Nigeria national U-17 football team, the Golden Eaglets, have been drawn alongside neighbours Niger, Togo and Burkina Faso in Group B of the 2024 WAFU Zone B U-17 tournament, www.aclsports.com reports.
Defending champions of the competition, Nigeria have been placed in Group B alongside the Baby Hawks of Togo, Republic of Benin while last edition’s beaten finalists the Les Etalons of Burkina Faso complete the group.
In group A, the Black Starlets of Ghana, who are the hosts of the competition later next month, will face the Petit Elephant of Cote d’Ivoire and Les Ecuriels of Benin. The draw ceremony was held at the association’s headquarters in Abidjan on Friday.
The seven WAFU B countries in the qualifying tournament will fight for two slots available – the two finalists – to determine who will automatically qualify for the AFCON U17 tournament next year, the official qualifying tournament for the U17 World Cup.
Nigeria and Burkina Faso represented the zone at the U17 AFCON last year after both countries contested the final played at the Cape Coast Stadium, also in Ghana.
However, Nigeria failed to qualify for the World Cup after they were beaten by Burkina Faso at the quarter-final stage of the U17 AFCON tournament in Algeria.
It will also be recalled that the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) recently announced the reappointment of former U17 World Cup winner Manu Garba as the head coach of the team. He has since resumed work in the nation’s capital alongside some of his assistants including expected-to-be-named Sporting Lagos coach Abdullahi Biffo and Beyond Limits Football Academy coach Olumide Ajibolade.
The WAFU Zone B U17 tournament is scheduled to start on May 15 and ends on May 28, 2024. All the matches will be played at the Accra Sports Stadium in Ghana’s capital.
FULL DRAWS
Group A
Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Benin
Group B
Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Togo, Niger
