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After the final whistle of the title match for the 34th Africa Cup of Nations in Abidjan late Sunday night, the Nigerian football team, the Super Eagles became coachless.

The interim contract signed with the Portuguese manager, Jose Peseiro lapsed as it was tied to the end of the AFCON 2023. The original contract ended last year June, but had to be extended to cover the period of the Africa Cup of Nations.

The renewal of the interim six-month contract was tied to Nigeria getting to the semi-finals, a condition that Peseiro met when the Super Eagles defeated Angola in the quarter finals.

Nigeria’s next assignment is the qualification for the 2025 AFCON which preliminaries begin next month.

Although for the first time in recent history of the competition, CAF failed to announce the fixtures for the preliminaries of the next edition.

But a time line had already been issued since last year. The detail schedule runs thus:

Preliminary round: 18–26 March 2024
First and second matchdays: 2–10 September 2024
Third and fourth matchdays: 7–15 October 2024
Fifth and sixth matchdays: 11–19 November 2024
In addition, the Super Eagles have two match days of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers. On 2 June they will be hosting Bafana Bafana and then travel to Benin Republic for another World Cup qualifier on 9 June.

The preliminary round of the qualifying series for Morocco 2025 Africa Cup of Nations is expected to begin on 18 March.

But as a departure from tradition, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) did not release the fixtures for the qualifying series of the next edition as Cote d’Ivoire 2025 came to a close on Sunday night.

In the past, the draws were conducted during a running final series. For instance, that of the one just concluded was conducted and released on 21 January 2022 in Douala as the Cameroon 2021 was on.

The draw for the qualification series for Cameroon 2021 was conducted during Egypt 2019 on 18 July 2019 in Cairo just like that of Egypt 2019 was conducted on 12 January 2017 during Gabon 2017.

A day after the final match of Cote d’Ivoire 2023, it is already 34 days to the start of the preliminary competition of the next edition. The opponents don’t know themselves.

The next available international window is that of March 18 to 26 where teams can play just two matches. The June window is already dedicated to the World Cup qualification.

Super Eagles star Alex Iwobi has deleted photos from his Instagram page following Nigeria’s loss to Ivory Coast in the final of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).

The Nigerian side were defeated 2-1 by the hosts, ending the team’s dreams of a fourth continental crown.

Hours after the encounter, Iwobi who has been a subject of stiff criticism from fans, deleted photos from his Instagram handle for fear of cyber abuse.

He only left one video post. The Fulham man also locked the comment section of the post for fear of bullying.

Iwobi featured for 79 minutes in Nigeria’s defeat to Ivory Coast and was replaced by Alhassan Yusuf.

Before the recent development, a similar one took place in the aftermath of the Super Eagles ouster from the 2021 AFCON in Cameroon. Iwobi and teammate Maduka Okoye were also heavily criticised after the team lost to Tunisia in a round of 16 tie, prompting them to disable comments on their social media handles.

Cote d’Ivoire has declared Monday a work-free day to celebrate Les Elephants Africa Cup of Nations triumph.

The hosts defeated Nigeria 2-1 on Sunday night to win their third AFCON title.

The Super Eagles went in front through William Troost-Ekong eight minutes before the break.

Emerse Fae’s side, however, scored twice after the break through Franck Kessie and Sebastien Haller.

The locals celebrated the team’s success all through the night.

Meanwhile, there will be a trophy parade at the Felix Houphouet Boigny Stadium, Abidjan today.

President Alssanne Quattara and other top government officials are expected to be in attendance.

The president is also expected to announce a cash reward for the players and their officials during the parade.

Super Eagles coach Jose Peseiro has admitted the Elephants of Ivory Coast were the better side following the former’s loss in the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).

Sebastien Haller scored a dramatic late winner as hosts Ivory Coast fought back to beat Victor Osimhen’s Nigeria 2-1 in Sunday’s Africa Cup of Nations final and complete the most remarkable of major tournament turnarounds by claiming their third continental title.

But speaking after the match, Peseiro, who was leading Nigeria to its first final since 2013, admitted that the hosts were better on the night.

“Ivory Coast were better than us today,” Peseiro admitted in a post-match interview. “I am sad, my team is sad, but for me they did the maximum, each one. Sometimes you want to do something but you cannot do it.”

Sunday’s win was an incredible achievement for an Ivory Coast side that was on the brink of elimination in the group stage after losing 4-0 to Equatorial Guinea on January 22.

That was their heaviest-ever home defeat and the Ivorians then parted company with coach Jean-Louis Gasset, replacing him with Fae, a teammate of Drogba’s in 2006.

They then began a remarkable turnaround which saw them oust holders Senegal on penalties, beat Mali with a last-gasp goal in extra time, and edge out DR Congo with a Haller goal in the last four.

Their supporters packed out the stadium to its 60,000 capacity, with many fans having to watch from vantage points on stairways.

Anyone wanting to dampen the excitement levels might have pointed out that Cup of Nations finals tend to be low-scoring affairs.

There were just 10 goals scored in the last 11 finals, five of which were decided on penalties after a 0-0 stalemate.

Indeed, Ivory Coast’s four previous final appearances had all ended goalless before going to penalties, two of which they had won.

A self-acclaimed prophet, Dr Kan Ebube Muonso of the Power and Victory in Christ Church, has predicted hosts Ivory Coast will win the AFCON 2023 tournament.

He stated that Ivory Coast will go home with the cup in error.

However, he said that he has been interceding for Nigeria in his mountain programme by the power of God and would collect the cup from Ivory Coast and hand it over to Nigeria.

In a post on his church’s Facebook page on Friday, Kan predicted that the error would be caused by the referee.

According to him, Nigeria is the rightful team to go home with the cup.

“IVORY COAST VS NIGERIA.

“I saw Ivory Coast going home with the cup in error by ref/partial against Nigeria but Nigeria is the rightful team that is supposed to go home with the cup, but I will collect the cup from Ivory Coast to Nigeria by the power of God after my mountain program which will commence tomorrow.

“In my next post after mountain, you will know that there is power in God.

“Operation show your power. My God will prove himself again,” the post reads.

The Super Eagles will receive $7m (N8.9bn) if they win the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.

Nigeria reached the final of the 34th edition of the AFCON following a pulsating encounter against South Africa at the Stade de la Paix, Bouke, that saw the Eagles claim a 4-2 win on penalties after 120 minutes of football ended 1-1.

As one of the finalists, the Eagles, alongside the hosts, who they face on Sunday, have already secured $4m.

Earlier reported by PUNCH Sports Extra, Dr Patrice Motsepe, Confederation of Africa Football president, had announced a 40 per cent increment in prize monies before the start of the tournament.

According to the statement published on the website of the football governing body January 4, the winners of the tournament will receive $7m, $2m more than the reward doled out at the last edition in Cameroon.

The runners-up of the African showpiece event will now get $4m (N5bn), while each of the losing semi-finalists South Africa and DR Congo will receive $2.5m, with each of the four quarter-finalists taking home $1.3m.

“CAF has made significant progress over the past two years in increasing the prize money of the AFCON and all its other major competitions,” Motsepe said.

“We have increased the prize money of the AFCON winner to USD 7 000 000 which is a 40% increase from the previous AFCON prize money.

“I am confident that a portion of the prize money will contribute to developing football and also benefit all the football stakeholders, as well as assist our Member Associations with their administrations,” he added.