Captain of Nigeria’s amputee football team, Sarafadeen Oyeleke, says the Special Eagles are thrilled to have qualified for the 2026 World Cup in Morocco despite missing out on the bronze medal at the recently-concluded Amputee Nations Cup in Egypt, recent reports.
The Special Eagles lost 3-1 to Algeria in the third-place match on Monday. After a goalless first period, Nigeria scored first from the penalty spot but the North Africans responded with an equaliser few minutes later and two more goals at the death to win the encounter.
Nigeria had beaten Liberia 2-1 in the last eight to book their ticket for a second appearance at the World Cup.
“Finishing third would have been another opportunity for us to show Nigerians what we have been able to but we secured the World Cup ticket,” Oyeleke said in a statement.
“We have also improved from our ranking in the last Nations Cup from 12th position to fourth.
“Our attention now will be on the World Cup and start preparing as soon as possible so as to represent Africa well and also serve as a bigger opportunity for the players to be scouted by agents.”
Nigeria’s only appearance at the Amputee World Cup was in 2018 when they were rocked by lack of funds before defying the odds to travel to Mexico.
They won their last group game 1-0 against El Salvador after losing their first two games against Brazil and Russia.
Ghana won this year’s Amputee Nations Cup, beating Morocco 2-1 in the final.
Olaitan Ibrahim