U17 Afcon: Nigeria coach Ugbade stipulates reasons for fresh screening exercise

The coach of Nigeria U-17 national team, Nduka Ugbade has explained some of the modalities put in place to screen fresh players into the Golden Eaglets.

The former COD United coach had earlier confirmed that he will be screening new players this month ahead of next year’s CAF U-17 Championship.

“We have to do fresh screening due to the MRI because it is the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) policy of 1-4. CAF and FIFA stipulate 1-5. This is very important for the team not to fall,” coach Ugbade told Brila FM.

“When a player fails the MRI test, the team will have to go home. In order to avoid this we must do our best to ensure that we stay within that confine of 1-4 so that if any player is going to be dropped, he will meet a 4 and a half rating. This will make the team compete and go through the competition.”

Nigeria qualified for the 2023 Africa U-17 Championship after winning the West Africa Zone B (WAFU-B) Championship defeating Burkina Faso 2-1 in the final.

Ugbade led the team to win all four games at the tournament to qualify for the African Championship, where the team defeated host, Ghana 4-2, Togo 2-1, Ivory Coast 3-1, and Burkina Faso 2-1 in the final match.

Nigeria remains the most successful team at the FIFA U-17 World Cup with five titles.