If we talk about great teams in Africa, Nigeria is undoubtedly one of those that should not be missing. In the historical table of the World Cups they are in position 29 of 79, the best position of an African team. However, they will not be in Qatar and here we tell you why. And to start preparing for the 2022 World Cup, try the simulator here.
Nigeria has had great teams throughout history, participating in 6 World Cups to date. Since 1994, the year in which they qualified for the first time, they have played in all editions except Germany 2006, reaching the round of 16 on three of those occasions: 1994, 1998 and 2014. All three were the team’s best historical performances.
Great players such as Agustine Okocha, Ahmed Musa and the team’s all-time goalscorer Rashidi Yekini have been part of some of the Nigerian squads. For several years, players from this nation have been part of various European teams, which makes their absence in Qatar all the more surprising.
Why did Nigeria not qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar?
The qualifiers in Africa are made up as follows: after a preliminary qualifying phase involving the teams with the lowest FIFA ranking, 44 teams advance to a group phase. In total there are 10 groups of four members each. There they play all against all in first and second leg games.
Only the leaders of each group advance to the final phase. Nigeria reached the group stage and in fact won theirs, group C. Of the 10 leaders, series are drawn and Nigeria had to define against Ghana. In the first leg game, the Nigerians drew 0-0 away; but then at home they tied again, but this time 1-1 so with the away goal, the Ghanaians got their place in Qatar and eliminated Nigeria.