By Obaloluwa Joshua, LAGOS
Flying Eagles head coach Abdu Maikaba has declared that his side will be fully focused on securing all three points when they take on Ghana in their opening match of the 2026 WAFU B U-20 Championship.
The defending champions will begin their title defence against the Black Satellites at the Lycée Scientifique de Yamoussoukro on Monday.
The highly anticipated Group B clash is scheduled to kick off at 2:00pm local time (3:00pm Nigeria time).
It will be a repeat of last year’s final in Lomé, where the Flying Eagles came from behind to defeat Ghana 2-1 and lift the title.
Maikaba said his team is determined to retain the trophy for a third consecutive edition and believes a winning start is crucial to achieving that objective.
“We are going for an outright victory against Ghana because our objective is to retain the trophy, and we have to start winning our matches from Day One,” Maikaba told thenff.com.
The rivalry between Nigeria and Ghana on the football field dates back to 1951, and has produced a number of memorable encounters across the senior, intermediate, junior and academicals’ levels in both men and women categories.
Victory on Monday will stand seven-time African champions Nigeria in good stead for a semi final spot, with confrontations against Togo and Burkina Faso to come in the four-team Group B.
Matchday 2 on 30th July will see the seven-time African champions trade tackles with the Sparrow Hawks of Togo at the same Lycée Scientifique de Yamoussoukro. The game is scheduled to get underway at 2pm local time (3pm Nigeria time).
The Cup-holders will wrap up their group B matches against Young Stallions of Burkina Faso on the 2nd August also at the Lycée Scientifique with kick-off time scheduled for 2pm local time (3pm Nigeria time).
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