The Super Eagles of Nigeria will this Saturday in Casablanca, Morocco aim to win a record extending ninth bronze medal at the Africa Cup of Nations, Sports247 reports.
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While many critics view the third place match as an irrelevant constraint in AFCON’s calendar, Nigeria has made it a heartwarming consolation after failing to reach the final.
The same will apply this Saturday, as the Super Eagles line out to face Egypt in ‘the losers final,’ after failing to win their AFCON 2025 semi-final versus host country, Morocco this past Wednesday in Rabat.
The Super Eagles put up a lame performance and eventually lost the game 4-2 through the painful route of penalties, such that beating Egypt on Saturday will be a huge consolation for Africa’s most populous nation.
This consolatory value previously saw the Eagles win the AFCON bronze medal in 1976, 1978, 1992, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2010 and 2019; meaning victory over Egypt on Saturday would simply mean an extension of Nigeria’s third place tradition.
Ironically, the importance Nigeria gives the AFCON third place match was highlighted at Ghana ’78, when the Eagles gleefully picked up the prize after Tunisia walked out of the game with allegations of biased refereeing.
It marked back-to-back bronze medals for Nigeria at the AFCON, following which a stretch of three straight conquests of the competition’s third place match (2002, 2004 and 2006) confirmed Nigeria as ‘birthright bronze winners’ in the continental showpiece.
Interestingly, this year’s surge meant the Eagles have also reached the AFCON semi-final a record 16 times out of their participation in 19 editions of the competition.
With a haul of 16 medals altogether, Nigeria has won more AFCON laurels than any other country, but half of those prizes have been bronze.
Nigeria have eight appearances in the grand finale at AFCON – having won three (1980, 1994, 2013), but lost 5 – three to Cameroon (1984, 1988, 2000), as well as one each to Algeria (1990) and Cote d’Ivoire (2023).
Sports247 noted further that, overall, Nigeria has a total of 16 medals in AFCON history – 3 gold medals, 5 silver medals and 8 bronze medals; but Egypt’s seven trophies make them the most successful nation in winnning the competition.
Heading into Saturday’s game, the fact that Nigeria has never lost a single AFCON third place match provides additional hope that the Eagles will not return home empty-handed at the start of next week.
