Nigeria’s youth national team, Flying Eagles have gained a message of congratulation from global soccer governing body, FIFA, over their qualification for the 2019 World Cup in Poland.
Footballlive.ng reports that FIFA were quick to acknowledge Nigeria’s qualification for Poland 2019, few hours after the Flying Eagles beat Niger Republic 1-0 in their last group match at the Africa U-20 Cup of Nations.
The victory in Niamey took Nigeria into the semi-finals and confirmed a ticket to this year’s Youth Mundial, a competition in which the Flying Eagles were runners-up in1989 and 2005, but failed to qualify for the last edition in Korea.
Dramatically, England won the 2017 edition with a squad that had six Nigerian-born players, as Sheyi Ojo, Ademola Lookman and Fikayo Tomori showed their mettle, while Dominic Solanke was top scorer and most valuable player.
Nigeria, who are also chasing an eighth continental title in Niger Republic, will now return to the global terrain later this year, at a competition they hosted in 1999, when it as still known as World Youth Championship (WYC).
In recognition of Paul Aigbogun’s feat in seeing his side seal one of Africa’s four tickets on Friday, FIFA took to social media to note how the Nigerian team will had to the Mundial with Senegal and South Africa, who also qualified for the semi-finals in Niger Republic.
FIFA’s citation for the Flying Eagles, however, specifically noted that Aigbogun’s team finished first in their group at the ongoing African championship.
A tweet from FIFA read in part: ““The Flying Eagles are headed to this year’s #U20WC Poland 2019! They’ve finished top of Group A at #TotalAFCONU20 and reached the knockout stage.”
