The Super Eagles squad numbers for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations has been released.
Napoli hitman, Victor Osimhen retained his number 9 shirt, underlining his role as the team’s most important forward.
Joe Aribo will don the iconic number 10 jersey, captain Ahmed Musa opted to stick with with his famous number seven jersey.
New boy Alhassan Yusuf will wear jersey number 4, previously worn by Wilfred Ndidi, the man he replaced in the squad.
Read Also:AFCON: Can Osimhen bring home the Golden Boot?
Midfielder Alex Iwobi has switched from number 18 to 17, while Samuel Chukwueze kept his number 11 shirt.
Jose Peseiro’s side will be competing at the AFCON finals for the 20th time.
The Super Eagles are drawn in Group A with hosts Cote d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea.
SUPER EAGLES AFCON SQUAD JERSEY NUMBERS
1. Francis Uzoho
2. Ola Aina
3. Zaidu Sanusi
4. Alhassan Yusuf
5. William Troost-Ekong
6. Semi Ajayi
7. Ahmed Musa
8. Frank Onyeka
9. Victor Osimhen
10. Joe Aribo
11. Samuel Chukwueze
12. Bright Osayi-Samuel
13. Bruno Onyemaechi
14. Kelechi Iheanacho
15. Moses Simon
16. Ojo Olorunleke
17. Alex Iwobi
18. Ademola Lookman
19. Umar Sadiq
20. Chidozie Awaziem
21. Calvin Bassey
22. Kenneth Omeruo
23. Stanley Nwabili
24. Victor Boniface
25. Raphael Onyedika
15 Comments
Good to see Seniorman and Uzoho retaining their numbers. People can criticise Uzoho but I still believe in him because every GK has their off form and we are also quick to forget that Eagles shaky performance of late due to the average coach can also affect Uzoho. Let us also censor our defence in equal measure… Some gullible mind will tag my opinion as tribal and I don’t care. For now I wish Uzoho that kept well against Brazil and Manchester Goodluck in his endeavour.
That’s the problem with you, your comments usually have that undertone of tribalism. Of course, I also stick with Uzoho, he will regain his confidence in this tournament and I think we should all stop fussing about about it. However, if this was Musa or other non-ibo in the team you would have been everywhere cursing NFF and throwing unnecessary insults (you can’t pass a message without insult, obviously). For instance, Chuckwueze’s performance has been below par for about two years now, for some of us, we won’t call for his head, but if he’s someone else, you would be the first to comment with tons of rants when you see his name on every list. You should do better. I barely comment here, but i read comments here almost every two hours. If we all to see every issue with a tribalistic eye, we won’t move an inch into any better.
I’m not tribal it’s just a coincidence that opinion seems to favour mostly talented players and you can’t blame me that most of them are Igbos. Regardless of this I still have favourites players from other regions in Nigeria but whenever I speak of Igbo players most people from other part tag it as tribalism. Do you read CS during the time of Obagoal? If yes then you’ll know that I’m a number 1 fan of Martins come rain come sun due to his talent and tenacity. So whoever thinks I’m tribal is not only wrong but rather the tribal one for only noticing Igbo players comments.
I feel Peseiro ought to pick 27 players instead. Nevertheless I wish him good luck
Peseiro and NFF are playing the blame game only God knows who’s the liar but one of them is a liar and that’s certain because coach says NFF wants 25 players and NFF says coach his the one who requested for 25 players. Bunch of criminals the truth will come out after Afcon!!!
Peserio is lying because the incompetent, better word, impotent technical committee had suggested 27 initially to him in December (the news was everywhere) but coach had said no then. That it is his team, his call blah blah blah.
Nff kuku want to see his back so they obliged him
Because he retained no1 that means he is a starter funny you. Let us not be sentimental about this that guy has caused us serious heartache lately and i dont see him changing anytime soon but my prayer is that he does but this afcon is coming too soon for him to rediscover himself. Lets give chance to another keeper maybe the friendly will give a glimpse of who might possibly be our no1.
My concern is the goal keeping department
My concern is in all departments:
Omeruo appears to have been the most favored defender because of “experience”. Does he have speed against pacy opponents?
Who shoulders the burden of midfield creativity and unlocking of tight defence? Iwobi who plays touch-me-not football or sideways? Oh, is it Aribo with jersey number 10?
What happens when (not if) our opponents crowd our centre?
Attack is dead if it can’t be supplied passes. What if our wingers (since 442 looks as the “favored” option for Peserio) decide to “shine” rather than pass to Osimhen and his strike partner? Should we bypass the midfield and throw long passes from defense to attack? Who crosses well in defense because Uzoho certainly is not gifted with long through balls?
Eagles have very obvious weaknesses and savvy teams will not spare them.
Let’s reset for 2025 own
We wish them all the best. The decisions regarding squad list and numbers have been made, and are outside the sphere of influence of anyone – the fans and the media. We can only wish the team well.
Let’s hope the midfield set-up is technically sound to support the Osimhen led attack.
What is the strength of any attack without a well organised midfield., The midfield operates like a conveyor belt, seamlessly transporting and distributing control, creativity, and playmaking throughout the team. I hope Alhassan Yusuf gets an opportunity in the midfield. He’s player who offers a lot of qualities in middle. His versatility can see him play as a central midfield and as a defensive midfield. Great statistics for Antwerp this season and he’s the most busy of our all midfielders in Europe, featuring in UEFA Champions League.
As a box-to-box midfielder, I hope he leaves up to his club ratings in Cote d’Ivoire. He made over 1,300 minutes this season for Antwerp Belgium, which dwarfs the number of games played by Aribo and Onyeka. Only Raphael Onyedika has had more game time in the undergoing season than Alhassan Yusuf. It’s shocking how such a player with such number of appearances for Belgian champion has been overlooked before now, yet we’ve managed to keep players who hardly get game time for clubs.
It’s also hope that the wing backs as well as the inverted wingers are able to provide àdequate support for the attàck. 2019 AFCON witnessed impressive showings by the wingbacks of Ola Aina and Chidozie Awaziem whose attacking qualities from the wingbacks provide crucial assists for Odion Ighalo upfront.
I read in Vanguard today:
“Peserio has now favored a 4-4-2 formation to take in an extra striker going by the emergence of several Nigerian strikers in Europe recently”
I don’t know if it was noticed in Dubai training but if Nigeria has had a dearth of midfielders in recent years because of the need to incorporate the avalanche of strikers, then our coaches have really been unserious with their jobs.
Guys, you all need to understand how squad number works. Old players will automatically retains their numbers while new players will be allocated new numbers, a new player cannot take(hijacked) a squad number from old players. Alhassan Yusuf received no4 because Ndidi is not in the squad, Nwabili cannot take squad no1 from Uzoho because he met him in the squad(because Uzoho is in camp, no1 is not available for offering to new players) and this does not necessary means Uzoho will man the post as no1 ahead of other goalkeepers in every march.
@Pillip nobody is arguing over which player get what number, of what benefit is number when we are not sure this team will make it out of group stage.
The bone of contention is how technical we want pesiro to be. How can this coach know how to switch formation when the needs arises, how to make intelligent substitute.
Give pesiro just one game or maximum two then other caoch will know how to neutralize our wingers and occupies our midfield to which pesiro might not have answers to.
Like Tunisia did in the last AFCON.
True, Tunisia neutralized Moses Simon (by putting two players on him) and that was it…again as it stands ,if such happens , we don’t have players known for crossing the box into the middle except Bassey who will be playing in the middle and Aina as wing back… For RW alone , Nigeria 2000 eagles had two great right wingers competing for same position but with two different skill set ; Finidi for crossing and Tijani B for driving in