Super Eagles’ head coach Éric Sékou Chelle has named goalkeepers Stanley Nwabali and Kayode Bankole, defenders William Ekong, Calvin Bassey and Olaoluwa Aina, midfielders Alex Iwobi and Wilfred Ndidi, and forwards Ademola Lookman, Victor Osimhen and Simon Moses in his final list of 23 players for the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying matches against Rwanda and Zimbabwe.
Also in the final list are defenders Bruno Onyemaechi and Bright Osayi-Samuel, midfielders Raphael Onyedika and Alhassan Yusuf Abdullahi, and forwards Samuel Chukwueze and Sadiq Umar.
Czech Republic-based defender Igoh Ogbu makes the final cut, alongside home-based midfielder Papa Daniel Mustapha, and Belgium-based forward Tolu Arokodare.
Nigeria will confront group C leaders Rwanda in Kigali on Friday, 21st March before taking on Zimbabwe’s Warriors at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium, Uyo four days later.
Read Also:2026 WCQ: CAF Appoints Moroccan Referee For Rwanda Vs Super Eagles
Full List
Goalkeepers: Stanley Nwabali (Chippa United, South Africa); Amas Obasogie (Singida Blackstars, Tanzania); Kayode Bankole (Remo Stars)
Defenders: William Ekong (Al-Kholood FC, Saudi Arabia); Bright Osayi-Samuel (Fenerbahce SK, Turkey); Bruno Onyemaechi (Olympiacos FC, Greece); Calvin Bassey (Fulham FC, England); Olaoluwa Aina (Nottingham Forest, England); Igoh Ogbu (SK Slavia Prague, Czech Republic)
Midfielders: Wilfred Ndidi (Leicester City, England); Raphael Onyedika (Club Brugge, Belgium); Alhassan Yusuf Abdullahi (New England Revolution, USA); Alex Iwobi (Fulham FC, England); Joseph Ayodele-Aribo (Southampton FC, England); Papa Daniel Mustapha (Niger Tornadoes)
Forwards: Samuel Chukwueze (AC Milan, Italy); Victor Osimhen (Galatasaray FC, Turkey); Ademola Lookman (Atalanta FC, Italy); Victor Boniface (Bayer Leverkusen, Germany); Simon Moses (FC Nantes, France); Sadiq Umar (Valencia FC, Spain); Nathan Tella (Bayer Leverkusen, Germany); Tolu Arokodare (KRC Genk, Belgium)
27 Comments
Why is Alhassan Yusuf Abdullahi included in this list? Most players are selected based on regional criteria.
Alhassan Abdullahi and Umar Sadiq are in the list because Ahmed Musa and Shehu Abdullahi are not there..
Is frank onyeka injured? This midfield looks somehow unassuring!
Eguavon’s hatred for Dessers is obvious….I hope Chelly will have some balls soon.
Is it only Yusuf?? What of this Niger Tornadoes guy can he give more than Getafe Star Man Chrisantinus Uche where is Dessers why is NFF still imposing players on the coach this country Nigeria??? Do they realise we will miss world Cup?? Since when is making sure Hausa in the team more important than Making sure Nigeria represents Africa at world cup. I said I would not comment on Nigeria again as I am done with this country I guess nothing will ever change in this cursed country!!
Is onyeka injured?, why did Alhassan make the list ahead of a power house like Uche chrisantus,Sadiq ahead of dessers, aribo also made the list also sad..I think that Eric Chelle is a confused coach and may not win both games dur to poor midfield,I mean why invite all those strikers when it’s only osimehn that will play and leave midfield vonurable with weak players..
Good job chelle. I expected cryril dessers .aribo has to step up or be dropped for further games. He looks playing below par.
***REGULAR & CONSISTENT(DESSERS)……………….OUT
***BENCHWARMER & INCONSISTENT (BONIFACE)……….IN
INFACT, THIS IS EQUAVOEN LIST
NFF has a hand is in this list 100% how can Alhassan and the home based guy be in the team ahead of Frank in a crucial game like this………..and Cyriel Dessers is enough reason for some foreign born to shun playing for Nigeria……Not fair at all. Midfield is weird and We might not qualify.
What justifies Boniface in this list ahead of Dessers? I won’t be surprised if Dessers retires from the national team.
Satisfactory list, with the right tactics and fighting spirit then Nigeria can comfortably qualify for the world Cup.
Why is Chysanthus Uche of Sevilla and Frank Onyeka of Augsburg not on this list? The midfield does not give me confidence in this Eagles team.
The spaces with be limited in both games. Therefore we needed players who can play in tight spaces Ejuke and christiatus to force ball from midfielder. Apart from Osihmen , the only striker i trust is Dessers. The list is not based solely on merit . we might not win boths games
Good list but I prefer Dessers and onyeka to Aribo and Boniface .
While alhasan Yusuf
Uche is better than Yusuf
Assume the coach knows what’s at stake before selecting his team. I don’t think NFF influenced him if not Musa would have made the team. It would be difficult to ignore Sadiq Umar with his current form for Valencia, and I remember mentioning here that Aribo is the most improved midfielder right now (in my opinion). I’m happy with Ogbu, but surprised Uche and Onyeka didn’t make the team. The coach may have sacrificed the defense for more attackers, and this suggests that he may be considering Aribo and Ndidi as potential central defenders if push comes to shove.
Terrible list, I am beginning to lose respect for this coach Mr chelle, how can he drop frank onyeka, our best defensive midfielder, it’s very un serious list, onyedika and aribo cannot give half of what onyeka will bring to the team, is this man blind? onyeka plays regularly in the Bundesliga and performs good, both for club and country, he will definitely regret it, this man haven’t been watching anything about the supereagles if he does he wouldn’t drop frank for yusuf and onyedika,
Onyedika and aribo are not good enough, watch onyedika against benin republic in our 2 1 lost he was totally out played he was confused, same in our home match lost to rwanda in uyo, he was just a flop, frank the tank is their boss in this role, I am totally disappointed in chelle and honestly I don’t believe in this team, ndidi is not good enough anymore and his back up are all below him, the only player who gives hope in that role is frank and this idiot chelle with all his experience drops a Bundesliga afcon finalist player for yusuf,MLS junk, aribo and ndidi religation battlers, onyedika who is still a boy. Na wao for this country, just when you think we are getting there, you will be shocked that we are not coming. What are you doing with four tall lanky striker, Sadiq boni osihmen tolu, my God two of this kind is enough, can’t you see dessers will bring something different, why am I more intelligent than a professional coach. Meeeen, I tire pass Mechelen.
Danger!!!!
We may not get anything with this selection. This is very poor.
Defense
What is the fitness level of ekong.
We have only three central defenders. Ogbu is new ( though good).
We have always struggled playing Calvin bassey in a two man defense.
Now with ekong not too fit, it will be disaster playing him and bassey.
Instead playing a three man defence will be good.
But again we have just three central defenders. What happens if one gets injured. Hmmm.
If we play two man defense we will lose these games. Mark my words.
Terrible midfield selection.
Alhassan and aribo. Alhassan may turn up his game but aribo had consistently failed with eagles. What special thing has he done to make him get selected.
When an Uche and onyeka would have been better options.
Please had onyeka who was one of the best midfielders at Afcon offended anyone?
Do we need to carry placard to send eguavin away from glass house?
This is horrible.
It’s a big failure for Uche and onyeka not to be in this squad. We have failed already before we played the matches.
Attack
Dessers should just retire from national team. Simple.
Comedian Boniface is in the team ahead of desser. Very funny.
The sluggish sodiq is back to represent the north.
We are not serious in this country.
We are not ready.
I just pity Oshimen and Ademola Lookman. They may not play in the world cup!!!!!!
I don`t understand why these guys always confuse the fans with their provisional list when they will always end up with the same same usual list with 1 or 2 meaningless inclusions.
Just invite your usual regular and cut us some slacks.
I pity this coach. Same NFF would point fingers at him if he failed.
NFF truly had input on the list. I just don’t want to mention names of players that don’t deserve to be in the list.
No Alhassan Yusuf gets into the team ahead to Frank Onyeka and Dele-Bashiru?
Nigeria will never cease to amaze you….
I knew it, and I believed it would happen, and it has happened.
If you are wondering why Nigeria is not moving forward as a nation, go no further; here is an example.
How would NFF/Eguavoen prefer Boniface to Dessers?
Why Balogun, Ejuke, Orban, Akpom and now Dessers did not make the final list?
What have Umar Sodiq and Boniface got to offer the Super Eagles that they have not offered before?
This is unfair to Dessers. It is a big shame to our players when we have our best players available to prosecute the remaining World Cup qualifiers, but the bench warmers are the ones making the final list.
I have warned Eric Chelle before now and he did not listen.
Chelle may destroy his career if the Super Eagles fail to impress.
For me seeing this list doesn’t give me confidence at all kę.
Boniface ba? Umar Sodiq nkọ? Why are you like this Eguavoen and NFF?
Dessers should just focus on his club football. Eguavoen and NFF Ajewomasan are the ones in charge. Whatever has a beginning must have an end one day.
No comment. Fingers crossed.
Ire o. God bless Nigeria!!!
I knew it might come to this. Who will regularly tolerate 29 matches unpaid bonuses apart from this set of players?
How would Chelle have an excuse to “future discard” non performing players without giving them his “trial” first?
I don’t want to blame NFF and Eguavoen yet for this list because it’s mostly the same players who put us in this fix in the first place. Let’s see if they can be redeemable because a coach who wants to make history with eagles will deliberately not try to sabotage himself, knowing he is new to the setup and has a lot at stake.
It’s like we are neutrals with Rwanda who also has a new coach with possibly new approach.
They took out musa and gave us a worse replacement with the hausa agenda in the air. They don’t care as long as they have their boys there whether they sabi the job or not. This is why we’ve not been able to progress as a country. Mediocrity and the feeling of entitlement has killed this country. The policy of ‘put him there’ as long as he’s from the north. How can u compare sadiq to dessers and that northern dude to frank onyeka in the midfield. Who would help ndidi keep the midfield water tight????? This country is finished!
The list is the kind of list you expect from Eguavoen and usual nff..
Untested Obasogie & Bankole over Adeleye who has been outstanding in Europe for the past 3 seasons .
Picking Alhassan over Christantus is criminal
Selecting ineffective and benchwarming Chukwueze and Boniface over Ejuke and Dessers is highly insane..
Where is Fisayo (he best midfielder in the team’s ecent matches). Fisayo returned to his team
OSHO played really well in the last match and has been a consistent starter for his team. How can you ignore a top 5 league defender..
That guy named Uche should have been in this team , he is the best midfielder we currently have , have taken my time to watch him play and the way he does his play is full of confidence, he shields the ball well and passes accurately. He is a combination of Mikel with shear power and he can also score goals also. Then I feel Onyedika should also be there. Anyway the list is good
The challenge I think is that people are not attentive enough to see influence the NFF have on the list of super eagles players for years. Who remembers when Eguavoen called onazi in the lead up to the qualifiers against Ghana? When he was interviewed , he stated later that it was not his decision; well if it wasn’t his decision then whose decision was it? At the time he was playing for serie D in italy, many eyebrows were raised but evidently some powerful people must influenced his inclusion but after many dissenting views from football fans, his name was excluded from the final list.
Who remembers the arrogance of Amaju Pinnick who publicly boasted that he was the one who instructed Rohr to include Ahmed Musa to the 2018 world cup roaster. If we pay attention, we will realize that the main challenge with our football is the people at the Glass House at Abuja. When Osimhen had that public spat with Finidi, he stated that “He has no God Fathers in the NFF”; that statement is quite weighty because it suggest that even the players know that some players have God Fathers at the Glass House and these Dons determine who plays and who don’t. How can anyone explain how Yusuff makes the list ahead of Uche Chrisantus? How on earth does Sadiq or Boniface make the team ahead of Dessers? I am sure these crooks did all they could to include Ahmed Musa but the coach must have stood his ground. At the end, he was forced to make concessions. 1st they must have insisted on local players, who remembers Gusau when quizzed on the choice of Chelle, he stated that they wanted somebody who will watch and work with the chan team and ” there is no way he will not see one or two players from the local league that can be included in his team” (I paraphrase). The problem is that this is a poisoned chalice that similarly killed Finidi’s SE coaching career. He was deceived into calling up dubious names like players from the local league and Tanzania who looked clearly out of their depth against Benin Republic.
2ndly, they must have insisted on the federal character, Gusau, being a northerner must have insisted on Sadiq Umar, Papa Daniel and Alhassan Yusuf. This is the exact challenge with Africa in general because we never do anything based on merit but sentiments. What Chelle does not know is that the same people who twisting his arm to include these dubious players will be the same ones who will call for his head when push comes to shove. Having stated all this, I wish the team success and hope they qualify. On a positive note, Ogbu made the list and only the NFF can explain why this guy has not gotten a callup till now. Eguavoen and the clueless glass house should explain why it took a foreign coach to call Arokodare. Good to see Nathan Tella back!