TheCable

Nigeria’s Future Eagles have pulled out of the forthcoming UEFA U-16 development tournament after the Spanish embassy denied them visa to travel for the competition. 

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) announced the team’s withdrawal from the competition in a tweet on Monday.

“Players and officials of the Nigeria U15 team, Future Eagles, have been denied visas by the Spanish Embassy and will therefore not be travelling to participate in the UEFA U-16 Development Tournament starting on Friday,” the tweet reads.

The UEFA U-16 development tournament is an annual competition featuring four national teams. The tournament is focused on the development of young talents.

Although the competition is organised by UEFA, non-European nations are also invited to participate.

The 2024 edition is billed to be held at the Pinatar Arena Football Centre in San Pedro del Pinatar, Murcia, Spain.

According to NFF, the Future Eagles were given a “special invitation” to the tournament “as a result of Nigeria’s pedigree in youth football”.

The team was expected to leave for Spain ahead of the competition on Tuesday. They were scheduled to play Belgium in their first game on Friday before facing Italy and  England in the other two matches.

Last month, the Future Eagles, coached by Patrick Bassey, travelled to Morocco in preparation for the tournament before returning to Nigeria to continue training for another week at the Remo Stars’ Sports Institute in Ikenne.

Earlier this year, the Super Eagles’ planned friendly match against Argentina in the US was also cancelled due to visa problems.