Five Super Eagles Players Ruled Out of 2024 CHAN After Securing Moves Abroad

Five players initially invited to the Super Eagles B training camp ahead of next month’s 2024 African Nations Championship (CHAN) have been deemed ineligible after signing for clubs outside Nigeria.

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) confirmed that Papa Daniel Mustapha, Waliu Ojetoye, Savour Isaac, Abubakar Sadiq, and Philip Adejo can no longer participate in the competition, which is reserved exclusively for players active in their country’s domestic leagues.

“These five players have become ineligible to feature for Nigeria at the CHAN tournament. They have all moved out to sign for clubs outside of Nigeria,” the NFF announced.

The affected players recently featured for domestic clubs including Plateau United (Sadiq), Abia Warriors (Adejo), Rangers (Isaac), Niger Tornadoes (Mustapha), and Ikorodu City (Ojetoye), and some played key roles during last year’s qualifiers against Ghana.

As of Wednesday, 28 players had reported to camp in Ikenne, Ogun State. However, two other invitees have also been ruled out — Rangers defender Ifeanyi Onyebuchi due to injury, and Sporting Lagos goalkeeper Ifeanyi Harcourt, who is currently with Nigeria’s U-20 squad.

The 2024 CHAN tournament, exclusively for home-based players, will take place from August 2 to 20, co-hosted by Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda.

Head coach Eric Chelle began preparations with 21 players on Monday. Five more joined the squad on Tuesday, while 28 were in training by Wednesday morning. It is yet to be confirmed whether replacements will be called up for the ineligible quintet.

Nigeria, runners-up in the 2018 edition, are drawn in Group D alongside defending champions Senegal, as well as Sudan and Congo. The Super Eagles B will open their campaign in Zanzibar, facing Senegal and Sudan at the Amman Stadium, before concluding the group stage against Congo in Dar es Salaam’s Benjamin Mkapa Stadium.

The West African side has yet to lift the CHAN trophy, with their best performances being a third-place finish in 2014 and a second-place finish in 2018, where they lost the final to hosts Morocco.