D-Day for Chelle to Unveil Super Eagles’ 2025 AFCON Squad 

Duro Ikhazuagbe

Super Eagles final squad for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Morocco will finally be unveiled today, the December 11 deadline date set by the Confederation of African Football (CAF).

While most other countries going to Morocco for the tournament have released their final 26-man squads in the last two weeks, Chelle, instead opted to release a bogus provisional 54-man list of players , including several rookies.

There were even speculations that Nigeria’s final AFCON squad was being delayed by some interested parties, wanting to smuggle their wards into the final party to the North African country.

With the Super Eagles plagued by spate of injuries to key players, Chelle’s final list will determine the direction of what to expect from the team in the tournament in Morocco, where Nigerians are hoping for a win to assuage for missing the World Cup a second time.

First Choice goalkeeper, Stanley Nwabali was the latest in a long list of Super Eagles nursing injuries that have prevented them from going to Morocco.

Udinese safe hands, Maduka Okoye, is now expected to step into the first choice role for the goalkeeping position while Francis Uzoho stages a come back to the team after he was sidelined since causing Nigeria to miss the 2022 World Cup with poor goalkeeping against Ghana.

Already, Super Eagles backline has suffered the absence of top defenders who are down with injuries copped during the botched World Cup qualifiers and playoffs. Ola Aina, Benjamin Fredrick and Felix Agu are some of the key players to be missed. The retirement of William Troost-Ekong from international duty for Nigeria penultimate Thursday has further compounded the situation.

The Super Eagles will open their Group C against Tanzania in Fes on 23 December. Eagles will also tackle Tunisia’s Carthage Eagles (Saturday, 27 December) and round up the Group C with the clash with Cranes of Uganda (Tuesday, 30 December).