The Nigeria Football Federation, NFF have thrown open the gates for Saturday's African Youth Championship qualifying match between the National U-20 Men's Team and their counterparts from Sudan.
Speaking in Abuja, NFF General Secretary, Bolaji Ojo-Oba said the Federation is doing this as a gift to Nigerians for the double celebration of the country's 48th Independence Anniversary and the Eid-el-Fitri - the end of the Moslems' Ramadan month.
"We want to give Nigerians an Independence Anniversary present, and at the same time, it is so close to the Eid-el-Fitri. Also, we are celebrating the impressive performance of our National U-23 Men's Team at the Olympics in China," said Ojo-Oba.
The Flying Eagles take on their counterparts from Sudan at the National Stadium, Abuja on Saturday, in the first leg, final qualifying fixture for the African Youth Championship, which will be staged in Rwanda from January 18 to February 1 next year.
Already, all the foreign -based players invited by Isah Ladan Bosso, the head coach have arrived at the Ibro Hotel camp of the Nigeria side, which reached the Final of last year's competition held in Congo Brazzaville.
"I have said it before that we are not taking chances. We're throwing our best legs into this fixture because we want to qualify for the African Championship and from there reach the World Cup in Egypt," Bosso said.
Meanwhile, the Ivorian officials for Saturday's match are billed to arrive in Lagos on Thursday evening.
There has been no word from the Sudanese team on its arrival programme.
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It is good to attract huge support for the Flying Eagles of Nigeria. We pray Ladan Bosso and his boys will do the country great proud this weekend. But do we have hope on the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN)or do we Hold our Candles Near to watch the march as all nigerians are not living in Abuja to enjoy free entrance to Abuja stadium?.
Teams perform better when their fans troop into the stadium to watch them play against opponents, but the Abuja national stadium has yet tobe filled to capacity when Nigerian teams play international matches. But there's always a reason for every thing. The problem with the Abuja stadium is associated with the distance and lack of proper transport arrangement for fans to come and watch their teams play. Its good that the gates has been thrown open for the match against sudan this weekend, but the Nigeria Football Federation most put an effective transport system in place to enable fans have easy access to and fro the stadium.only then can the stadium be filled to capacity.