Coach Manu Garba has declared that the Golden Eaglets will reclaim their sub-regional crown at the 2025 WAFU B U17 AFCON qualifying tournament in Cote d’Ivoire.
The Golden Eaglets are already through to the semifinal of the competition after they spanked Benin 4-1 in their opening Group B match.
Tomorrow, they take on Burkina Faso to determine who wins the group after the Burkinabes also beat Benin 1-0.
“Every team wants to win every match in a competitive tournament, and so does Nigeria. We want to try as much as possible to win every match in this competition and by winning every match, we will be champions of the WAFU-B again because that is where my team belongs,” Manu Garba said during Friday’s press conference, ahead of the game on Saturday.
“We are here to play every match according to the laws of the game, but most importantly, we want to try as much as possible to win the match against Burkina Faso.”
Manu Garba led Nigeria to win a fourth FIFA U17 World Cup in 2013 and he was also in charge of the team when they failed to qualify for this year’s U17 AFCON after they finished third in the WAFU B qualifiers last year in Ghana.
Nigeria will host the WAFU B qualifiers for the 2026 U17 AFCON in September. Edo Queens coach Moses Adukwu will lead the women’s U20s, the Falconets. He will replace Chris Danjuma.
The Flying Eagles would need soccer agility coupled with prayers to edge their Senegalese counterparts to clinch one of the four continental World Cup tickets when they both clash in a decisive CAF U-20 AFCON (EGYPT 2025) quarter-final match today in Ismailia.
This much is the opinion of foremost youth coach Manu Garba, who incidentally led the Flying Eagles to clinch the CAF U-20 AFCON at the expense of the Junior Teranga Lions in 2015.
Bearing that in mind, Garba, a two-time FIFA U-17 World Cup winner with the Golden Eaglets, believes today’s encounter would certainly be more than a cup final, adding there is little separating the two West African powerhouses judging by their antecedents so far at the on-going tournament in Egypt.
“The only thing is that the last time when we (Flying Eagles) won the AFCON U20 trophy in Senegal, we defeated them 3-1 in the opening match and we still met in the AFCON U20 Final Match, and we won 1-0,” Garba told NationSport.“ This time, it’s going to be a cracking game due to the fact that most of their players are bulk of the last U-17, so they are used to each other and the fact that they are defending champions also makes them a top opposition.”
Yet Garba noted that the Aliyu Zubairu-led Flying Eagles has shown resilience so far in this on-going campaign and should have a head start against the battle-hardened Senegalese.
“Nigeria one of the power house in youth football , is the most successful team in the AFCON U20 and also have a good team that is unbeaten in the tournament and importantly, the Flying Eagles wants to qualify for the FIFA U20 World Cup,” Garba surmised
He added: “This is the knock out stage and our flying Eagles have to be focused from the kick-off to the final whistle and there should be no dull moment.
“ I’m, therefore, calling on all Nigerians to pray for victory against Senegal.”
It has been a decade ago since Nigeria finished first on the podium at the CAF U-20 Africa Cup of Nations when Manu Garba led the Flying Eagles to win the country’s seventh title at this level. Starting from April 27 through May 18, the Flying Eagles under coach Aliyu Zubairu would attempt to rewrite history as this year’s U20 AFCON holds in Egypt. Garba, a two-time FIFA U-17 World Cup winner , is backing Nigeria to all the way in Cairo even as he criticised those administering the game for the country’s poor showings at international youth levels in recent years, writes MORAKINYO ABODUNRIN…
Foremost youth coach, Manu Garba, believes those administering the game must urgently invest more on the national youth teams coupled with adequate incentives , in other to return the country to winning ways at both the junior and intermediate levels in continent al and global football.
But speaking ahead of the CAF Under-20 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), Garba who holds the singular honour of winning the country’s last trophy at this level exactly a decade ago in Senegal , said the country’s flag bearers in this year’s tournament in Egypt can ride their luck and excel under coach Aliyu Zubairu.
The Under-20 Africa Cup of Nations which is scheduled to run between 27th April and 18th May , will feature 13 nations battling for continental supremacy and four qualification spots to the FIFA U-20 World Cup, Chile 2025.
The draw for the tournament held penultimate Sunday following the withdrawal of initial hosts, Cote d’Ivoire, revealed exciting group-stage fixtures which promises a thrilling start to the competition.
Hosts Egypt, three-time champions, headline Group A, where they will face Zambia, Sierra Leone, South Africa and Tanzania in what promises to be a closely fought group.
In Group B, record seven-time champions Nigeria are drawn alongside former winners Tunisia, as well as Kenya and Morocco, setting the stage for some of the tournament’s most anticipated matches.
Defending champions Senegal begin their title defence in Group C, which also includes the Central African Republic, DR Congo, and Ghana — the latter aiming to reclaim the title they won in 2009, the same year they became the only African team to win the FIFA U-20 World Cup.
The top two teams from each pool, along with the two best third-placed teams, will progress to the quarter-finals, with the tournament concluding on 18th May 2025.
The continental soccer-ruling body , CAF, has already tipped the Flying Eagles as one of the favourites for the trophy in Cairo.
Of course, the Flying Eagles arrive in Egypt as the most successful side in the tournament’s history.
With a decorated legacy that spans decades, the Flying Eagles are once again among the favourites to contend for continental glory and secure qualification to the FIFA U-20 World Cup.
Their journey to Egypt was marked by a thrilling triumph in the WAFU Zone B Championship, where they overcame an early setback to defeat fierce rivals Ghana in the final. The resilience and character they showed en route to the title underscored their potential to shine again on the big stage.
The Flying Eagles will open their account against the Junior Carthage Eagles of Tunisia on May 1 with further preliminary group encounters against Morocco on May 4th and Kenya on May 7th.
“ The AFCON U20 tournament starts at the end of this month and I’m optimistic that the Coach Aliyu Zubairu-led team will qualify for the FIFA U20 World Cup,” Garba, a two-time FIFA U-17 World Cup winner, told NationSport. “He has the bulk of his WAFU B U20 gold medal-winning team, and with some few inclusion of foreign players in areas that needed fortification as backups and their preparation was good.” Garba, a devout Muslim with puritanical devotion to the religious’ five daily prayers, continued: “We can only pray for the flying Eagles to win the first game against Tunisia and subsequent games and Biizinillah (with Allah’s permission), the team has the potential to finish up on the podium.
“ On Tuesday, the Flying Eagles defeated host Egypt 2-1 in their last preparatory match and I think this is a psychological boost to garner their confidence to kick start the AFCON U20 tournament.
“ Even at that, they must put behind the victory and focus on Tunisia which is the most important game. Good luck to our flying Eagles as all Nigerians are solidly behind the team to win all matches Biizinillah,” Garba , who will mark his Diamond Jubilee on December 31, noted.
Yet Garba who led the Flying Eagles to their last continental triumph at Senegal 2015 following a 1-0 win over hosts Senegal courtesy of a superb goal by fleet-footed Bernard Bulbwa , readily admitted that that there hasn’t been plenty to cheer for the country at international youth tournament in the last decade.
“ Yes, precisely ten years ago, I led the Flying Eagles to win the AFCON U20 Trophy and Gold Medal in Senegal and I think since then, we’re yet to win the AFCON U20,” Garba recalled even as he gave some of the reasons behind the country’s free fall from their hitherto utopian heights. “Reasons for that are lack of progression from the U17 to the U20 of at least half of the players who were doing well.
“Secondly, at times we don’t prepare adequately and I also think the youth teams need to be motivated; though wearing the green and white colours to represent Nigeria, is itself part of the motivation.”
Yet, Garba, one of few coaches in Nigeria’s football firmament with a degree in history from the University of Maiduguri , would be the first to admit that the country has performed poorly in the last decade at both the junior and intermediate levels for obvious reasons.
He explained: “It was in the year 2013 that the MRI test was introduced as part of the eligibility process for the competition and at times key players in the team do fail the MRI test and that reduces the strength of the team .
“ Secondly, apart from the 2013 and 2015 FIFA World Cup winning teams coached by me and Emmanuel Amuneke that had gotten adequate preparation, the other generation of players after those feats couldn’t get enough time in camp to jell together and play cohesively.
“ Unlike the 2013 FIFA U17 World Cup-winning team in the UAE that had stayed together for months even before the AFCON U17 Tournament; and that explained why that team still holds the World Cup record of scoring 25 goals and conceding only 4 , winning the most valuable player award, best goalkeeper, second top scorer and fair play Trophy and Gold Medal.
“Another reason is that the removal of match bonuses for age grade teams by former NFF president Amaju Pinnick did more harm than good as paying match bonus was a sort of motivation and we have seen that when we won the AFCON U17 Tournament in Togo 2007, FIFA U17 World cup in South Korea and our AFCON U17 qualifying matches in 2013, AFCON U17 and FIFA U17 World Cup in the UAE. It’s (allowances and match winning bonus) a sort of extrinsic motivation.”
While many would easily attributed the country’s poor showing at youth tournaments to coaching, Garba stoutly defended his profession even as he lay most of the problems squarely at the doors of those saddled with administration of the game.
He offered: “I don’t think our problem is coaching as we have lots of good coaches in Nigeria who are well trained and exposed to the modern trends of the game and don’t forget that every coach has his own philosophy.
“ For a team to do well in major competitions, the coach needs to get enough time to make sure the team is physically, technically, tactically psychologically and mentally fit and if any major factors of performance is lacking, there’s the likelihood that the team might not finish on the podium.”
Meanwhile, Garba has also reckoned that the rest of the continent are equally not sleeping with North African team, especially Morocco challenging for top honours in all fronts and recently finished first on the podium Africa Cup of Nations which they hosted ahead of hitherto traditional super powers at youth tournaments.
“ I think over the years, Morocco have been preparing adequately and I don’t think there’s a decline in West Africa as Burkina Faso and Cote d’Ivoire who Ghana defeated 5-1 in the WAFU B U17 Tournament still reached the semi-final (at the U-17 AFCON) and won the bronze ,” Garba surmised.
“Whenever the West African teams prepare adequately , they will win all major youth tournaments. “Remember, the Nigerian U17 team was in camp for twenty three days including MRI test before the WAFU B Tournament and we still top it’s group ahead of eventual champions, Burkina Faso (in the WAFU B U17 Tournament.
“But we unfortunately lost 1-0 to Cote d’Ivoire in the semi -final and still finished on the podium defeating host, Ghana 3-2 to pick up the Bronze medal.
“ This was a Ghanaian team that have prepared for seven months and even went on a training tour of Germany for final preparation.
“ I believe CAF’s s unfortunate decision to exclude Nigeria from this year’s U17 AFCON Tournament wasn’t fair enough even when FIFA has given Africa ten slots for the FIFA U17 World cup.
“CAF picked other third-place teams like Gambia from WAFU A and skipped Nigeria who also came third from WAFU B which without any doubt, is the strongest zone in Africa especially at youth level,” he concluded.
Egypt 2025: Groupings for CAF Under-20 Africa Cup of Nations
Group A: Egypt, Zambia, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania
Group B: Nigeria, Tunisia, Kenya, Morocco
Group C: Senegal, Central African Republic, DR Congo, Ghana
Foremost Nigeria’s football developmental coach , Manu Garba, has enthused that striker Tolu Arokodare and defender Igho Ogbu has all what it takes to excel with the Super Eagles after they were both drafted for the first time by coach Eric Sekou Chelle for this month’s 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against Rwanda and Zimbabwe.
Chelle unveiled his first squad for the Super Eagles on Tuesday by handling maiden invitations to seven players including the Genk forward Arokodare and ‘no nonsense’ Slavia Prague defender Ogbu much to the delight of coach Garba, who incidentally, gave both players their break with the national cadet UI-17 team years’ back.
Regarded as one of the best Nigerian coaches with eyes for talents, Garba who would mark his 60th birthday in December, is happy to have discovered a generation of players to the Super Eagles in recent years
“Igho Ogbu, Bruno Onyemaechi, Super Eagles left back, Tolu Arokodare and Victor Boniface were all with me in the Golden Eaglets class of 2017/18 but unfortunately Boniface’s MRI test results was in the border line and I had to drop him,” the 59-year-old Garba told NationSport. “While I invited Tolu Arokodare after I watched him playing for Box-2-Box Football Academy Lagos at the Legacy pitch, I saw Igho Ogbu playing for Gee-Lec Football Academy Jos.
“Coincidentally Tolu Arokodare came from the same football academy with Victor Osimhen,” he revealed.
Garba, a two-time FIFA U-17 World Cup winner with the Golden Eaglets in 2007 as an assistant to late coach Yemi Tella and in 2013, as the substantive Head coach, said both Arokodare and Ogbu can stay their claims in the Super Eagles by replicating their club forms for the national team.
Arokodare for instance has been scoring with relish with Genk in the Belgian Jupiler League where he has cracked an impressive 16 goals in 28 appearances in the on-going campaign while Ogbu has impressed as a centre-back for Slavia Prague in the Czech First League.
“This is a good opportunity for both Igho Ogbu and Tolu Arokodare to contribute to the success of the Super Eagles to qualify Nigeria to the World Cup and win the AFCON,” Garba, who led the Flying Eagles to win the CAF U-20 Africa Cup of Nations in 2015, further told NationSports.“ But then they have to earn a place in the team by replicating the good job in their various clubs for the super Eagles both in training and matches.”
He continued as he dwelled on his other discoveries for the Super Eagles: “Over the years I have discovered talents like Wilfred Ndidi, Taiwo Awoniyi, Moses Simon, Kelechi Iheanacho, Chidiebere Nwakali , Isaac Success, Musa Mohammed, Musa Yahaya, Godwin Saviour, Dele Adeleye, Saviour Isaac, Samson Tijjani, Akin Amoo and host of other great players playing abroad.”
Golden Eaglets coach Manu Garba said his wards would press for a convincing win in their final Group B match against Togo today in Accra, even as he enthused that his teenage captain Cletus Simon, as a ‘soccer surgeon’, can wreak havoc against any opposition.
“Going into the last group match against Togo, we will work more on goal scoring exercises, while being cautious about the defense and chide the players to win convincingly so that we can qualify as group winners,” Garba told NationSports.
The Golden Eaglets drew goalless with Burkina Faso in their opening match but bounced to a 1-0 win against Niger while Simon was twice voted Man of the Match to the delight of everyone.
“Cletus Simon is a young kid still in secondary school,” Garba revealed. “Though he is not as commanding as my FIFA U17 World Cup-winning captain (Musa Mohammed) in the UAE in 2013, he is like a soccer surgeon who has the ability to spread crisp passes with precision.
“He has the peripheral vision and awareness to dictate the pace of the game. I saw him at the Legacy Pitch in Lagos and after just 20 minutes of play, I said to myself ‘here’s a diamond in the pack’,” he said.
Still on today’s must-win encounter, Garba has reiterated that Nigeria’s U17 boys will go for a win against ‘tiny’ Togo, even though a draw will be good enough to see the five-time world champions through to the semi-finals.
“We got the three points against Niger Republic, and we have to keep the winning mentality. We cannot afford to gamble; a win is what we are going for,” Garba said in an official NFF release. “Even though they lost their first two matches, we cannot afford to under-rate the Togolese. They got two goals against Niger Republic, even though they eventually lost; so they are not a team to be taken for granted.”
Cup holders Golden Eaglets will finish top of the pile if they win against the Togolese at the Accra Sports Stadium and fellow group leaders Burkina Faso fail to get the better of Niger Republic at the University of Accra Stadium in games that will be played simultaneously.
Victory for Nigeria, and draw or defeat for the Burkinabes, will mean the Eaglets avoid in-form Black Starlets of Ghana, who are expected to top group A, in the last-four confrontations.’
The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has announced the appointment of Manu Garba as the new Head Coach of the Nigeria Under-17 male national team, also known as Golden Eaglets, Soccernet. ng reports.
In the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations youth tournament, Nigeria’s U-17 boys under the guidance of Nduka Ugbade could not impress, dashing their 2024 FIFA U-17 World Cup dreams.
As a result, Ugbade stepped down from his role as the head coach, which made the U-17 coaching role vacant.
However, the former U17 World Cup winner, who previously led the Golden Eaglets to victory in the FIFA U17 World Cup in 2013, to earn Nigeria their fourth trophy returned as the coach of the U-17 team.
It can be recalled that his successful squad in 2013 included notable players such as Kelechi Iheanacho, Taiwo Awoniyi, Isaac Success, Musa Mohammed, Chidiebere Nwakali, Dele Alampasu and a host of others.
The Board of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has appointed former U17 World Cup winner Manu Garba as Head Coach of the Nigeria U17 boys, Golden Eaglets.
Garba had, in the same role, led the Golden Eaglets to win the FIFA U17 World Cup for Nigeria in the United Arab Emirates in 2013 – Nigeria’s fourth triumph at that stage.
Garba’s world-conquering squad in 2013 included Kelechi Iheanacho, Taiwo Awoniyi, Isaac Success, Musa Mohammed, Chidiebere Nwakali and goalkeeper Dele Alampasu.
The squad, which finished as runners-up at the African U17 Championship in Morocco after a penalty shootout defeat by Cote d’Ivoire, defeated Mexico 6-1 in their opening game, drew 3-3 with Sweden and hammered Iraq 5-0. In the Round of 16, they ran Iran ragged 4-1, dispatched Uruguay 2-0 in the quarter-finals and trounced Sweden 3-0 in the semi-finals, before they dislodged Mexico by the same margin in the final to lift the trophy.
The former Nigeria international will now immediately resume the role and take charge of the team’s preparations for next month’s WAFU B U17 Championship, taking place in Ghana.
Ahead of their semifinal clash against Guinea U17 Wednesday, Eaglets coach Manu Garba has told his boys to forget past victories and treat the clash as final showdown.
While admitting that the achievements made so far at the on going championship in Tanzania is heartwarming, the party according to the former Flying Eagles coach must be put on hold to fight all the way to the final.
“We topped the group and we didn’t lose any match that is good, but we must put all that aside and give full concentration to the semifinal clash like I said will be very tactical, “he said
Guinea finished as runners up in Group B with six points in three games to set up semifinal clash against Nigeria.
Garba who won the FIFA U-17 world cup in 2013 and the 2015 Africa U-20 championship in 2015, is hoping to add the U-17 Nations cup title to his resume. Nigeria last won the championship in 2007 in Togo, finished as runners up in 2013 in Morocco, and in the 4th place in the 2015 edition in Niamey.
In comparison Guinea’s highest level in the championship has been the third place finish. Interestingly the West African country have finished in the third place three times 1995,2015 and 2017 and will no doubt be dreaming to go beyond that in Dar es Salaam.
