AFCON 2023 Qualifiers: Nigeria vs Sierra Leone – Historical perspective
The Super Eagles are getting ready for their first qualifying match for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations against Sierra Leone on Thursday.
Thursday’s match at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium will be the 17th time the West African countries will face each other.
Nigeria are under a new coach, Jose Peseiro while the Leone Stars are also under new leadership with Fenerbahce’s Steven Caulker named as captain after Kei Kamara’s retirement from international football in April.
The two countries were knocked out in the group stage of the AFCON 2021 while Nigeria are chasing their first win since January 19, Sierra Leone are looking to build on their back-to-back wins in March.
HEAD-TO-HEAD STATISTICS
Since their first game in April 1961, Sierra Leone have played Nigeria 16 times and they have managed just two wins with a record of five draws.
The last time they faced off was during the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualification campaign in November 2020 which ended in a goalless draw. Prior to that fixture, the Leone Stars fought from four goals down to hold Nigeria to a 4-4 draw in Benin.
Sierra Leone’s wins were in July 1987 in an AFCON qualifier and April 2001 in a FIFA World Cup qualifier.
FIFA RANKING
According to the FIFA ranking which was last updated in March, the Super Eagles occupy the 30th spot in the world and third in Africa while Sierra Leone are 108th in the world and 24th in Africa.
MOST RECENT RESULT
Sierra Leone won their last match against Congo 2-1 in an international friendly fixture on March 29 while Nigeria suffered a 1-0 loss to Ecuador in a friendly outing in the United States on June 3.
