Nigeria’s Future Eagles will begin the knockout phase of the inaugural FIFA U-15 World Cup and Festival against New Caledonia today (Wednesday) in Baku, Azerbaijan.
The match is a Tier C Round of 32 tie after both teams finished third in their groups in the qualification stage.
Head coach Patrick Bassey’s side go into the game unbeaten, after finishing third in Group AD with seven points from five games – one win and four draws, scoring 11 and conceding 10.
Captain Timothy Ijach has been the star for the Future Eagles with goals in four straight games, while Wisdom Oche and Abdulrazak Mufutau have also impressed.
New Caledonia also finished third in Group AA to reach Tier C.
Under the Festival format, no team is eliminated early. All teams are placed into six performance-based tiers.
Group winners go to Tier A to play for the overall title, runners-up to Tier B, and third-placed teams like Nigeria to Tier C, where 32 teams will compete in a knockout bracket.
The Round of 32 is today (Wednesday) round of 16 and placement matches are Thursday 29th, with the Tier finals to decide final rankings on Friday 30th October.
