Technical Director of the Nigeria Football Federation, Augustine Eguavoen, has backed players from the Nigeria Premier Football League for Super Eagles selection despite the home-based team’s poor showing at the African Nations Championship in 2025, Saturday PUNCH reports.
Eguavoen questioned head coach Eric Chelle’s decision to exclude all NPFL players from the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations squad, expressing disappointment at the complete absence of home-based players despite the team’s strong showing at the tournament in Morocco, where Nigeria won bronze.
The former Super Eagles coach cautioned against using Nigeria’s mixed fortunes at CHAN in August as a yardstick for judging the quality of the domestic league.
“The players are not bad, and just because we didn’t do well at CHAN doesn’t mean we should throw the baby out with the bathwater,” the AFCON 1994 winner told Footy Africa.
“This is something we need to look into because it speaks volumes when players come directly from the local league into a major tournament like AFCON.”
Chelle named a 28-man squad made up mostly of Super Eagles regulars, including Victor Osimhen, Ademola Lookman, Wilfred Ndidi, Moses Simon and Semi Ajayi, with room also for fringe stars like Cyriel Dessers, Ebenezer Akinsanmiro, Amas Obasogie and Igoh Ogbu.
Eguavoen said he was troubled by the decision to overlook the domestic league entirely when naming such a large squad.
“I felt disappointed that we did not include some NPFL players in the AFCON squad,” Eguavoen said.
“Some players in the team may not even get a minute of action, so why couldn’t we include a few players from the local league? At least three or four would have been better.”
The former Super Eagles coach argued that several home-based players were capable of contributing at the highest level.
Despite his reservations, Eguavoen stressed that the NFF would not interfere with Chelle’s choices.
“We can only advise him. We cannot force players on him. I must also say that he has a lot of respect for the players and wants to see how he can gradually bring them through. We have discussed this a few times, but the timing has to be right,” Eguavoen explained.
He also suggested that Chelle’s limited time in Nigeria may have made it harder to properly assess NPFL talent.
“If he stays in the country more often, he will have better opportunities to visit venues and watch players. If he doesn’t, it becomes more difficult,” he added.
The Super Eagles have not won the AFCON since 2013, when the late Stephen Keshi assembled a squad of home-based and foreign-based stars to conquer the continent.
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