Super Eagles Of Nigeria To Play Benin Republic In Ivory Coast

The Super Eagles of Nigeria will face the Republic of Benin at the Felix Houphouet Boigny Stadium, Abidjan, in June 2024.

The Super Eagles of Nigeria will resume their 2026 FIFA World Cup campaign in June against the Bafana Bafana of South Africa and Benin Republic.

After taking on South Africa in Nigeria on June 3, the Super Eagles were supposed to travel to Benin for matchday four of the qualifiers. However, CAF couldn’t approve any stadium in the country to host the game due to a lack of suitable match venue.

Hence, the Benin Football Association had to negotiate with the Ivory Coast football authorities to gain access to one of the match venues used for the just-concluded 2023 AFCON. After weeks of negotiations, they were granted access to the Felix Houphouet Boigny Stadium for the game.

Interestingly, the stadium was the same ground where the Super Eagles played 7 of their games at the 2023 AFCON, including the final of the tournament, which they lost 2-1 to the hosts, Ivory Coast.

Hence, the Nigerian players are expected to be more familiar with the stadium than the supposed home team, Benin Republic.

So far in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, the Nigerian side are yet to record a win after two games against minnows, Lesotho and Zimbabwe. The two games ended in an unprecedented draw.

Those draws leave Nigeria in the third spot in Group B, two points below first-placed Rwanda, and a point below South Africa.

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