Stars To Play In Nigeria After All

Ghanaweb - Nigeria’s Super Eagles, Ghana’s Black Stars, Cameroun’s Indomitable Lions and the Iranian national team are set to compete in a special four-nation tournament to be hosted by Nigeria from May 30 to June 1.

In an interview with BBC Sport, Taiwo Ogunjobi, Nigerian FA Secretary-General, said, “All the details have been finalized and the teams have agreed to send their top players for the tournament, which is sponsored by LG Electronics”. Winners of the event will receive $50,000, the second-placed team will get $40,000 while $20,000 will go the team in third place.

The inclusion of Ghana’s Black Stars put rest rumours that had made the rounds in the past weeks that Ghana had been dropped from the tournament after an initial invitation. According to Ogunjobi, the newly opened National Stadium in the capital Abuja will host the two opening games Nigeria versus Ghana and Cameroun versus Iran.

It will be the first time a major football event will be staged at the stadium, venue of the All-Africa Games in October. Winners from both Abuja games will remain in the city for the final, with the losers traveling to Lagos for the third place match, Ogunjobi said.

He added that Eagles coach Christian Chukwu was finalising his list, which would have a mix of overseas and home-based players. Nigeria will use the tournament to prepare for their 2004 African Nations Cup home qualifiers against Angola and Malawi in June. The Eagles, with three points, are currently on top of the table in their three team qualifying group.