- Nigeria Visa Itch for Invited foreign Players
Plans were said to be underway that the once-botched friendly between the Super Eagles and Burkina Faso could now be played in June at a yet to be decided venue in France.
Last month, a friendly between the two West African countries in London was called off because several Burkina Faso players were reportedly not granted entry visas to the United Kingdom.
According to source in the know but who would not want his name to be mentioned because he was not authorized said, the friendly has been reviewed and “There is now a plan to get the Eagles to play Burkina Faso in Paris but the issue now is the date for this friendly.
“You know that the Eagles will take on Corsica at the end of May before they face South Africa in Uyo in an AFCON qualifier in June. So, the Burkina Faso game would be in-between these matches or after the South Africa game.”
The Stallions of Burkina Faso finished third at this year’s AFCON in Gabon. They are 35th and fourth in Africa in the FIFA Rankings, while Nigeria are 40th and fifth in Africa.
Meanwhile, Super Eagles Manager, Gernot Rohr’s choice to make the duo of Tyronne Ebuehi and Noah Bazee who were newly invited for an AFCON qualifier against South Africa in June may be hampered by Nigerian visa hitches.
It was gathered that Ebuehi has a Dutch passport as he was born in the Netherlands, while Bazee holds a German passport.
Both players were part of the Eagles training squad in London last month, but they are yet to get Nigerian passports which will allow them play competitive games for the country.
Both of them could have played in last month’s friendlies without a Nigerian passport because those games in London were not official games.
But for the AFCON qualifier against South Africa in Uyo, they will need to have secured their Nigerian passports by then.
“Rohr is getting a bit agitated over the fact that the likes of Ebuehi and Bazee do not have a Nigerian passport. That’s one of the major reasons he wants the Eagles to fly into Abuja in good time from their training base in France so that the players will process their Nigerian passports,” the source said.
Both Ebuehi and Bazee are yet to make their debut for the Eagles.
