History of Football in Nigeria

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History of the Super Eagles

The Nigeria national football team, popularly known as the Super Eagles of Nigeria represents the country at the international association soccer competition. They are known as the champion team in Nigeria that have a widespread reputation with a number of awards won at the local and international championships.

After its foundation, the team played its very first recorded games abroad in England in 1949, arriving in Liverpool on 29 August 1949 and playing nine matches, many of them barefoot, against English amateur football teams which included South Liverpool, Dulwich Hamlet and Bishop Auckland. The first official international match followed on 8 October 1949, a 2 - 0 win over Sierra Leone in Freetown.

Their famous achievements commenced years after, when they won the gold medal in 1973 at the 2nd edition of All-Africa Games hosted in Lagos Nigeria. In the subsequent years 1976 and 1978 the Super Eagles finished 3rd in African Nation’s Cup.

The team captained by Chukwu Christian won the 1980 African Cup of Nation as the First championship, beating Algeria 3 - 0 in the final. That was during the 12th edition of the Cup hosted by Nigeria in Lagos.

In 1994, the Super Eagles of Nigeria reached the FIFA World Cup for the very first time. During the competition, the team defeated Bulgaria with a 3 - 0 score, lost to Argentina 1 - 2 and then beat Greece 2 - 0 to top their group and reach the second round.

However, in the second round of the competition, Emmanuel Amunike scored a goal 25 minutes after kick-off to give the Super Eagles the lead against Italy, but the game was finally lost 2 - 1 after extra time.

Again, in 1998 the team competed in the FIFA World Cup, playing Spain, Bulgaria and Paraguay in group D. They qualified from the first round by defeating Spain 3 - 2 and Bulgaria 1 - 0, though they lost to Paraguay. In the round of 16 the game ended in favour of Denmark with a 4 - 1 score.

The Nigerian team won the men’s football event at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, knocking off Mexico, Brazil and Argentina to win the gold medal in football. They also reached the final of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing but lost the match 1 - 0 to Argentina, taking the silver medal.

Super Eagles were drawn in group F at the 2002 FIFA World Cup to play Sweden, Argentina and England. They lost 1 - 0 to Argentina and 2 - 1 to Sweden and completed the group with a 0 - 0 draw against England. Similarly, during the 2010 FIFA World Cup they played Argentina, Greece and South Korea; they lost against Argentina and Greece but drew the last game with South Korea 2 - 2.

The team won the 2013 African Cup of Nations final on the 10th of February 2013 at the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa. A goal scored by Sunday Mba gave them a 1 - 0 win over Burkina Faso and qualified Nigeria to represent the Confederation of African Football at the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup.

Super Eagles have participated in several matches with different countries who have been occasional rivals. In 2013 FIFA Confederation Cup, the Super Eagles team were grouped with Spain, Uruguay and Tahiti.

They beat Tahiti 6 - 1 in their opening game but lost 1 - 2 to Uruguay and 0 - 3 to Spain. They also played at the 2014 FIFA World Cup, where they reached the round of 16 before losing 2 - 0 to France.

Another challenge came to the team during qualifying for the 2015 African Cup of Nations. At the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria, the Super Eagles drew 2 - 2 with South Africa in their last group game. They finished with a total of 8 points, third in the group, and failed to qualify, so they were unable to defend their title.

In 2016, the Nigeria Super Eagles were grouped with Zambia, Algeria, and Cameroon in a group known as "group of death" according to the draw for the 3rd round of the World Cup qualifiers released by The Confederation of African Football on the 24th of June 2016.

In the first match, Nigeria defeated Zambia 2 - 1 in Ndola and beat Algeria 3 - 1 in Uyo, Akwa Ibom, in the second match. The team then beat Cameroon 4 - 0 in Uyo and drew 1 - 1 in Yaoundé in a back to back contest. They became the first African team to qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia, held from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after beating Zambia 1 - 0 in Uyo on 7 October 2017.

In 2018, a renowned Nigeria football player captain Mikel Obi joined the Nigeria Super Eagles team during their preparation camping at the Eagles’ Ibom Hotels and Golf Resort in Uyo for 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, making the team 29 in number.