The Flying Eagles of Nigeria kickoff their U-20 2022 WAFU Zone B qualifying tournament with a 2-0 victory over Black Satellites of Ghana in Niamey, Niger on Sunday evening.
Ibrahim Muhammad put Nigeria in the lead just seven minutes into the Group B game before Ahmed Abdullahi doubled the lead 78th-minute to hand Fly Eagles an important win in the encounter which was played at the General Seyni Kountche Stadium.
Nigeria will take on Burkina Faso in their second Group B game on Wednesday.
The WAFU Zone B consists of two groups A and B with two teams from each group advancing into the semi-finals qualifying to represent the zone at the 2023 U-20 AFCON in Egypt.
The 2023 U-20 AFCON will also serve as the qualifying tournament for the FIFA U-20 World which will be hosted in Indonesia in 2023 also.
All last four teams from the tournament in Egypt will automatically qualify to represent Africa in Indonesia.
The Flying Eagles last appeared at the U-20 AFCON where they are the most successful team in the history of the tournament with seven championships in 2019, with their most recent triumph being in 2015 when they defeated hosts Senegal by a lone goal in the final.
The other six occasions when they won the tournament were in 1983, 1985, 1987, 1989 and 2005.
