Nigeria’s Mikel Obi Predicts AFCON Victory in 2023: “We’re Always The Favourites”

Although we are in a difficult group, we are always favourites when we participate in this competition.

Mikel Obi believes Nigeria will win the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), which will take place in Cote d’Ivoire the following year.

After the Super Eagles were placed in Group A of the biannual continental tournament alongside the hosts Cote d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, and Guinea-Bissau, the Nigerian and Chelsea icon made the comment.

At the draw ceremony on Thursday in the Ivorian city of Abidjan, the former midfielder, who led his team to the competition’s 2023 victory, remarked, “Of course, we are always the favourites.”

Although we are in a difficult group, Mikel continued, “We are always favourites when we arrive to this event.

There are many strong teams in this region, but Nigeria is always the favourite. Are we not?

When Nigeria defeated Burkina Faso 1-0 in South Africa in 2013, they won the competition for the last time. Since then, the squad has only been able to place third in the Egypt-hosted 2019 competition.

In the most recent competition, which was held in neighbouring Cameroon and was one of the nation’s worst performances in the continental football festival, they were eliminated in the round of 16.

The Super Eagles’ sadness was compounded when they were not selected for the FIFA World Cup in 2022, losing out to steadfast rivals Ghana.

READ ALSO: 2023 AFCON: Super Eagles face Equatorial Guinea to start their title defence

But they will seek to recover from those devastating defeats, and they have already begun that process by winning their group of qualifiers for the 2023 AFCON.

The Cote d’Ivoire competition will include twenty-four teams, with two teams from each group moving on automatically to the knockout stages, where they will be joined by four third-place teams.

Senegal, the defending champions, are in Group C with Cameroon, Guinea, and Gambia, along with other continental powerhouses like Nigeria.

What many have referred to as the “Group of Death” is found in Group E. There, the 2004 champions Tunisia compete against Mali, South Africa, and Namibia.

Group B is made up of Egypt, Ghana, Cape Verde, and Mozambique, while Group D is made up of Algeria, Burkina Faso, Mauritania, and Angola.

The complete group pairings for the 2023 AFCON are available here.