Monica Iheakam
Nigeria’s Flying Eagles will on Friday know their opponents for 2019 FIFA U- 20 World Cup to be hosted by Poland .
The draws for the tournament billed for later this year, will take place in the City of Gdynia Poland from 23 May to June 15.
2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup will take place on Friday, February 24 in the city of Gdynia, Poland with Nigeria’s Flying Eagles among the 24 qualified teams that will know their group opponents.
Nigeria is among the 24 countries that qualified for the biennial championship to be staged across six Polish cities of Lodz, Bielsko-Biala, Bydgoszcz, Gdynia, Lublin and Tychy .
The Flying Eagles, one of the African flag bearers to the tournament , picked the ticket for the sundial after finishing fourth at the just concluded U-20 Africa Cup of Nations hosted by Niger.The other African countries headed to Poland are Champions Mali, Senegal and South Africa .
Asia will be represented at the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup by Japan, Korea Republic, Qatar and Saudi Arabia in the tournament, while CONCACAF have four representatives; Honduras, Mexico, Panama and USA.
France, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Ukraine and hosts Poland will fly Europe’s flag in the tournament, while Oceania have New Zealand and Tahiti as their torch bearers.
Conmebol will be represented by Argentina, Colombia and Ecuador.
The FIFA U-20 World Cup has long been a breeding ground for some of world football’s most gifted players, with the likes of Diego Maradona, Lionel Messi, Robert Prosinecki, Zvonimir Boban, Adriano and Paul Pogba having blossomed at the tournament.
The likes Mutiu Adepoju, Taye Taiwo John Mikel Obi are some of the Nigerian players who shone in the competition in the past with the Flying Eagles.
Nigeria has featured twice in the final losing 2-0 to Portugal in 1989 and 2-1 to a Lionel Messi inspired Argentina in 2005.