{"id":12262,"date":"2025-09-29T08:48:23","date_gmt":"2025-09-29T06:48:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jhb-webdevelopers\/channelafrica\/news\/nigeria-turns-focus-to-afcon-amid-world-cup-qualifier-setbacks\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T16:25:42","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T14:25:42","slug":"nigeria-turns-focus-to-afcon-amid-world-cup-qualifier-setbacks","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/nigeria-turns-focus-to-afcon-amid-world-cup-qualifier-setbacks\/","title":{"rendered":"Nigeria turns focus to AFCON amid World Cup qualifier setbacks"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>They are placing greater emphasis on the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) as the Super Eagles\u2019 main target.<\/p>\n<p>Secretary-General Muhammed Sanusi admitted that qualifying for the World Cup has been challenging. \u201cThe players and the coach are aware of what is at stake. They know that we placed second the last time,\u201d he said, urging the team to focus on winning the upcoming tournament in Morocco.<\/p>\n<p>Sanusi added that Nigerians should adjust their expectations regarding the World Cup and reassured that the federation will continue to provide all necessary support for the team\u2019s success. \u201cOur role is to create the environment that allows them to succeed, and we will keep doing that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>With continental glory now the immediate goal, the Super Eagles will aim to restore pride and claim the AFCON title.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;ChannelAfrica&#8211;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":12263,"template":"default||default||default||default||default||default||default||default","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[20],"class_list":["post-12262","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-sport","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Officials at the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) appear to have shifted their priorities from next year\u2019s FIFA World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico.||Officials at the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) appear to have shifted their priorities from next year\u2019s FIFA World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico.||Officials at the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) appear to have shifted their priorities from next year\u2019s FIFA World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico.||Officials at the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) appear to have shifted their priorities from next year\u2019s FIFA World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico.||Officials at the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) appear to have shifted their priorities from next year\u2019s FIFA World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico.||Officials at the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) appear to have shifted their priorities from next year\u2019s FIFA World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico.||Officials at the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) appear to have shifted their priorities from next year\u2019s FIFA World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico.||Officials at the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) appear to have shifted their priorities from next year\u2019s FIFA World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico.","published_date":null,"news_description":"Officials at the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) appear to have shifted their priorities from next year\u2019s FIFA World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico.||Officials at the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) appear to have shifted their priorities from next year\u2019s FIFA World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico.||Officials at the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) appear to have shifted their priorities from next year\u2019s FIFA World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico.||Officials at the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) appear to have shifted their priorities from next year\u2019s FIFA World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico.||Officials at the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) appear to have shifted their priorities from next year\u2019s FIFA World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico.||Officials at the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) appear to have shifted their priorities from next year\u2019s FIFA World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico.||Officials at the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) appear to have shifted their priorities from next year\u2019s FIFA World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico.||Officials at the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) appear to have shifted their priorities from next year\u2019s FIFA World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/12262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/12262\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17960,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/12262\/revisions\/17960"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=12262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}