Former Super Eagles defender Efe Ambrose has urged Nigeria to take control of their 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualification campaign from the opening whistle and avoid another nerve-racking race dependent on permutations and results elsewhere.
With the qualifiers approaching, Ambrose wants the Super Eagles to treat every opponent seriously and accumulate the points required to secure their ticket as early and seamlessly as possible.
His warning carries added significance because Nigeria face an unusual qualification equation in Group L alongside Madagascar, Guinea-Bissau and Tanzania.
Tanzania are already guaranteed a place at AFCON 2027 as one of the three co-hosts alongside Kenya and Uganda.
Under CAF’s qualification format, only the highest-placed team apart from Tanzania in Group L will qualify for the finals.
That effectively leaves Nigeria, Madagascar and Guinea-Bissau competing for the group’s available qualification ticket, regardless of where Tanzania finish in the standings.
For Ambrose, that makes a strong start imperative.
The former Celtic defender believes the Super Eagles must move away from qualification campaigns that descend into calculations over points, goal difference and results involving other countries.
His message is that Nigeria should determine their own fate.
Ambrose warned that the traditional gap between Africa’s established football nations and supposedly smaller teams has narrowed significantly, meaning reputation alone can no longer guarantee results.
He therefore wants every fixture approached with maximum seriousness rather than waiting until the latter stages of the campaign before responding to pressure.
Nigeria will begin their qualification campaign at home against Madagascar on Friday, September 25, with kick-off scheduled for 4pm GMT.
Four days later, the Super Eagles travel to face Guinea-Bissau on September 29, another potentially significant fixture in the battle for the sole non-host qualification position.
The opening two matches could consequently have an immediate influence on the shape of Group L.
CAF has scheduled the qualifiers across six matchdays, with the opening two rounds running from September into early October. Matchdays three and four will follow during the November international window before the qualification series concludes in March 2027.
The eventual tournament will be staged across Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda from June 19 to July 17, 2027, marking the first Africa Cup of Nations jointly hosted by three countries.
Nigeria’s immediate concern, however, is making sure they are there.
Recent African qualifying campaigns have repeatedly demonstrated the danger of underestimating opponents, and Ambrose believes the Super Eagles must recognise that reality from their first game.
For the former Nigeria international, qualification should not become another late mathematical exercise in which supporters are calculating what another country must win, lose or draw.
