Izuchukwu OkosiChippa United goalkeeper, Stanley Nwabili and Enyimba’s Olorunleke Ojo are among the two goalkeepers included in Nigeria’s 25-man squad announced on Friday by the Nigeria Football Federation for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations in Cote d’Ivoire.
Ojo is the only home-based player named to the squad.
Head coach Jose Peseiro elected to go with 25 players for the tournament instead of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) giving the 24 participating countries the privilege of attending the tournament with 27 players.
In a meeting with the leadership of the Nigeria Football Federation in Abuja, Peseiro insisted that 25 players instead of 27, is the number that he could manage.
Some Nigerian fans are livid by the decision of Peseiro not to take advantage of the numerical strength offered by CAF.
Nigeria’s final roster for the 33rd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations aside from the goalkeeping department is made up of usual suspects with the captain of the team, Ahmed Musa, making a return to the fold after missing the recent 2026 World Cup qualifiers against Lesotho and Zimbabwe due to injury.
Kasimpasa of Turkey defender Kenneth Omeruo who was part of the 2013 Super Eagles squad that won the tournament in that year when South Africa hosted the continent made the cut as well as William Troost Ekong who makes a return after missing in recent games.
The players are expected to resume camping in Abu Dhabi on January 2 ahead of the tournament.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio.
He worked there for 13 years until October 2017.
Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch.
He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations.
Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line.
Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.
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