According to The PUNCH, Nigeria will play Portugal in an international friendly slated for September. Portugal is the reigning European champion.
Muhammad Sanusi, the secretary general of the Nigerian Football Federation, disclosed this.
Initially, Guinea Bissau and the three-time African champions were slated to compete in a pair of Africa Cup of Nations qualifying matches during the FIFA break.
The Confederation of African Football, however, decided to push back the qualifications to March 2023, therefore the NFF is now busy planning a grade A friendly for the Eagles.
Sanusi claims that negotiations with the Portuguese FA for the friendly match between Nigeria and Portugal are well underway.
Prior to the upcoming FIFA window, “we are working on arranging a grade A friendly game with Portugal,” Sanusi told The PUNCH.
The Eagles must play a friendly match after the AFCON was postponed, so preparations are well under way, and the specifics are almost complete. The Nigeria Football Federation will issue a statement after that is finished.
Despite playing each other three times at the U-20 World Cup, with Portugal winning all three encounters, this will be Nigeria and Portugal’s first senior-level match (twice in 1989 and 2013).
Cristiano Ronaldo and his team are grouped together by coincidence with Ghana, who defeated Nigeria to earn a World Cup spot after playing a 1-1 draw with Nigeria in March at the Moshood Abiola stadium in Abuja.
Source: The Punch
