Nigeria’s national U-17 football team, the Golden Eaglets, have been drawn alongside Morocco, South Africa and Zambia in Group B of the 2023 U-17 AFCON.
The draw ceremony took place at Cercle National de l’Armée in Algiers on Wednesday.
Group A consists of the hosts Algeria, Senegal, DR Congo, and Somalia while Group C comprises Cameroon, Mali, Burkina Faso, and South Sudan.
The Golden Eaglets will play all their Group B matches at the Chahid Hamlaoui Stadium, Constantine, while the Nelson Mandela Stadium in Algiers and the 1956 Stadium in Annaba will host matches in groups A and C, respectively.
Nduka Ugbade’s boys reached the finals in Algeria by winning the U17 WAFU B championship staged in Cote D’Ivoire in 2022, where they defeated Burkina Faso 2-1 in a thrilling final.
The Eaglets last won the AFCON in 2007 but have gone on to lift the World title on three occasions since then.
The fifteenth edition of the U-17 AFCON is scheduled for April 29 to May 19 in Algeria.
Meanwhile, the team has been preparing in Abuja ahead of the tournament since the turn of the year and the focus for Ugbade will be to qualify for the World Cup and possibly win the tournament.
The semifinalists at the 2023 U-17 AFCON will represent Africa at the 2023 FIFA U-17 World Cup billed for Peru from November 10 to December 2.
