The Nigeria Football Federation has announced a 23-man squad for squad for next month’s make or break 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying fixtures against South Africa and Benin Republic.

Following a shaky start to the qualifiers, the Super Eagles occupy the third spot in Group C having accrued just two points in two matches played so far.

And to realise their ambitions of qualifying for their seventh global football showpiece to be co-hosted by Mexico, Canada and the United States of America, the three-time African kings must negotiate their way past Bafana Bafana and the Squirrels in June.

Towards making this a reality, coach Finidi George has put faith in most of the players who represented the country at this year’s Africa Cup of Nations, whey they finished second behind hosts Cote d’Ivoire.

Top of the list is Atalanta hero Ademola Lookman, whose hat-trick propelled the Serie A giants past Bayer Leverkusen in the final of the Europa League.

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Leicester City’s midfield trojan Wilfred Ndidi makes a return to the squad while Nigeria Professional Football League star Sadiq Ismael gets his maiden call-up thanks to his blistering form for Remo Stars.

For goalscoring responsibilities, Nigeria will be counting on Napoli’s Victor Osimhen, Bayer Leverkusen’s duo of Victor Boniface and Nathan Tella, Kelechi Iheanacho, AC Milan’s Samuel Chukwueze as well as Terem Moffi of Ligue 1 outfit OGC Nice.

Missing out are AFCON 2023 Most Valuable Player William Troost-Ekong, captain Ahmed Musa, Francis Uzoho, Kenneth Omeruo and England-based Joe Aribo.

In a recent interview, coach George expressed optimism over his team’s ability to pick all maximum points based on the blistering form of the Europe based players.

He told the media: “We know it’s a difficult game, we played against South Africa in the concluded AFCON and we know their capacity. Most of their players play in South Africa but we know if our players give that 100 percent that we see them do in Europe, we would not have problems winning that game.

“I believe with the form our players have and the way they are playing in Europe we will definitely have that form for those games. I think we are good to go and we just pray that we have that luck.”

Nigeria face South Africa on June 7 at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium before heading to Abidjan’s Stade Felix Houphouet-Boigny three days later for a date with Gernot Rohr’s Benin Republic.

Super Eagles missed out on Qatar 2022 following a play-off defeat to eternal rivals Ghana. They last qualified for the global football tournament in Russia 2018. There, they crashed out after the group stage.

NIGERIA SQUAD IN FULL

Goalkeepers: Stanley Nwabali (Chippa United, South Africa); Maduka Okoye (Udinese FC, Italy); Ojo Olorunleke (Enyimba FC)

Defenders: Chidozie Awaziem (Boavista FC, Portugal); Bright Osayi-Samuel (Fenerbahce FC, Turkey); Sadiq Ismael (Remo Stars FC); Oluwasemilogo Ajayi (West Bromwich Albion, England); Calvin Bassey (Fulham FC, England); Benjamin Tanimu (Ihefu SC, Tanzania)

Midfielders: Wilfred Ndidi (Leicester City, England); Raphael Onyedika (Club Brugge, Belgium); Alhassan Yusuf Abdullahi (Royal Antwerp FC, Belgium); Frank Onyeka (Brentford FC, England); Alex Iwobi (Fulham FC, England); Fisayo Dele-Bashiru (Hatayspor, Turkey)

Forwards: Nathan Tella (Bayer Leverkusen, Germany); Victor Osimhen (SSC Napoli, Italy); Kelechi Iheanacho (Leicester City, England); Samuel Chukwueze (AC Milan, Italy); Paul Onuachu (Trabzonspor FC, Turkey); Ademola Lookman (Atalanta FC, Italy); Victor Boniface (Bayer Leverkusen, Germany); Terem Moffi (OGC Nice, France)