African Football Discussion Thread {Male & Female} Current Topic: 👉 WAFCON

[Die_empty]

Let's talk about African teams on the latest list of FIFA rankings for CAF that made it to top 100.
Nigerian have always been around these 30+ range right from right from 2010 and are still at 39th on the table. From the list of African countries that are ahead of Nigeria, it's evidence that they are quality teams that definitely deserve those spot considering their current form in the year and even in the previous tournaments. What's your take on this?

 I= 05 Friendly matches played outside of International Match Calendar windows
 I= 10 Friendly matches played during International Match Calendar windows
 I= 15 Group phase matches of Nations League competitions
 I= 25 Play-off and final matches of Nations League competitions
 I= 25 Qualification matches for Confederations final competitions and for FIFA World Cup final
competitions
 I= 35 Confederation final competition matches up until the QF stage
 I= 40 Confederation final competition matches from the QF stage onwards; all FIFA Confederations Cup matches
 I= 50 FIFA World Cup final competition matches up until QF stage
 I= 60 FIFA World Cup final competition matches from QF stage onwards

Source
This is the grading that FIFA adopts in ranking national teams. Considering this benchmark, I think Nigeria deserves its current position. The Super Eagles have been inconsistent on the international stage which has the highest score. It is not also surprising to see that Morocco is on top of all African teams considering its qualification to the semi-finals in the last FIFA World Cup. If the Super Eagles can settle its coaching issues, the team's performance on the international stage will improve and this will affect their ranking positively.     

[Mate2237]

Let's talk about African teams on the latest list of FIFA rankings for CAF that made it to top 100.
Nigerian have always been around these 30+ range right from right from 2010 and are still at 39th on the table. From the list of African countries that are ahead of Nigeria, it's evidence that they are quality teams that definitely deserve those spot considering their current form in the year and even in the previous tournaments. What's your take on this?

Since you are not the personal source of the information at least put the source of the news so people can go there and see things by themselves.  Nigeria has been in that range of 30 plus for many years. In Africa Nigeria would have increase their ranking to the top 3 but they can't. I was expecting Nigeria to do well in the global ranking. They are in thay position because of the recent wins in the AFCON Qualifiers and if they didn't win and was with the World Cup Qualifiers then we would have reduce not 40 position in the latest ranking.

[Spaceman1000$]

Let's talk about African teams on the latest list of FIFA rankings for CAF that made it to top 100.
Nigerian have always been around these 30+ range right from right from 2010 and are still at 39th on the table. From the list of African countries that are ahead of Nigeria, it's evidence that they are quality teams that definitely deserve those spot considering their current form in the year and even in the previous tournaments. What's your take on this?

List of African countries that made it to FIFA top 100.
🇲🇦 14. Morocco
🇸🇳 21. Senegal
🇪🇬 31. Egypt
🇨🇮 33. Ivory Coast
🇹🇳 36. Tunisia
🇳🇬 39. Nigeria
🇩🇿 41. Algeria
🇨🇲 53. Cameroon
🇲🇱 54. Mali
🇨🇩 58. D.R. Congo
🇿🇦 59. South Africa
🇧🇫 63. Burkina Faso
🇨🇻 65. Cape Verde
🇬🇭 70. Ghana
🇬🇳 82. Guinea
🇬🇦 84. Gabon
🇦🇴 85. Angola
🇧🇯 89. Benin
🇺🇬 90. Uganda
🇿🇲 93. Zambia
🇲🇿 99. Mozambique

Nigeria on 39 position is not too bad, and not too good because Nigeria can do better than Tunisia, Egypt, Senegal and Ivory Coast, but we lack the quality of a good coach and the commitment of players to play with passion for the country. Apart from Ghana and Cameroon, who are behind Nigeria, I don't see any country that has played well in the past. Nigeria needs to improve and step up their position on FIFA ranking because we gat all the quality players anyone can think of.

Placing Nigeria on low ranking in Africa is something we've argued for a long time coming, it got to a point we started asking FIFA to give us the formula they use to calculate this Ranking so we can help to also calculate it too. I don't blame Nigeria on this ranking issue, FIFA is just playing politics, even those years we were at our very best form, they still find a way to lower our rankings in Africa, there is room for improvement in pattern of play no doubt, but FIFA needs to change their pattern of assessment.

[Mate2237]

The teams that have qualifiers in AFCON 2025 are as follow. Angola, Senegal, DR Congo, Algeria, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Egypt, and Morocco. And the next qualifiers will  come out next month and more countries will join the list and I pray that my country should also follow.

But why must they played qualifiers game when the main tournament is still 14 months ahead? The
period is too long. The Matches will start 21 December 2025 and will ends on 18 January 2026.

Source: Nigeria Football Hub on telegram.

[Onyeeze]

The teams that have qualifiers in AFCON 2025 are as follow. Angola, Senegal, DR Congo, Algeria, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Egypt, and Morocco. And the next qualifiers will  come out next month and more countries will join the list and I pray that my country should also follow.

But why must they played qualifiers game when the main tournament is still 14 months ahead? The
period is too long. The Matches will start 21 December 2025 and will ends on 18 January 2026.

Source: Nigeria Football Hub on telegram.

I think that you are mistaken because Nigerian has not play with Libya that they are supposed to play the match was canceled because of what Libyan people did to Nigeria So the match has been only fixed or reschedule between Nigeria and Cameroon I think that after the match between Nigeria and Cameroon it is when we know if Cameroon has been qualified or not because the last time I checked I have not seen Cameroon qualified or Nigerian in the list of a qualifiers I think the team that is managing the tournament is still on the process of conclusion or the match, for now I've not been updated maybe I will make my research concerning the information you portray.

[Abu-Naim]

The teams that have qualifiers in AFCON 2025 are as follow. Angola, Senegal, DR Congo, Algeria, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Egypt, and Morocco. And the next qualifiers will  come out next month and more countries will join the list and I pray that my country should also follow.

But why must they played qualifiers game when the main tournament is still 14 months ahead? The
period is too long. The Matches will start 21 December 2025 and will ends on 18 January 2026.

Source: Nigeria Football Hub on telegram.

I am surprised as I didn't see the name of the Super Eagles of Nigeria in the list of qualified teams, id it because their match against Libya second Leg that is yet to played or is they are among the teams that will know their faiths next month.

The countries you listed so far are big teams, they have all played well in the qualifiers to make it to this stage, they are among the best teams in Africa. Nigeria is one of the best teams that will join this list soon, maybe Mali and others too so as to make the competion very hard.

[DaNNy001]

The teams that have qualifiers in AFCON 2025 are as follow. Angola, Senegal, DR Congo, Algeria, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Egypt, and Morocco. And the next qualifiers will  come out next month and more countries will join the list and I pray that my country should also follow.

But why must they played qualifiers game when the main tournament is still 14 months ahead? The
period is too long. The Matches will start 21 December 2025 and will ends on 18 January 2026.

Source: Nigeria Football Hub on telegram.

I think that you are mistaken because Nigerian has not play with Libya that they are supposed to play the match was canceled because of what Libyan people did to Nigeria So the match has been only fixed or reschedule between Nigeria and Cameroon I think that after the match between Nigeria and Cameroon it is when we know if Cameroon has been qualified or not because the last time I checked I have not seen Cameroon qualified or Nigerian in the list of a qualifiers I think the team that is managing the tournament is still on the process of conclusion or the match, for now I've not been updated maybe I will make my research concerning the information you portray.

The game has to be cancelled for sure because of what this Libya football federation keep doing and the funny thing is that this is actually not the first time they are doing this because even when there are playing the CAF champions league and teams wants to travel to Libya to play with their club they frustrate the visiting clubside and they have still done it to eyimba fc which is a Nigeria club that had to travel there for the champions league.

[Issa56]

So far, I have not read or come across any post or publication from CAF with respect to fining Libya for damages as a punitive measures for their ill actions meted on the Sper Eagles of Nigeria. All I have seen is the postponement of the match till further notice and I believe the disciplinary committee are still investigating the matter as such would take a long time because of the possibility of engaging each party involved and the role they played in the circumstances surrounding the act.

Where I saw the news wasn’t from a reliable source, but after I checked livescore and I saw that the match was postponed, that was what made me believe the news, but I guess it's fake news. But I will say Libya shouldn’t just go unpunished, an investigation should be properly done, and anyone that’s at fault should be properly punished. If Libya are at fault and they are not punished, then let’s expect something like this to happen in the future when they play against any country and they lose, they will end up putting their opponents players life at risk. Since the match has been postponed, I am sure CAF will currently be doing their investigation, let’s wait and see what CAF will be saying.

[DiMarxist]

The game has to be cancelled for sure because of what this Libya football federation keep doing and the funny thing is that this is actually not the first time they are doing this because even when there are playing the CAF champions league and teams wants to travel to Libya to play with their club they frustrate the visiting clubside and they have still done it to eyimba fc which is a Nigeria club that had to travel there for the champions league.

I don't know if what I saw was a legit news but I don't think so because what senator Kalu was saying today in Channels TV was that CAF has to sanction Libya for their unprofessional dealing with other countries undiplomatically.
And what I saw was, CAF has cancelled the Match and asked Libya to pay $10 millions to Nigeria super Eagles and the match will be played in Angola as a neutral ground. And if they refuse to pay the fine and also refuse to play again then they will be suspended for two years without playing football internationally. I saw the news on social media platform. Someone Facebook timeline.

[CryptopreneurBrainboss]

Let's talk about African teams on the latest list of FIFA rankings for CAF that made it to top 100.
Nigerian have always been around these 30+ range right from right from 2010 and are still at 39th on the table. From the list of African countries that are ahead of Nigeria, it's evidence that they are quality teams that definitely deserve those spot considering their current form in the year and even in the previous tournaments. What's your take on this?

We haven't been winning any major trophy so how then do we want to advance further on the list, the countries listed above us all deserve it but I have some concerns for Ivory coast.

So just because they won us at the last AFCON to lift the trophy, they now a better football nation in Africa then Nigeria?; I don't blame those rating though, it's the players that's letting us to not get our full accolades. We should be a little bit higher because from the last AFCON we got to the finals by defeating others.

I have concerns for Ghana too because something is definitely happening at the backgrounds that we don't know about, they're going down and still mightn't qualify for the next AFCON.

[KingsDen]

Let's talk about African teams on the latest list of FIFA rankings for CAF that made it to top 100.
Nigerian have always been around these 30+ range right from right from 2010 and are still at 39th on the table. From the list of African countries that are ahead of Nigeria, it's evidence that they are quality teams that definitely deserve those spot considering their current form in the year and even in the previous tournaments. What's your take on this?

We haven't been winning any major trophy so how then do we want to advance further on the list, the countries listed above us all deserve it but I have some concerns for Ivory coast.

So just because they won us at the last AFCON to lift the trophy, they now a better football nation in Africa then Nigeria?; I don't blame those rating though, it's the players that's letting us to not get our full accolades. We should be a little bit higher because from the last AFCON we got to the finals by defeating others.

I have concerns for Ghana too because something is definitely happening at the backgrounds that we don't know about, they're going down and still mightn't qualify for the next AFCON.

001, Nigeria has a great squad and if we should count by the current squad of the country, they will rate high. But it's not about current squad and not only about the Nations cup. If you look at the table, Morocco is at 14, far ahead of every African country, this is because of their performance in the last world cup while Nigeria didn't even qualify.

So, if we want our ratings to change, we should try to beat countries with better ratings. And where do we see them to beat? It is during the international competitions. Nigeria should make an impact in the world cup and our rates will boost.

[snipie]

The game has to be cancelled for sure because of what this Libya football federation keep doing and the funny thing is that this is actually not the first time they are doing this because even when there are playing the CAF champions league and teams wants to travel to Libya to play with their club they frustrate the visiting clubside and they have still done it to eyimba fc which is a Nigeria club that had to travel there for the champions league.

Libyan football team reported that their journey in Nigeria wasn't that easy and they have difficulties, that's why the Libyan authorities did a worse thing to their visitors and that's a bad move from their parts. I don't know if they could get sanctions, especially that they claimed there is security issues and we all know how unstable the situation is there.
So at the end, Nigeria couldn't move forward and the situation is on hold..

[Pokapoka124]

Libyan football team reported that their journey in Nigeria wasn't that easy and they have difficulties, that's why the Libyan authorities did a worse thing to their visitors and that's a bad move from their parts. I don't know if they could get sanctions, especially that they claimed there is security issues and we all know how unstable the situation is there.
So at the end, Nigeria couldn't move forward and the situation is on hold..

Maybe that could have worked but this is not the first time Libya has done something like this to opposition teams.  The “challenges” Libya faced when they were visiting Nigeria was as a result of their own failure to communicate with the NFF their travel arrangements so the right information could have been given to them. Only one stadium in Nigeria is approved by CAF, and that is the Oyo Stadium. Landing in Port Harcourt was not an attempt by NFF to sabotage Libya, AFAIK the bus given to Libya was good enough to take them to Oyo City in less than 3hours. This was not a good reason to drop Nigerians in an abandoned airport for 15 hours without food or water in a country that is facing internal crisis.

[Rruchi man]

So, if we want our ratings to change, we should try to beat countries with better ratings. And where do we see them to beat? It is during the international competitions. Nigeria should make an impact in the world cup and our rates will boost.

I believe that if we stop continuing to change coaches and destabilizing the balance in the team, our rating will be better. We should be able to do better in the World Cup if we qualify for it this time around, better than we have ever done. We have the players that could perform at such a high level, and we hope that the coach we have is somebody that can do the job.

I watched the Moroccans play during the World Cup, and I could see that they played with a sense of patriotism. In any international competition currently, it will be difficult for the Nigerian players to show the same level of patriotism and commitment that the Moroccans showed, which helped them get a good result during the World Cup outing.

[Pokapoka124]

Ghana has not won a game in three fixtures and are third in their group table. The team captain Mohammed Kudus put an apology out on his Twitter account and says he is sorry for the poor performance of the Ghana Black Stars in the AFCON tournament so far. It’s strange to see this kind of behavior from a player especially a team captain. Do you think Ghanaians will appreciate the sentiment coming from Mohammed Kudus?

[Onyeeze]

The teams that have qualifiers in AFCON 2025 are as follow. Angola, Senegal, DR Congo, Algeria, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Egypt, and Morocco. And the next qualifiers will  come out next month and more countries will join the list and I pray that my country should also follow.

But why must they played qualifiers game when the main tournament is still 14 months ahead? The
period is too long. The Matches will start 21 December 2025 and will ends on 18 January 2026.

Source: Nigeria Football Hub on telegram.

I think that you are mistaken because Nigerian has not play with Libya that they are supposed to play the match was canceled because of what Libyan people did to Nigeria So the match has been only fixed or reschedule between Nigeria and Cameroon I think that after the match between Nigeria and Cameroon it is when we know if Cameroon has been qualified or not because the last time I checked I have not seen Cameroon qualified or Nigerian in the list of a qualifiers I think the team that is managing the tournament is still on the process of conclusion or the match, for now I've not been updated maybe I will make my research concerning the information you portray.

The game has to be cancelled for sure because of what this Libya football federation keep doing and the funny thing is that this is actually not the first time they are doing this because even when there are playing the CAF champions league and teams wants to travel to Libya to play with their club they frustrate the visiting clubside and they have still done it to eyimba fc which is a Nigeria club that had to travel there for the champions league.

But can't CAF call them and ask them the reason they are doing all of that, because they most be a reason for them to do that which can supposed have asked Libya so that they can resolve the issue, I know quite well that if they did not interven into this, they will be a problem, so we don't need to be silent, supper eagles has suffered in the hands of Libya County and I believe that if they suspend Libya not to participate in football only once because of the things they are doing to other countries football club, they will stop from what they do other countries players.

[CryptopreneurBrainboss]

CAF just announced the last shortlist For Men’s Player Of The Year Award and the obvious two names which are favourite are;

Ademola Lookman (Nigerian & Atalanta) and Victor Boniface (Nigeria & Bayern Leverkusen)

But there's also Brahim Diaz. (Moroccan & Real Madrid) too which is shocking to me because I didn't see him do anything at the last AFCON. People are saying that it's Madrid's PR that is making him be among the last 3 shortlist but what do you guys think and who is winning it. Who do you think deserve the award based on statistics and not favourism

[Abbatty]

Ghana has not won a game in three fixtures and are third in their group table. The team captain Mohammed Kudus put an apology out on his Twitter account and says he is sorry for the poor performance of the Ghana Black Stars in the AFCON tournament so far. It’s strange to see this kind of behavior from a player especially a team captain. Do you think Ghanaians will appreciate the sentiment coming from Mohammed Kudus?

I feel so sorry for Mohammed Kudus and the entire Ghana team, I watch both matches against Sudan and I will say Ghana deserves more than a point from both matches, especially the one played at Accra, they played well, created chances but it was just unlikely for them that they couldn't win that match. Kudos to the Sudanese goal keeper Mohamed Mustafa who was very outstanding at Accra to me he was the man of the match that day, he stopped 7 shot that day and which were 2 good unbelievable saves, he kept his side on the game and they got a point out of Accra. The second leg was played few days after the first leg and Sudan beat Ghana at benghazi 2-0 but honestly it was a deserving win. The Sudanese had 5 shot on target and scored 2. Ghana played poorly at benghazi compared to the way they played at Accra.

Ghana now sit 3rd on the standing with just 2 point, it very bad for a big African nation like Ghana, Kudus posted on his Instagram and apologies to the whole nation unbehalf of him and his team mated for the poor performance and putting their qualification in jeopardy. I hope the whole of Ghana can forgive them and stand strong by them for in football at times that how it is.

[Die_empty]

CAF just announced the last shortlist For Men’s Player Of The Year Award and the obvious two names which are favourite are;

Ademola Lookman (Nigerian & Atalanta) and Victor Boniface (Nigeria & Bayern Leverkusen)

But there's also Brahim Diaz. (Moroccan & Real Madrid) too which is shocking to me because I didn't see him do anything at the last AFCON. People are saying that it's Madrid's PR that is making him be among the last 3 shortlist but what do you guys think and who is winning it. Who do you think deserve the award based on statistics and not favourism

I believe that it will surely come to Nigeria. Brahim Diaz has started just two games and has been used as a substitute in three games in Real Madrid this season. He is a good midfielder but this is not his time to be crowned the king of African football. This shows that he is not currently in the class of both Nigerians who have been consistent in their clubs. The winner will be between Ademola Lookman and Victor Boniface. But Boniface's failure to put up a good performance with the Super Eagles will be his weakness.

Lookman will definitely win the award. No player in Africa has matched his performance in Atalanta last season and his exceptional performance in the just concluded African Cup of Nations. His glorious hat trick ended the unbeaten run of Xabi Alonso's Bayer Leverkusen in the Europa Cup finals. He is still contributing immensely in the AFCON qualification matches. Denying him this award will raise a continental cry of foul play against CAF and the organisers of the award.    

[Kingperry22]

Ghana has not won a game in three fixtures and are third in their group table. The team captain Mohammed Kudus put an apology out on his Twitter account and says he is sorry for the poor performance of the Ghana Black Stars in the AFCON tournament so far. It’s strange to see this kind of behavior from a player especially a team captain. Do you think Ghanaians will appreciate the sentiment coming from Mohammed Kudus?

Considering Ghana's great footballing background, their inability to secure a ticket in the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) is a big letdown. In African football, the Black Stars are regarded a force to be reckoned with due to their four AFCON titles. They may have recently failed due to a combination of the following:

One probable factor is complacency, which may arise from underestimating opponents. Every team should be handled seriously in football these days because of how unpredictable the game is. Internal conflicts, poor management decisions, and lack of cohesion among players i believe affected their performance.
it is a terrible blow for supporters and the nation, but it also affords a chances and rebuilding. Addressing these challenges can help Ghana bounce back stronger in future competitions.