Nigeria to play friendlies in USA

Nigeria has arranged to play two friendly internationals in the United States in November but might have to cancel them both if they qualify for the World Cup African playoffs.

Nigeria, with two rounds of qualifying fixtures to go, are still in the hunt for top place in their group and automatic qualification for next year’s World Cup.

But there is also a chance they finish second in Group C after the conclusion of the last two rounds of qualifiers in October, and in that case, Nigeria will then go into a playoff series in November.

But the Nigerian Football Federation has agreed to play against Venezuela on 14 November and Colombia on 18 November – either anticipating they will win their group or be knocked out of the running for the 2026 finals.

The venue for the matches against Venezuela is to be confirmed, but it will be in the US, and they will meet Colombia at Citi Field in New York.

The four best runners-up in the nine African qualifying groups will compete in November in a play-off series to decide a single winner to go into another play-off, this time involving teams from other continents, in March for a last World Cup place.

The identity of the four will only be known once the last African qualifier for the 2026 World Cup is played on 14 October.