Nigeria’s Future Eagles initially scheduled to take off today to Spain for an European UEFA U16 Development Tournament tourney would no longer be doing so.
This is following the refusal of the Spanish Embassy to grant them Visa for the invitational tourney starting on Friday.
The latest development was made known by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) in a post on X on Monday.
The players and officials were supposed to fly into Spain on Tuesday afternoon for the tournament to which the African giants have been invited. No reason was given for the denial of visa to the team.
According to the NFF, the special invitation for the tournament has come as a result of Nigeria’s pedigree in youth football, in which she has won five world titles at U17 boys’ level and reached the FIFA World Cup final on two occasions at U20 level.
As part of its preparation for the tournament, the Future Eagles trained for a week at the Remo Stars’ Sports Institute in Ikenne, during which it played two matches against the Remo Stars’ U16 boys (Beyond Limits FC), winning one and losing the other.
The Future Eagles, coached by Patrick Bassey, also won one and lost one against their Moroccan counterparts on a two-match tour of that North African country last month. Their first game ended in a 2-3 defeat, but they buckled up to win the second game 5-3 in the city of Kenitra.
The UEFA U16 Tournament, which brings warm memories of the UEFA-CAF U17 Meridian Tournament that started in 1997 but was discontinued a decade after, will take place at the Pinatar Arena Football Centre in San Pedro del Pinatar.
The Future Eagles’ delegation to Spain, inclusive of 20 players, was to be led by Zannah Mohammed Malah, a member of the NFF Technical and Development Committee.