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NIGERIA’S Super Eagles will now play African champions Algeria in a friendly on October 9 after their original opponents Ivory Coast pulled out citing logistical challenges as the Elephants already have two games lined up during the window.
With there being a Fifa international window next month, the Eagles had been billed to play Ivory Coast and Tunisia on October 9 and 13 in Austria. However, Ivory Coast’s football federation has revealed that the Elephants are scheduled to play Belgium and Japan during the window, so will no longer be able to face Nigeria.
As a result, the Nigerian Federation has quickly entered into an arrangement to play the Desert Foxes of Algeria instead on October 9 before facing Tunisia four days later on the 13th. Kheireddine Zetchi, the president of the Algerian Football Federation, has written to the NFF president Amaju Pinnick, confirming that his team will honour the invitation to play in Austria.
Mohamed Saad, the general secretary of the Algerian Football Federation, said: “We have permission from our government to travel from Algeria to Austria and our country has reopened international flights. We also would like to confirm that Fifa match agent Jairo Pachon is authorised to carry on all the required work and planning in Austria in order to stage this event.”
Next month’s clash in Austria will be the fourth between the Super Eagles and the Desert Foxes in three years as both teams were in the same qualifying pool for the 2018 Fifa World Cup. Tunisia’s Carthage Eagles, ranked number two in Africa and 26th in the world, will be the Super Eagles’ second opponent at the same Jacques Lemans Arena on October 13.
