Super Eagles will now be forced to play their 2022 World Cup playoff home leg away from the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos after CAF carpeted the arena as far below standard.
In a most damning report, CAF pointed out the need to replace the pitch at the stadium as well as several major structural improvements, from a media centre to better floodlights.
In a memo dated October 17, 2021, and addressed to the NFF General Secretary Mohammed Sanusi, CAF development director Raul Chipenda comprehensively pointed out the many lapses at the Teslim Balogun Stadium.
If these changes were not carried out in time for the playoffs in March, the Eagles will have to play outside the Teslim Balogun Stadium to conclude their qualifying campaign for next year’s World Cup in Qatar.
The most likely alternative home venues for the Eagles would now be the refurbished MKO Abiola National Stadium in Abuja, which was this week handed back to the sports ministry, and the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium in Uyo, which hosted the team on the road to the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
This is the so called giant of Africa!!!