SCORENigeria has exclusively gathered that the Golden Eaglets will pick older players for the U17 AFCON in Morocco later this month than what they paraded at the qualifiers in Togo.
Players with Grade 4 were used for the WAFU B qualifiers and Nigeria barely advanced to the U17 AFCON.
Players on Grade 5 will now be “risked” for the tournament in Morocco, which kicks off on March 13.
An official said: “Most of the teams went with Grade 5 in Togo (WAFU B qualifiers), they were bigger and stronger than us.
“We believe we could also risk players on Grade 5 in Morocco.”
CAF have adopted a zero tolerance to age cheating and a player discovered to be above the age for the competition will lead to the disqualification of the entire squad.
Despite winning the U17 World Cup a record five times, the Eaglets last won the African championship in 2007 in Togo.
Nigeria are drawn against Tanzania, Algeria and Congo in Group A.
They open their campaign on Sunday, March 14 versus Tanzania.
The group winners of the three-group tournament as well as the best runners-up will qualify for the semifinals of the U17 AFCON.
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