Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) technical director Austin Eguavoen has publicly questioned Super Eagles head coach Eric Chelle’s squad selection for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco, Soccernet.ng reports.
Eguavoen is disappointed at the complete absence of players from the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) despite the team’s strong showing at the tournament.
Chelle named a 28-man squad to the AFCON 2025 made up of mostly Super Eagles regular including Victor Osimhen, Ademola Lookman, Wilfred Ndidi, Moses Simon, and Semi Ajayi. There was also room for fringe stars like Cyriel Dessers, Ebenezer Akinsanmiro, Amas Obasogie, and Igoh Ogbu, among others.
Chelle also used the competition to hand international debuts to Tochukwu Nnadi, Salim Fago Lawal and Ryan Alebiosu, a pointer to his willingness to refresh the squad.
In the end, Nigeria returned from Morocco with bronze medals after defeating Egypt on penalties in the third-place match. The Super Eagles enjoyed a campaign in which they were widely praised as the competition’s most entertaining side and finished as the tournament’s top scorers with 14 goals.
Yet, speaking in an interview with Footy Africa, Eguavoen said he was troubled by the decision to overlook the domestic league entirely when naming a such a large squad.
The former Super Eagles coach argued that several home-based players were capable of contributing at the highest level.
“I felt disappointed that we did not include some NPFL players in the AFCON squad,” Eguavoen said.
“Some players in the team may not even get a minute of action, so why couldn’t we include a few players from the local league? At least three or four would have been better.”
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Eguavoen backs NPFL talents despite CHAN failure
Chelle’s trust in NPFL stars possibly waned after the home-based Eagles failed to impress at the African Nations Championship (CHAN) back in August.
But Eguavoen has cautioned against using Nigeria’s mixed fortunes at the CHAN as a yardstick for judging the quality of the NPFL, insisting the domestic league still produces players good enough for major tournaments.
“The players are not bad, and just because we didn’t do well at CHAN doesn’t mean we should throw the baby out with the bathwater,” the AFCON 199R winner added.
“This is something we need to look into because it speaks volumes when players come directly from the local league into a major tournament like AFCON.”
Despite his reservations, Eguavoen was keen to stress that the NFF would not interfere with Chelle’s choices.
“We can only advise him; we cannot force players on him. I must also say that he has a lot of respect for the players and wants to see how he can gradually bring them through. We have discussed this a few times, but the timing has to be right,” Eguavoen explained.
He also suggested that Chelle’s limited time in Nigeria may have made it harder to properly assess NPFL talent.
“If he stays in the country more often, he will have better opportunities to visit venues and watch players. If he doesn’t, it becomes more difficult,” he added.
The Super Eagles have not won the AFCON since 2013 when the late Stephen Keshi assembled a squad of home-based and foreign-based stars to conquer the comtinent.