Eguavoen reveals how Nigeria National League players can earn Super Eagles invitation

Nigeria Football Federation’s technical director Augustine Eguavoen has offered some insights into how players currently plying their trade in the Nigeria National League (NNL), the second-tier of Nigerian football, can earn an invitation into the national team setup, Soccernet.football reports.

The former Nigeria’s men national team boss stated that players in the NNL will need to exercise patience while consistently performing at a really high level before they can be considered for an invitation to the Super Eagles.

Eguavoen emphasized that while the chances of their invitation are slim, the NFF Technical Department is closely monitoring exceptional players in the NNL and will call them up at the appropriate time, highlighting the invitation of Smart City’s Afeez Bankole to the Super Eagles B team ahead of their match against Ghana.

“You have to crawl before you walk,” Eguavoen told BSN Sports. “We are already keeping an eye on the NNL to bring in quality players for the Super Eagles.”

“For example, Afeez Bankole of Smart City was invited to the CHAN Eagles, and he showed such high quality that you couldn’t tell the difference between him and NPFL players. 

“I’m not sure if he made the final list, but he was in camp with the last set of players. This shows that we are monitoring exceptional talents in the league.”

Eguavoen twice managed the Super Eagles as caretaker manager in 2005 and as interim boss in 2010 before being appointed as the technical director of the Nigeria Football Federation in October 2020. 

The 60-year-old was once again appointed as Nigeria’s interim manager for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations following Gernot Rohr’s departure. Following the Super Eagles’ heartbreaking round-of-16 defeat to Tunisia, he resumed his role as the team’s Technical Director.