Abuja Stadium By FIFA

Poor attendances that have characterized the Super Eagles’ home matches in the Angola/South Africa 2010 campaign will not likely abate because the National Stadium Abuja is the only centre approved by the international governing body, FIFA to host all home games involving Nigeria.
The sight of a half filled stadium has become a feature and a source of real concern at matches involving the Eagles at the country’s administrative capital.
With the race for the World Cup ticket now entering the crucial stage, the Eagles will need all the support from the home fans to rally behind them in their quest to qualify for the world’s biggest football tournament.
But the apathy of the Abuja fans to passing through the National Stadium turnstiles as witnessed in the games against South Africa, Equatorial Guinea and Sierra Leone will remain because FIFA has in principle told the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to play all its World Cup home fixtures at the 60, 000 capacity venue because it is the only stadium in Nigeria that currently meets international standard to host matches.
And by extension other known venues are not eligible for national matches because they are presently undergoing renovation for the FIFA U-17 World Cup, which Nigeria will host next year.
The Eagles played all their home games in Lagos during their successful campaigns for the 1994 and 1998 World Cup finals while they shifted their nest to Port Harcourt in their pursuit of one of the continent’s tickets for the 2002 campaign.
Their home games were, however, alternated between Abuja and Kano while traditional battle ground Lagos was ignored during the Germany 2006 contest where the team lost to Angola in the final classification.
THISDAYSports learnt from NFF sources last night that the federation might review the position on where the Eagles should play their home fixtures in the second stage after the next visit of FIFA assessors expected in Nigeria in January next year.
The second stage of the African World Cup qualifying battle will resume in March after the Eagles who are one of the five African seeded teams will know their opponents after the draws that hold in Zurich on October 22.
Even despite the near empty stadium, THISDAYSports has been told that the Eagles and their technical crew still prefer playing their matches at Abuja because its boasts of better playing and accommodation facilities than other venues in the country.