Germany’s soccer governing body, DFB, have given Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) several conditions that have to be met before they will agree for an international friendly between their national team and the Super Eagles, megasportsarena.com gathered.
While the NFF are also said to be in talks with Belgium and Italy over similar games with the Eagles, they will have to accept playing against Germany at a venue in the European country and produce all stars of the national team in order to get a deal.
Nonetheless, feelers from The Glasshouse indicate that the NFF have reached advanced stages of talks with DFB over the proposed friendly between the Eagles and Die Mannschaft, with the game still expected to go ahead in the middle of 2020.
Nigeria has a historic victory against West Germany in the maiden final of the FIFA U-16 World Cup of China 1985, but both countries last met at youth level, when Germany beat Nigeria 1-0 during the FIFA U-20 World Cup round of 16 stage at Christchurch Stadium in Christchurch, New Zealand on June 11, 2015.
The Germans have also been dominant over Nigeria at women’s youth level, having beaten the Falconets in the 2010 FIFA Women’s World Cup final on home soil, which they won 2–0 and then 1-0 in the Canada 2014 championship match, with Asisat Oshoala emerging highest goals scorer and most valuable player of the competition.
At female senior level, the Europeans got a 3-0 victory over the West Africans at the same stage of the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup, which happens to be the last overall match between both countries, and leave the Europeans holding bragging rights heading into a possible friendly.
Germany have three victories in same number of matches against Nigeria at men’s senior level, being 2-0 on December 27, 1970 as well as 2-1 on August 30, 1988 (both as West Germany) and 1-0 in an international friendly on April 22, 1998; such that a clash in 2020 is expected to be very exciting, especially against the backdrop of the Eagles’ recent draws with Ukraine and Brazil.
A report by AOIFootball.com adds: “Nigeria plans to play a test game against the 2014 World Cup winners next year during one of the international breaks as part of the newly formed tradition of the NFF to only engage top teams in friendly games.
“Already, they have started the process by playing against Ukraine in October, a game that ended in a 2-2 draw and it was followed by another high profile friendly game against Brazil which ended in a 1-1 draw.
“Germany is interested in the game but have told Nigeria that the game will be played in Germany and not Nigeria. They also want Nigeria to confirm the availability of all their top players as another condition.
“Furthermore, the game will see Germany earn a large share of the proceeds from the game as they are presently highly ranked than Nigeria by FIFA. All these conditions were verbally communicated to the NFF when contact was made.
“Aside from Germany, talks are expected to take place with Belgium and Italy as well, with Nigeria keen on getting games that will put the Super Eagles in top shape for their upcoming 2021 Africa Cup of Nations Qualifiers next year and also the 2022 World Cup qualifiers.”
