Super Eagles 2022 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Sierra Leone scheduled for next month, has scooped, is to be played at the refurbished Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium in Benin City.
The encounter against fellow West Africans, is the first competitive game to be played by the three-time African champions after Covid-19 pandemic caused football and other sports to be in lockdown for close to one year.
The leadership of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and the technical crew of the Eagles have reached a consensus on using the ‘brand new’ Ogbemudia Stadium for the game.
“The NFF officials have confirmed to us that Super Eagles are going to play their AFCON 2022 qualifier against Sierra Leone at our Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium here in Benin City.
“We are really excited by the news, most especially as it will be the very first sporting event to take place at the stadium since it was refurbished to host the 20th National Sports Festival in March but had to be postponed because of the outbreak of the Coronavirus worldwide,” a top football personality said.
The Super Eagles have become nomadic since both the National Stadiums in Lagos and Abuja became unplayable due to their terrible conditions for years.
Stadiums in Uyo, Port Harcourt, Kaduna and Asaba have played hosts with none that can really be called ‘home’ for the Eagles the way the Sport-city in Lagos was dreaded by African teams.
The newly refurbished Ogbemudia Stadium has a sitting capacity of 19,500 and is, perhaps, the best of its kind in the country at the moment. It boast electronic scoreboard and has capacity for a VAR (Video Assistant Referee) playback.