Nigeria Minister of Sport John Enoh spoke about the Super Eagles' chances in the next AFCON.
After a meeting with President Bola Tinubu at the presidential villa in Abuja on Friday, Enoh said that the Super Eagles are expected to emerge from the African Cup of Nations in Cote d’Ivoire with the trophy.
🏆🇳🇬 Minister of Sports Development, Senator John Enoh, sets a bold target for the Super Eagles! 🦅 After a dominant 6-0 win over Sao Tome and Principe, he urges them to bring home the Africa Cup of Nations title in Ivory Coast next year. #SuperEagles #AFCON2023 pic.twitter.com/f8453U12mh
— Voice of Nigeria (@voiceofnigeria) September 11, 2023
He said all efforts will be made to rally the nation behind them for the required solidarity and support.
Enoh’s comments followed the CAF grouping ahead of the tournament which begins next January where the Super Eagles were drawn with the host nation, Côte d’Ivoire.
At the draw ceremony held at Parc Des Expositions in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire on Thursday, the Super Eagles will also face Guinea-Bissau and Equatorial Guinea as the other teams in Group A.
According to Enoh, when the Eagles know that they have massive home support, it will encourage them to perform well.
The minister noted that for a country that has not won the AFCON for a long time, Super Eagles have the desire and determination to win again, “which means they must prepare very well.”
Enoh announced that President Tinubu has approved a national campaign tagged “Let’s Do It Again” to mobilize resources for the Super Eagles for a successful tournament.
“By the time they know that the whole country is behind them, they will have added fire power. The country’s expectation is that they will win the cup and bring it back to Nigeria. That’s the idea of the campaign. It will be a morale booster,” Enoh said.
The Minister explained that the idea of the Let’s Do It Again campaign is also to mobilize resources from the private sector to support the national team such that government funds would not be needed to prosecute the tournament.
He assured Nigerians that the Government would spare no efforts to rally the nation behind the Super Eagles for the required solidarity and support.
Enoh reasoned that the athletes would be encouraged towards peak performance when they are aware of massive home support.
The need for grassroots sports revival
Highlighting long-term plans, he promised to emphasize grassroots sports development and revive headmasters’ sports competition in primary schools to extract and discover talents.
The grassroots sports development is aimed at bringing sports activities close to the youths in the rural areas where they will be exposed to sports facilities to hone their talents, he clarified.
Talents discovered from the grassroots will walk their way into the Super Eagles team in years to come with proper development.
What's next for the Super Eagles?
The Nigerian team played a 2-2 draw with Saudi Arabia few days ago, they will next lock horns with Mozambique on Monday, 16 October, to conclude this month's friendly games in Portugal.
FT in Portimao: Saudi Arabia 2-2 Nigeria #soarsupereagles #letsdoitagain pic.twitter.com/mNwnkI5fPJ
— 🇳🇬 Super Eagles (@NGSuperEagles) October 13, 2023
Jose Peseiro will then have his thoughts full in November as he welcomes back the team for the two 2026 World Cup qualifying games.
Nigeria will host Lesotho on 13 November 2023 as they kick off their first World Cup qualies. The team will then conclude actions for the year when they travel to face Zimbabwe seven days later.
The November skirmishes will prepare the side for the AFCON which comes up in January.
This article was most recently revised and updated 11 months ago
