Nigeria has lost the chance to participate in the UEFA U16 Development Tournament starting on Friday as the Spanish Embassy denied Nigeria’s Future Eagles U15 players official visa with no reason given.
This was made known on Monday by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) in a post on its X platform handle.
Players and officials of the Nigeria U15 team, Future Eagles, have been denied visas by the Spanish Embassy and will therefore not be travelling to take part in the UEFA U16 Development Tournament starting on Friday.
The NFF said, “Players and officials of the Nigeria U15 team, Future Eagles, have been denied visas by the Spanish Embassy and will therefore not be travelling to take part in the UEFA U16 Development Tournament starting on Friday.”
Nigeria’s Future Eagles U15 team were to fly into Spain on Tuesday afternoon for the tournament following an invitation for the Africa’s most populous country to participate in the tournament.
The NFF said that the special invitation for Nigeria to take part in the tournament came as a result of the country’s pedigree in youth football, in which she has won five world titles at U17 boys’ level and reached the FIFA World Cup final on two occasions at U20 level.
The Future Eagles had trained for a week at the Remo Stars’ Sports Institute in Ikenne, during which it played two matches against the Remo Stars’ U16 boys (Beyond Limits FC), winning one and losing the other.
The Future Eagles’ delegation to Spain which included 20 players, was to be led by a member of the NFF Technical and Development Committee, Zannah Mohammed Malah.