Forty five years exactly to this day, the Super Eagles then known as the Green Eagles made history by winning their first AFCON on home soil in Lagos.
🗓 #OTD in 1980:
— CAF_Online (@CAF_Online) March 22, 2021
🏆 @NGSuperEagles claimed their first #TotalAFCON title with the competition’s top scorer Segun Odegbami shinning. 💫
Historic. 🇳🇬 pic.twitter.com/6GrxVEOH8e
The whole country was thrown into a wild victory party after the team stepped up on the day in front of a packed 80,000-strong National Stadium in Lagos to soar past the best team of the tournament Algeria 3-0 with a brace by the inspired Segun ‘Mathematical’ Odegbami.
A proud President Shehu Shagari hoisted the Unity Cup along with captain ‘Chairman’ Christian Chukwu as Nigeria celebrated a historic triumph.
Houses, cars and cash gifts were the rewards for this much-awaited conquest after the team had placed third best in 1976 and 1978.
March 22, 1980, will continue to be a red-letter day in the annals of Nigeria football as it was the day the country finally ruled Africa after showing so much promise.
The Green Eagles were later nicknamed ‘Super Eagles’ and have since won the tournament in Tunisia (1994) and South Africa (2013) to pove that the epic day in Lagos 45 years ago was not a fluke.
Will the Super Eagles now repeat these feats at the 2025 AFCON in Morocco?
