Nickname(s) | Super Eagles |
---|---|
Association | Nigeria Football Federation |
Confederation | CAF (Africa) |
Sub-confederation | WAFU (West Africa) |
Head coach | Gernot Rohr |
Captain | John Obi Mikel |
Most caps |
Vincent Enyeama (101) Joseph Yobo (101) |
Top scorer | Rashidi Yekini (37) |
Home stadium | Abuja National Stadium |
FIFA code | NGA |
FIFA ranking | |
Current | 50 1 (12 January 2017) |
Highest | 5 (April 1994) |
Lowest | 82 (November 1999) |
Elo ranking | |
Current | 45 (23 January 2017) |
Highest | 15 (31 May 2004) |
Lowest | 72 (27 December 1964) |
First international | |
Sierra Leone 0–2 Nigeria (Freetown, Sierra Leone; 8 October 1949) |
|
Biggest win | |
Nigeria 10–1 Dahomey (Lagos, Nigeria; 28 November 1959) |
|
Biggest defeat | |
Gold Coast and Trans-Volta Togoland 7–0 Nigeria (Accra, Gold Coast; 1 June 1955) |
|
World Cup | |
Appearances | 5 (first in 1994) |
Best result | Round of 16, 1994, 1998 and 2014 |
African Nations Cup | |
Appearances | 17 (first in 1963) |
Best result | Champions, 1980, 1994 and 2013 |
Confederations Cup | |
Appearances | 2 (first in 1995) |
Best result | Fourth Place, 1995 |
The Nigeria national football team represents Nigeria in international association football and is controlled by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF). They are three times African Champions, with their recent title in 2013, defeating Burkina Faso in the final. During April 1994, the Super Eagles ranked 5th in the FIFA World Rankings, the highest FIFA ranking ever achieved by an African football team. They have qualified for five of the last six FIFA World Cups, missing only the 2006 hosted in Germany and reached the round of 16 three times. Their first World Cup appearance was the 1994 edition hosted by the United States.
After playing other colonies in unofficial games since the 1930s, Nigeria played its first official game in October 1949, while still a British colony. The team played warm-up games in England against various amateur teams including Dulwich Hamlet, Bishop Auckland and South Liverpool. The team's first major success was a gold medal in the 2nd All-Africa games, with 3rd-place finishes in the 1976 and 1978 African Cup of Nations to follow. In 1980, with players such as John Chiedozie and Tunji Banjo of Leyton Orient, the Super Eagles, led by Muda Lawal and Christian Chukwu, won the Cup for the first time in Lagos. Nigeria won the men's football event at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, beating Mexico, Brazil and Argentina in the process. They were runners-up in the same event in Beijing, losing to Argentina in a rematch of the 1996 event.