The recently opened camp of the Nigeria U17 team has been taken over by uninvited players, who are pushing to be considered for a spot outside the invited number.
49 players were called up to the camp but since the start of training, the coaches have been forced to rejig their plans in order to accommodate the huge number of players who turned up uninvited.
So far almost 300 players turn up on a daily to the FIFA Goal Project Package B training pitch, where coach Nduka Ugabde runs the rule on them for almost an hour. However it’s mostly after the training of the invited players.
The invitees are most of the bunch that won the WAFU B U17 Championship in the Ghanaian city of Cape Coast last summer defeating Burkina Faso in the final.
The Africa U17 Cup of Nations has been scheduled for Algeria 8th – 30th April, from which the four top-placed teams will qualify to fly Africa’s flag at the FIFA U17 World Cup finals that will be staged in Peru 10th November – 2nd December.
Nigeria are five-time champions of the FIFA U17 World Cup after triumphs in China in 1985, Japan in 1993, Korea Republic in 2007, United Arab Emirates in 2013 and Chile in 2015.
