Five time world champions Nigeria head to Yinchuan for a four nation invitational, using the trip to sharpen their squad ahead of September’s regional qualifiers.
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The Golden Eaglets depart Nigeria on Thursday night bound for China, where they will compete in the 2026 China International Youth Football Tournament in Yinchuan from July 5 to July 11.
The four-nation invitational is jointly hosted by the Chinese Football Association, the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region Administration of Sport and the Yinchuan Municipal People’s Government, with organisation handled by the Ningxia Football Association alongside the Yinchuan Sports Bureau.
Head coach Uwejamomere Eboboritse will lead a 20-man squad into the competition, assisted by Kalli Mohammed Kachalla and Abdullahi Isa. Nigeria will face hosts China, Australia and Tanzania in the group, with every fixture staged at the Yinchuan Sports Centre Helanshan Stadium.
Building Toward WAFU B Qualifiers
The trip forms part of the Golden Eaglets’ build-up to the 2026 WAFU B U-17 Championship in September, which doubles as the qualifying route to the 2027 Africa U-17 Cup of Nations. Nigeria’s youth side will be using the China trip to test their squad depth and build cohesion before the regional qualifiers get underway.
As five time FIFA U-17 World Cup champions, Nigeria will head into the tournament among the favourites, but Eboboritse’s side will be treating the trip primarily as preparation rather than a measure of where the squad currently stands.
📌 Did You Know?
- Nigeria’s Golden Eaglets have won the FIFA U-17 World Cup a record five times, more than any other nation.
- The WAFU B zone covers West African nations including Nigeria, Ghana, and several other neighbouring countries in age-grade qualifiers.
- Yinchuan, the tournament host city, is the capital of China’s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.
- The Africa U-17 Cup of Nations serves as the continental qualifying route to the FIFA U-17 World Cup.
- International youth tournaments like this one are commonly used by national federations to assess emerging talent outside of official qualifying windows.
