Friday’s international friendly match between Nigeria’s Super Eagles and the Fennecs of Algeria has been moved to a bigger, more befitting stadium, reports www.aclsports.com
The game which will be the third meeting between both countries in three years was earlier billed to hold at the Jacques Lemans Arena in Sankt Veit an der Glan, Austria but it will now take place at the Worthersee Stadion in Klagenfurt, also in Austria.
Although there is no official reason yet for the shift in match venue, ACLSports sources hinted that the Federation had been on the look out for a bigger facility to host the top rated friendly, even if it would be held behind closed doors, due to the prevailing Coronavirus situation.
The Jacques Lemans Arena which still remains as host for Nigeria’s second friendly game in Austria next Tuesday, against Tunisia is a meagre less than 3,000 capacity stadium but the Worthersee Stadion, where Friday’s game will be staged boasts of a 30,000 capacity.
In spite of the change in venue, the game will still kick-off at the scheduled time of 8:30pm local time (7:30pm in Nigeria) on Friday, October 9, 2020. The first meeting between both sides since Algeria defeated Nigeria en route to winning the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt.
The match is expected to serve as tune up for both countries ahead of the resumption of 2022 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifying series in November.
Gernot Rohr’s Nigeria will face Sierra Leone home and away in Group L of the qualification series while defending champions Algeria will face Zimbabwe home and away in Group L. Both Nigeria and Algeria lead their respective groups with maximum six points from their first two games.
Picture Credit: Laura Zlebekova
