Nigeria national football team

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The Nigeria national football team, nicknamed the Super Eagles, is the national team of Nigeria and is controlled by the Nigeria Football Association. The highest position ever reached on the ranking was 5th in April 1994. The team is currently ranked 11th on the new official FIFA World Rankings as at 12 July 2006.

History

Nigeria reached the World Cup for the first time in Football World Cup 1994.They were managed by Clemens Westerhof who is commonly considered to be the best coach to have ever lead Nigeria. Nigeria topped their group in their first two world cup appearances. Nigeria were within 1 minute of qualifying for the Quarter finals of 1994 World Cup in the game against Italy but Roberto Baggio scored to take the game to extra time. He also scored the eventual winning goal. Nigeria missed out on qulification for the 2006 World Cup to Angola. Both teams finished level on points in the group but Nigeria even with a greater goal difference missed out due to their inferior head to head record against Angola. Nigeria won the African Nations Cup twice (1980 and 1994), and also won the gold medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics.

The 1970's also witnessed tremendous achievements. Nigeria's senior football team won a gold medal in the 2nd All-Africa games. The country's record of football achievement continued in the 1980s with series of successes. The bronze medals won in 1976 and 1978 in the African Cup of Nations were improved upon in 1980. The Christian Chukwu led Super Eagles won the Cup for the first time in Lagos. In 1984 and 1988, Nigeria again got to the finals of that championship but lost to Cameroon on both occasions to win the silver medals. Three of the four African titles won by Cameroon have been won by defeating Nigeria. Missing out to Cameroon on many occasions has created an intense rivalry between both nations. Two notable occasions; narrowly losing out on qualification for 1990 World Cup and then the controversial final of the 2000 African Nations Cup where a goal scored by Victor Ikpeba during a penalty shoot out was disallowed by the referee.

Nigeria's Under 17 youth teams won the inaugural Under-16 World Championship in 1985 and the Under-17 (the age limit was raised) title in 1993. The under 17 team is known as the Golden Eagles while the Under 21 team is known as the Flying Eagles.

Nigeria's Flying Eagles qualified for the first time to represent Africa in a Junior World Cup in Mexico. Although, Nigeria did not go beyond the first round, having lost 0-3 to Brazil, it beat the highly rated USSR 1-0 and held the Netherlands to a goalless draw.

In 1985, Nigeria's under-17 football team went to China and conquered the world in the first ever FIFA U-17 World Championship. The victory took Nigerian football to a high pedestal, setting the stage for a respect of Nigeria in international competitions. To prove a point of Nigeria's new found strength in football, the nation's under-20 team went to Saudi Arabia for the FIFA World Youth Championship in 1989 and lost narrowly in the final to Portugal. The "miracle of Damman", Nigeria's victory over USSR at the quarter final stage; after trailing four goals behind and with only twenty five minutes left, stunned the world during the championship.

World Cup record

• 1930 to 1958 - Did not enter
• 1962 - Did not qualify
• 1966 - Withdrew
• 1970 to 1990 - Did not qualify
• 1994 - Round 2
• 1998 - Round 2
• 2002 - Round 1
• 2006 - Did not qualify

African Cup of Nations record

Current Squad

Famous players

Top 7 Scorers

Manager History

Date appointed	Manager name
2005 - present	Augustine Eguavoen
2002 - 2005	Christian Chukwu
2002
2000 - 2002
1999 - 2000
1989 - 1999
1998 - 1998	Bora Milutinović
1997 - 1998
1997 - 1998	Philippe Troussier
1996 - 1997
1995 - 1996
1994 - 1995
1989 - 1994	Clemens Westerhof
1987 - 1989
1988 - 1989
1985
1984 - 1986
1983 - 1984
1981
1979 - 1982	Otto Gloria
1970 - 1971 & 1974
1974 - 1978
1972 - 1973 & 1963 - 1964
1969 - 1970
1965 - 1968
1964 - 1965
1961 - 1963
1960 - 1961
1956 - 1960
1954 - 1956
1949

Forthcoming fixtures

• International Friendly
• * Ghana v Nigeria , London, UK 15 August 2006

• 2008 African Cup of Nations Qualifying Group 3:
• *

Nigeria  v  
Niger,  04 September 2006

Lesotho

Niger

Nigeria

Uganda

External links

• [Nigeria FA] official site (this site is currently out of order)
• [Nigerian Players Database]
• [Nigerias best match]
• [Nigerian football magazine]
• [CyberEagles]
• [RSSSF archive of results 1955-]

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