 1 11 5
Ethiopia 2001 Group stage 8th 3 0 1 2 1 6
Morocco 2003 Did not qualify
Benin 2005 Champions 1st 5 5 0 0 11 3
Republic of the Congo 2007 Second place 2nd 5 2 1 2 6 6
Rwanda 2009 Third place 3rd 5 3 0 2 8 5
South Africa 2011 Champions 1st 5 4 0 1 9 4
Algeria 2013 Third place 3rd 5 3 0 2 6 5
Senegal 2015 Champions 1st 5 4 0 1 12 4
Zambia 2017 Did not qualify
Niger 2019 Fourth place 4th 5 2 1 2 4 1
Mauritania 2021 Did not qualify
Egypt 2023 Third place 3rd 6 4 0 2 8 2
Total 18/23 7 titles 97 56 14 27 151 90

A gold background colour indicates that Nigeria won the tournament.

*Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

*There was no third place match from 1979-1989.

Team honours and achievements[edit]

Intercontinental

Continental

Sub-Continental

Staff[edit]

Current squad[edit]

The following players were named in the squad for the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup, to be played in May-June 2023.[13]

Caps and goals correct as of 10 March 2023, after the match against Tunisia.

No. Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club
1GK Chijioke Aniagboso (2004-04-15) 15 April 2004 (age 20) 5 0 Ukraine Polissya Zhytomyr
1GK Nathaniel Nwosu (2006-01-10) 10 January 2006 (age 18) 1 0 Nigeria Water
1GK John Utoblo (2003-07-05) 5 July 2003 (age 20) 0 0 Nigeria Mavlon

2DF Solomon Agbalaka (2003-11-09) 9 November 2003 (age 20) 6 1 Nigeria MFM
2DF Benjamin Fredrick (2005-05-28) 28 May 2005 (age 18) 6 0 England Brentford B
2DF Daniel Bameyi (2006-01-04) 4 January 2006 (age 18) 5 0 Nigeria Yumyum
2DF Abel Ogwuche (2003-07-06) 6 July 2003 (age 20) 5 0 Sweden Trelleborgs FF
2DF Chimezie Njoku (2004-08-02) 2 August 2004 (age 19) 4 0 Nigeria Abia Warriors
2DF Israel Domingo (2004-02-09) 9 February 2004 (age 20) 0 0 Nigeria FC Sports
2DF Salim Figo Lawal (2003-01-15) 15 January 2003 (age 21) 0 0 Nigeria Mavlon

3MF Samson Lawal (2004-04-25) 25 April 2004 (age 20) 6 1 Scotland Livingston
3MF Daniel Daga (2007-01-10) 10 January 2007 (age 17) 1 0 Nigeria Dakkada
3MF Ibrahim Abdullahi (2005-10-17) 17 October 2005 (age 18) 0 0 Nigeria Samba
3MF Victor Eletu (2005-04-01) 1 April 2005 (age 19) 0 0 Italy Milan
3MF Joshua John (2004-01-18) 18 January 2004 (age 20) 0 0 Nigeria Nasarawa United
3MF Tochukwu Nadi (2003-06-30) 30 June 2003 (age 20) 0 0 Bulgaria Botev Plovdiv

4FW Jude Sunday (2004-10-04) 4 October 2004 (age 19) 6 2 Nigeria Real Sapphire
4FW Ibrahim Beji Muhammad (2004-02-03) 3 February 2004 (age 20) 6 2 Nigeria Giants
4FW Rilwanu Sarki (2004-02-02) 2 February 2004 (age 20) 6 0 Nigeria Mahanaim
4FW Umeh Emmanuel (2004-08-31) 31 August 2004 (age 19) 0 0 Bulgaria Botev Plovdiv
4FW Kehinde Ibrahim (2006-01-15) 15 January 2006 (age 18) 0 0 Nigeria 36 Lion

Former coaches[edit]

  • Christopher Udemezue (July 1, 1982 – June 30, 1987/1988)
  • Paul Hamilton (July 1, 1985 – June 30, 1986)
  • Olatunde Nurudeen Disu (1987–1997)
  • Thijs Libregts (July 1, 1998 – June 30, 1999)
  • Samson Siasia (January 1, 2005 – March 26, 2007; June 30, 2009)
  • Ladan Basso (2007–2009)
  • John Obuh (July 1, 2010 – February 1, 2013)
  • Emmanuel Amunike (July 1, 2014 – November 1, 2017)
  • Paul Aigbogun (January 1, 2019 – June 30, 2020)

References[edit]

  1. ^ "FIFA World Youth Championship Mexico 1983™". www.fifa.com. Retrieved 28 September 2022.
  2. ^ "FIFA World Youth Championship USSR 1985™". www.fifa.com. Retrieved 28 September 2022.
  3. ^ "FIFA World Youth Championship Chile 1987™". www.fifa.com. Retrieved 28 September 2022.
  4. ^ "FIFA World Youth Championship Saudi Arabia 1989™". www.fifa.com. Retrieved 28 September 2022.
  5. ^ "FIFA World Youth Championship Nigeria 1999™". www.fifa.com. Retrieved 28 September 2022.
  6. ^ "FIFA World Youth Championship Netherlands 2005™". www.fifa.com. Retrieved 28 September 2022.
  7. ^ "FIFA U20 World Cup Canada 2007™". www.fifa.com. Retrieved 28 September 2022.
  8. ^ "FIFA U20 World Cup Egypt 2009™". www.fifa.com. Retrieved 28 September 2022.
  9. ^ "FIFA U-20 World Cup Colombia 2011". www.fifa.com. Retrieved 28 September 2022.
  10. ^ "FIFA U-20 World Cup Turkey 2013™". www.fifa.com. Retrieved 28 September 2022.
  11. ^ "FIFA U-20 World Cup New Zealand 2015™". www.fifa.com. Retrieved 28 September 2022.
  12. ^ "FIFA U-20 World Cup Poland 2019™". www.fifa.com. Retrieved 28 September 2022.
  13. ^ "Flying Eagles squad for 2023 FIFA World Cup in Argentina". The NFF - Twitter. Retrieved 16 May 2023.