{"id":80135,"date":"2025-12-12T11:29:30","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T11:29:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/?p=80135"},"modified":"2025-12-12T11:29:30","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T11:29:30","slug":"afcon-2025-chelle-releases-final-28-man-super-eagles-squad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/2025\/12\/12\/afcon-2025-chelle-releases-final-28-man-super-eagles-squad\/","title":{"rendered":"AFCON 2025: Chelle Releases Final 28-Man Super Eagles Squad"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Samuel Adeola<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Super Eagles head coach Eric Chelle has unveiled his final 28-man squad for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco, scheduled for December 21, 2025 to January 18, 2026.<\/p>\n<p>The squad, trimmed from an initial 54-man provisional list, comprises three goalkeepers, eight defenders, eight midfielders and nine forwards.<\/p>\n<p>Udinese goalkeeper Maduka Okoye and Wolves striker Tolu Arokodare were notable omissions.<\/p>\n<p>However, Francis Uzoho and Trabzonspor forward Paul Onuachu return after more than a year out of the team.<\/p>\n<p>Chelle handed debuts to several new faces, including Blackburn Rovers\u2019 Ryan Alebiosu and Slavia Prague centre-back Igoh Ogbu in defence.<\/p>\n<p>Inter Milan midfielder Ebenezer Akinsanmiro, Israel-based Usman Muhammed and Tochukwu Nnadi were also included. Former Flying Eagles star Lawal Salim Fago is the latest addition in attack.<\/p>\n<p>Uzoho, now playing in Cyprus, will battle Chippa United\u2019s Stanley Nwabali, who remains a fitness doubt and Singida Black Stars\u2019 Amas Obasogie for the No. 1 shirt.<\/p>\n<p>Regulars Calvin Bassey, Semi Ajayi, Chidozie Awaziem, Bright Osayi-Samuel, Bruno Onyemaechi and Zaidu Sanusi all made the defensive list.<\/p>\n<p>Alex Iwobi, Wilfred Ndidi, Frank Onyeka, Fisayo Dele-Bashiru and Raphael Onyedika headline the midfield.<\/p>\n<p>Victor Osimhen leads a strike force that includes Ademola Lookman, Samuel Chukwueze, Moses Simon, Akor Adams and Chidera Ejuke.<\/p>\n<p>Cyriel Dessers retained his place despite recent criticism, while in-form Onuachu earned his first call-up under Chelle.<\/p>\n<p>Nigeria will face Tunisia, Tanzania and Uganda in Group C.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, the NFF Executive Committee has urged the squad to put their World Cup qualifying setback behind them as they pursue a fourth AFCON title.<\/p>\n<p>The team departs for Morocco with the weight of expectation from millions of fans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Samuel Adeola Super Eagles head coach Eric Chelle has unveiled his final 28-man squad for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco, scheduled for December 21, 2025 to January 18, 2026. The squad, trimmed from an initial 54-man provisional list, comprises three goalkeepers, eight defenders, eight midfielders and nine forwards. Udinese goalkeeper Maduka [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":80136,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[172,175],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-80135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-sports"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80135"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80135\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80137,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80135\/revisions\/80137"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}