Eric Chelle has named 24 players for Nigeria's Africa Cup of Nations 2027 qualifier against Tanzania in Group L, to be played at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium in Uyo on Friday 13 November 2026 at 5pm Lagos time (16:00 GMT). Our count shows that 20 of the 24 play in a European first division.
The squad surfaced on 7 and 8 November. The return leg is in Tanzania on Tuesday 17 November, at 14:00 Lagos time (13:00 GMT). Victor Osimhen, Kelechi Iheanacho and Maduka Okoye are not in the group. Soccernet.ng describes Osimhen as injured. We found no word from the Nigeria Football Federation or Chelle on any of the three omissions, and no date for the start of camp.
Where the 24 play their club football
England supplies eight players, the largest block by far: Arthur Okonkwo, Ola Aina, Benjamin Fredrick, Semi Ajayi, Calvin Bassey, Bright Osayi-Samuel, Alex Iwobi and Taiwo Awoniyi. Turkey, the Czech Republic, France and Italy supply two each, while Greece, Cyprus, South Africa, the United States, Slovakia, Spain, the Netherlands and Austria supply one player apiece, so the list is spread across thirteen countries in all, from Cyprus to the United States.
Twenty of the 24 play in a European first division, including Fredrick at Brentford, Uzoho at Omonia in Cyprus and Samson Tijani at Podbrezová in Slovakia. The other four are Okonkwo and Osayi-Samuel in the English Championship, Stanley Nwabali in South Africa and Alhassan Yusuf in Major League Soccer. Sportmonks has no club minutes for Fredrick this season, only for his national team, and none for Uzoho or Tijani. We counted the top division of each country as a first division, which is why the two Championship players are excluded.
That leaves 21 players in every minutes figure below. Positions follow the squad list as published.
Club minutes by position
Club minutes only. Figures as of 10 November 2026, according to Sportmonks data.
| Line | Players counted | Club minutes | Average |
|---|---|---|---|
| Goalkeepers | 2 | 1,980 | 990 |
| Defenders | 7 | 6,458 | 923 |
| Midfielders | 6 | 5,066 | 844 |
| Forwards | 6 | 4,394 | 732 |
Yusuf is the outlier. He flatters the midfield average. He has 26 appearances and 21 starts in MLS, 1,890 minutes, and without him the other five midfielders average 635.
The least used players in club football are Moses Simon at Paris FC and Fisayo Dele-Bashiru at Lazio, both on 304 minutes. Simon has three starts in eight Ligue 1 games. Dele-Bashiru, one. Tochukwu Nnadi on 488, Aina on 498 and Awoniyi on 516 follow. Okonkwo, by comparison, has played every minute of Charlton Athletic's 12 Championship games, 1,080 in all. Simon has 304. Forwards are thinnest.
What the absentees' numbers say
Osimhen has 10 club goals this season for Galatasaray, nine in the Super Lig and one in the Champions League, in 819 minutes, which works out at a goal every 82 minutes and is a rate no other name on either list matches except Arokodare, who scores every 70. The six forwards in Chelle's squad have 25 between them, and Tolu Arokodare of Ajax supplies 13 of those in 907 minutes. Terem Moffi, also left out, has three for Hamburger SV. That took 420 minutes.
Sportmonks does not cover Iheanacho's league, the Turkish second tier, so we quote no figure from it.
Osimhen's ten equal 40 per cent of what those six have produced.
Arokodare, Akor Adams and Moses Usor hold 21 of the 25 goals, and they have done it in 2,838 club minutes between them. Figures for the whole contingent sit on our Nigerians abroad tracker. Our report on Iwobi, Adams and Dele-Bashiru covers their goals, and our earlier report covers Osimhen, Moffi and Awoniyi.
This article was most recently revised and updated 23 seconds ago
