Nigeria will target a fourth Africa Cup of Nations crown when the tournament commences at the end of this year.
The Super Eagles, champions in 1980, 1994 and 2013, have been drawn in Group C alongside Tunisia, Tanzania and Uganda.
Super Eagles emerge
Various issues contributed to Nigeria featuring in just three of the first nine AFCONs, but they soon found a feel for the tournament.
The Super Eagles finished third in both 1976 and 1978 before Segun Odegbami's brace and a Muda Lawal strike saw them beat Algeria 3-0 as hosts in front of 85,000 fans in Lagos in 1980.
A frustrating group stage exit followed in 1982, and while they failed to qualify in 1986, that disappointment interrupted a period of being there or thereabouts, with heartache never far behind.
The Nigerians were runners-up in 1984, 1988 and 1990, the latter seeing Algeria get their own back on home soil. Nigeria were then third in 1992 before future Barcelona winger Emmanuel Amunike scored twice to see off Zambia 2-1 and claim their second title in 1994.
Nigerian football comes to the world
That success coincided with Nigeria's national team gaining wider global recognition, debuting at the World Cup in 1994. They reached the Round of 16 in the USA and repeated that feat in France four years later.
They then missed the 1996 and 1998 AFCONs but that did not prevent them from winning Olympic Gold in Atlanta in 1996. The Atlanta Games attracted a star-studded cast, but the Super Eagles soared.
After losing to Brazil in the group stages, they again met a Selecao side featuring Roberto Carlos, Juninho Paulista, Bebeto, Ronaldo and Rivaldo, all either reigning or future world champions, in the semi-finals, and Nwankwo Kanu's Golden Goal saw them grab a 4-3 win.
Their opponents in the final, Argentina, were just as good. Roberto Ayala, Jose Chamot and Javier Zanetti played in defence behind a forward line including Ariel Ortega, Hernan Crespo and Claudio Lopez, while Diego Simeone came off the bench.
Twice they fell behind, Lopez opening the scoring and Crespo netting a penalty. Former Chelsea and Newcastle man Celestine Babayaro and Everton alumni Daniel Amokachi both equalised before Amunike came off the bench to fire in a stoppage-time winner.
That group of players was a Golden Generation for Nigeria, with Taribo West, Jay-Jay Okocha and Sunday Oliseh also in the squad for the Olympics. Considering that Champions League winner Finidi George was also around, they arguably failed to live up to their potential either continentally or globally.
More frustration for Nigeria
Nigeria returned to the AFCON as co-hosts in 2000 but suffered more heartache, with Kanu one of those to fail from 12 yards as they lost the final on penalties to Cameroon.
A quarter-final elimination in 2008 punctuated four more bronze medals in 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2010, but after failing to qualify in 2012, Emmanuel Emenike, once of West Ham, scored four times to help them win a third African title in 2013.
Sunday Mba netted the only goal in the final, a 1-0 win over Burkina Faso in Johannesburg, but that pre-empted more failures to qualify in 2015 and 2017.
The Super Eagles were back in 2019, going down in the semi-finals as Riyad Mahrez's 95th-minute winner sent Algeria through to the final in which they beat Senegal. Nigeria again had to settle for third, beating Tunisia 1-0 courtesy of Odion Ighalo's early strike.
To summarise an inconsistent period for Nigerian football, they won all three group games in 2021, only to be undone by Tunisia in the Round of 16, with Youssef Msakni grabbing the deciding goal in Garoua, Cameroon.
2023 saw them conquer Cameroon, Angola and South Africa to reach the final of the competition, only to be defeated in the final by hosts Ivory Coast, who had sacked their head coach Jean-Louis Gasset in the group stage.
Nigeria's AFCON Record
Year | Host(s) | Finish |
1957 | Gabon | Not affiliated to CAF |
1959 | United Arab Republic | Not Affiliated to CAF |
1962 | Ethiopia | Withdrew |
1963 | Ghana | Group stage |
1965 | Tunisia | Withdrew |
1968 | Ethiopia | Did not qualify |
1970 | Sudan | Withdrew |
1972 | Cameroon | Did not qualify |
1974 | Egypt | Did not qualify |
1976 | Ethiopia | Third place |
1978 | Ghana | Third place |
1980 | Nigeria | Champions |
1982 | Libya | Group stage |
1984 | Ivory Coast | Runners-up |
1986 | Egypt | Did not qualify |
1988 | Morocco | Runners-up |
1990 | Algeria | Runners-up |
1992 | Senegal | Third place |
1994 | Tunisia | Champions |
1996 | South Africa | Withdrew |
1998 | Burkina Faso | Banned |
2000 | Ghana and Nigeria | Runners-up |
2002 | Mali | Third place |
2004 | Tunisia | Third place |
2006 | Egypt | Third place |
2008 | Ghana | Quarter-finals |
2010 | Angola | Third place |
2012 | Equatorial Guinea and Gabon | Did not qualify |
2013 | South Africa | Champions |
2015 | Equatorial Guinea | Did not qualify |
2017 | Gabon | Did not qualify |
2019 | Egypt | Third place |
2021 | Cameroon | Round of 16 |
2023 | Ivory Coast | Runners-up |
