Following a great preparation at Ikenne for the UEFA U16 Development Tournament in Spain, the Nigeria Future Eagles and its officials have been denied participation in the invitational tournament.
The NFF confirmed in a statement on its handle on X that the player and the officials of the young Eagles were denied visas by the Spanish Embassy with no reason for the denial.
However, the reaction trail as the future Eagles will be unavailable at the Pinatar Arena Football Centre in San Pedro del Pinatar competition despite their tight preparation for the under-age tournament in Spain.
The UEFA U16 Tournament, which brings warm memories of the UEFA-CAF U17 Meridian Tournament that started in 1997 but was discontinued a decade later, will take place at the Pinatar Arena Football Centre in San Pedro del Pinatar also as a part of improving its competitiveness in youth football, which the nation has won five world titles at U17 boys’ level and reached the FIFA World Cup final on two occasions at U20 level the invitation tournament is eminent for the country.
According to an X user, @shafiihamidu expresses the need to hear from the side of the Spanish Embassy in Nigeria before blaming both parties and also urges Nigerians to the Embassy out.
Another user with the x Handel @Tee_Classiquem1 said it was a big embarrassment coming from the Federation, a whole team was denied a visa after securing qualification.
Further @ezechukwumicha4 on X said he believes that the Embassy has concrete evidence for that because FIFA has rules and the embassy has no right to do so. Ask the U15 team what happened.
Recall that the Future Eagles enjoyed a great run of form in the hands of coach Patrick Bassey who in the last four games of the preparation for the team won 2 out of 4 matches, suffering 2 defeats against Moroccan side counterparts in a tour of that North African country last month and a lost in a week preparation at the Remo Stars’ Sports Institute in Ikenne, during which it played two matches against the Remo Stars’ U16 boys (Beyond Limits FC).
The Future Eagles’ delegation to Spain, inclusive of 20 players, was to be led by Zannah Mohammed Malah, a member of the NFF Technical and Development Committee.
