New kit for Eagles - Nigeria, still best in Africa

17.01.2008

The Super Eagles will take to the pitch for the 2008 Nations Cup with a brand new, eye-popping kit.

Spokesman of the Nigeria Football Association (NFA), Ademola Olajire said the Eagles will be playing in a jersey specially designed for them by the nation’s kit sponsors, adidas in line with the latest trends in sports wear designs.

Meanwhile, an advance party of officials left Lagos late Tuesday for Accra to make plans for the arrival of the Eagles. The three-man party is led by head of the NFA’s international competitions department, Bola Oyeyode, and they are expected to move on to Sekondi on arrival in Ghana.

The Super Eagles’ first match holds on January 21 against the Elephants of Cote d’Ivoire. “It is very important that the team is well received when they get to Ghana and that everything is ready for their arrival. We don’t want to take any chances,” Olajire stated.

Meanwhile, Nigeria will go to the Africa Cup of Nations as the continent's top team on the FIFA rankings, on the monthly FIFA ranking released on Wednesday.

The latest standings, issued by the game's world governing body on Wednesday, saw the Super Eagles maintaining top spot 19 position, ahead of Cameroun's Indomitable Lions.

Guinea remains in third place, while Egypt moves into fourth, one place ahead of Cote d’Ivoire.
Nations Cup host Ghana is rated the eighth-best side on the continent.

But the rankings aside, the Black Stars and Cote d’Ivoire are generally seen as the two leading contenders to win the tournament. Namibia is the lowest-ranked of the 16 teams at the Nations Cup finals.