Femi Solaja
The Confederation of Africa Football (CAF) has finally given the MKO Abiola Stadium in Abuja and Godswill Akpabio International Stadium, Uyo clean bill as venues for Super Eagles home games for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers.
CAF over the weekend approved several stadiums to host the qualifying matches across the continent and only 24 of the 48 nations participating had their home grounds given go-ahead to stage the matches.
Super Eagles are currently top of Group B with six points from two games after defeating Sierra Leone and Sao Tome and Principe respectively.
The last time the team played at the Abuja Stadium was against the Black Stars of Ghana, where Nigeria crashed out of the 2022 World Cup on the away goal rules.
However, with action set to resume next month, one of the two stadiums may play host to the Super Eagles against Guinea- Bissau in a back-to-back clash.
Nigeria and Zambia have the least number of approved grounds with just two while Equatorial Guinea had three stadiums in the pool.
The host of the last AFCON tournament, Cameroon had the luxury of four of their stadiums used for the continental event approved.
Continental rivals, Morocco and Algeria have six of their stadiums approved each with fellow North African nation, Egypt with six stadiums that passed the mandatory test.
South Africa, the host of multiple sporting events including the FIFA World Cup in 2010, topped the list with eight stadiums approved to host Bafana Bafana matches.
CAF also directed that countries without approved stadiums will have the option of an adopted ground to host their home matches. Morocco hosted many countries’ matches in the last AFCON and FIFA World Cup qualifying matches.
The 2023 AFCON will be staged in Cote d’Ivoire next January.
