Balarabe criticises Super Eagles’ AFCON provisional list

A former Nigerian international, Abubakar Balarabe, has condemned the decision by Super Eagles’ coach, Eric Chelle, to invite as many as 55 players to the team’s camp ahead of the 2025 AFCON finals in Morocco.

On Tuesday, the Franco-Malian coach unveiled the provisional list made up of the usual suspects like Victor Osimhen, William Ekong, Ademola Lookman, Wilfred Ndidi, Moses Simon, Alex Iwobi, and Samuel Chukwueze.

Chelle also included four home-based players in the provisional list.

From the list of 55 players, he is expected to trim the squad to 28 players before the kickoff on Sunday, December 21.

Speaking to Daily Trust yesterday, Balarabe, a Ranchers Bees’ legend, said what the coach has done is capable of creating unnecessary confusion.

According to him, the team has less than three weeks to submit the final list, so the coach should have picked only 30 players instead of the crowd he has assembled in the name of camping.

“The number of players the coach has invited is too high. How is he going to make his final selection? It will lead to needless confusion, if he is not careful.

“Considering time factor, he should have invited like 30 players from where he would have picked the best 28 players to represent us.

“I am sure the coach already knows the players he wants to take to Morocco, so why waste money on flying about players who are not going to make the team in the end?

“I am not in support of any wasteful spending of tax-payers money. The 55-man list is not only unnecessary, it is also a call to confusion,” said Balarabe.

The former international, however, said if the Super Eagles take to Morocco the fighting spirit that they displayed during the World Cup Playoff, they would bring home the AFCON trophy.

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