NFF Retains Ahmadu Bello Stadium for Eagles/pharaohs tie

BY FEMI FABUNMI
The Ahmadu Bello Stadium, Kaduna that hosted AFCON qualifying match
between Nigeria and Chad has been given the green light to  host the
next  home match  that will pitch   the Super Eagles of Nigeria and
the Pharaohs of Egypt, the match is  scheduled for Wednesday, March
23, 2016, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) announced on its
website.
NFF General Secretary, Dr. Mohammed Sanusi, explained that the
Federation will henceforth decide international match venues well in
advance in order to afford host cities enough time to work on the
facilities to be used for such matches.

NFF also confirmed that unlike other stadia that are artificial turf,
the kaduna stadium is natural grass and the pitch will be worked on
between now and March next year ,he assures that  others areas too
that needs adjustment will be touched  before the clash with the seven
-time Africa Cup of Nations winners.
Nigeria and Egypt share top spot on the Group G table, with the
Pharaohs ahead on one goal advantage, following their 3-0 win over
Tanzania in Cairo in penultimate weekend’s opening matches.
Super Eagles’ next match  is away to Tanzania on September 5, before
the double header with the Pharaohs of Egypt.
Similarly, the NFF  also announced on its website  that the first leg
of the 2016 Olympics qualifying match between the Super Falcons and
the Senior Women National Team of Equatorial Guinea coming up on
Saturday, July 18 will be played in Port Harcourt.
Also, the African U-23 Championship final round, first leg match
between the Nigeria U-23 team and the Congo U-23 side will be played
in Port Harcourt, a day after the Falcons/Equatorial Guinea clash.
The winner of the two legged affairs between Nigeria and Congo U23
team will qualify  for the African U-23 Championship coming up in
Senegal in December, where eight nations will be drawn  into two
groups,while  the best three of the eight participating teams will
represent Africa at the Men’s Football Tournament of Rio de Janiero
Olympics games in Brazil 2016.