Nigeria under-20 national team coach Ladan Bosso announced his 21-man squad for the upcoming 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup that will begin on May 20 in host country Argentina. The Flying Eagles qualified for the competition by virtue of finishing in third place at the recently completed 2023 Africa U-20 Cup of Nations in Egypt and will compete in Group D with Brazil, Italy and the Dominican Republic. The competition was previously supposed to take place in Indonesia but was moved to Argentina due to political reasons.
Bosso is counting on a squad that is primarily composed of players based in Nigerian football with several based abroad in European club football. Among the domestic-based stars on the team are fullbacks Solomon Agbalaka of Broad City FC and Abia Warriors player Augustine Njoku, who both were named to the AFCON U-20 Best XI by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) for their play in Egypt. Defender Daniel Bameyi is another player to watch who made his debut for Nigeria’s senior team in a November friendly match against Costa Rica.
There are four players in the squad who are based at European clubs. Former Lobi Stars defender Abdel Ogwuche plays for Swedish second tier side Trelleborgs FF where he currently has eleven appearances. Victor Eletu has made numerous appearances for the under-19 side of AC Milan and helped the Serie A club advance to the semifinals of the UEFA Youth League. Spanish-based Ibrahim Muhammad showed plenty of flair in the Nigerian attack in Egypt and rounds out the European-based players along with duo Tochukwu Nadi and Emmanuel Umeh who play for Bulgarian club Botev Plovdiv.
The full list of players is below.
