By Dayo Awoniyi
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has shockingly dashed Nigeria’s hopes of participating in the 2025 U17 African Nations Cup finals, despite being the five-time world champions.
Instead, CAF has awarded two of the four additional slots to Gambia, who finished third in WAFU Zone A, and Tunisia.
Nigeria’s U17 national team, the Golden Eaglets, had finished third behind Burkina Faso and Cote D’Ivoire at the WAFU B Championship in Ghana, but their bronze medal was not enough to secure a spot in the expanded 16-team tournament.
The remaining two slots will be filled by the top two teams from the UNIFFAC region qualifier, which will be hosted by Cameroon from February 16-28.
The five participating countries in the championship are Cameroon, Gabon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Congo.
This decision means that Nigeria will miss back-to-back FIFA U17 World Cups, a devastating blow to the country’s youth football development.
Samuel Ahmadu is a distinguished multimedia journalist and women's football expert with over 15 years of experience in the industry. He began his career at Goal.com in February 2014, where he served as an African women's football correspondent for nearly eight years. During his tenure at Goal.com, Samuel covered major events such as three Women's Africa Cup of Nations (2016, 2018, 2022) and the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup in Canada plus 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. His work at Goal.com earned him widespread acclaim, particularly for his in-depth profiles of African football stars, notably Asisat Oshoala, whose rise he documented from her early years to her breakthrough at the FIFA U20 Women's World Cup in 2014. Prior to his role at Goal.com, Samuel freelanced for various print and broadcast media outlets in Nigeria, including Graphics Newspaper, Radio Nigeria, Grace FM, and Savid Newspaper. His extensive experience and expertise led to his appointment to the Nigeria Football Federation's Standing Committee on Women's Football Development from 2016 to 2018. Since February 2018, Samuel has been the Social Media Manager for Nigeria's women's national teams.In 2019, Samuel joined the Confederation of African Football (CAF) as a women's football content contributor and was promoted to Women's Football Editor in 2021. His contributions to women's football continued as he worked as a Media Consultant for Content Creation and Editorials at the 2022 CAF Women's Champions League. Currently, Samuel also serves as the spokesman for the Nigeria Women Football League, further solidifying his influence and dedication to the growth of women's football in Africa.
