Super Eagles off to Moscow for Russia Friendly on Tuesday

The Super Eagles, who suffered a loss to Guinea-Bissau's Wild Dogs in an AFCON 2027 qualifier in Bissau on Tuesday, have departed from Abuja to Moscow for an international friendly with Russia. A report by SCORENigeria revealed that invited players from the domestic NPFL and Eagles' backroom staff were on the flight to the Russian capital, where the friendly is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, October 6.

Coach Eric Chelle, who did not accompany the team from Guinea-Bissau after their 3-0 defeat, will now join the players directly in Russia. Notably, Captain Wilfred Ndidi has withdrawn from the friendly. The majority of the selected players will fly directly from their respective bases to Russia, according to officials.

Eric Chelle intends to assess several players ahead of the U23 AFCON qualifiers in November. In June 2025, the Super Eagles managed to secure a 1-1 draw against hosts Russia, with an equalizer scored by striker Tolu Arokodare. This friendly will see the Super Eagles receive $600,000 as match fees, double the $1.2 million they received for the earlier match against Russia in June 2025.

This discrepancy might be due to the fact that the Super Eagles paraded Grade-A players for the initial friendly, whereas for the upcoming match, Coach Chelle has formed a more experimental squad comprising several uncapped players he aims to observe closely before the U23 AFCON qualifiers. Despite the substantial match fee received by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) from the Russians last year, it was reported that the players were not compensated with appearance fees.