Former Super Eagles’ defender, Abiodun Obafemi has declared a sweeping verdict in support of the exclusion of home-based players from Nigeria’s squad for the two upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers in September, Sports247 reports.
The ex-international centre back, who played for clubs in France and Germany during his heyday, reckoned that the poor outing the home-based lads had at this year’s Championship of African Nations (CHAN 2024) spoilt their chances of making the main team’s latest squad roster.
However, with 15-year-old shot-stopper, Ebenezer Harcourt as the only one who was in Nigeria’s squad to CHAN 2024 and already included in a 31-player provisional list of invitees for next month’s games, Obafemi conceded that the final decision on home-based invitees lies with the coach, Eric Chelle.
Obafemi added, “Honestly, they did not do well to justify being included in the new list. Honestly, from what I saw, they don’t deserve it.
“But then, the coach saw them on a daily basis, and it is very difficult to judge a player with just one tournament. That is one important thing about the game of football.
“As a coach, I am very sure he must have studied them well on a daily basis. So, he may feel that, maybe one or two of them could still get a chance.”
However, while conceding that Chelle might decide to add one or two players from the Nigerian Professional Football League (NPFL) in his immediate plans, Obafemi reckoned that it would depend on what the Franco-Malian tactician saw of them during training, not based on their matches at CHAN 2024.
Obafemi, who was in Nigeria’s gold medal winning team at Atlanta ’96 Olympics, submitted: “It would not be based on their performances at the CHAN tournament, but based on what he saw in training every day.
“Maybe one or two of them deserve to be in the main team; that would be his decision. But, if we as Nigerians are to judge them by what we saw in CHAN, I don’t think anyone of them deserves to be there. None of them deserves to be there. I must confess.”
