Identity and name
The Super Eagles are the men's senior national football team of Nigeria, run by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF). The team has carried three identities over its history: it played as the "Red Devils" through the colonial period, after the scarlet jerseys worn on a 1949 tour that ended with a match in Sierra Leone; became the "Green Eagles" at independence in 1960, taking the colour of the new national flag and the eagle from the national coat of arms; and adopted its current name in 1988, after players and coaching staff — including goalkeeper Aloy Agu, who argued "we have never seen an eagle that is green in colour" — pushed for a change following that year's Africa Cup of Nations final defeat, with then-Vice President Augustus Aikhomu formally announcing the "Super Eagles" name at the team's homecoming S1S2. The fuller story of the team's formation and early tours is told in history of football in nigeria S1
Honours: Africa Cup of Nations
The Super Eagles have won the Africa Cup of Nations three times. The first came as hosts in 1980, beating Algeria 3–0 in the final at Lagos's National Stadium, with the federation's own historical account crediting the win with fostering national unity less than a decade after the civil war S3S4. The second came in Tunisia in 1994, a 2–1 victory over Zambia in Tunis on 10 April, with the Zambian side still rebuilding after the 1993 air disaster that killed most of its previous squad S6. The third arrived in South Africa on 10 February 2013, a 1–0 win over Burkina Faso in Johannesburg under coach Stephen Keshi, who had played in the 1994-winning squad and led a group that included assistant coach Sylvanus Okpala, another veteran of the 1980 triumph S5S7. Nigeria has also finished runner-up four times — in 1984, 1988, 2000 and 2023 — giving the team seven final appearances in total S3
Honours: FIFA World Cup
Nigeria has qualified for the FIFA World Cup finals six times: 1994, 1998, 2002, 2010, 2014 and 2018. The team's best performance is the Round of 16, reached on three occasions — at its 1994 debut in the United States, again in 1998 in France, and again in 2014 in Brazil — but it has never advanced to a World Cup quarter-final S6. A full campaign-by-campaign account of these tournaments, and of Nigeria's unsuccessful bids for 2022 and 2026, is covered in nigeria at the fifa world cup S6
The failed 2026 qualifying campaign
Nigeria's most recent World Cup qualifying campaign ended in controversy. Having missed direct qualification, the Super Eagles were routed through the CAF play-offs and reached the intercontinental play-off qualifying spot, but lost the CAF play-off final to DR Congo on 16 November 2025 in Rabat, a match that finished 1–1 after extra time before DR Congo won 4–3 on penalties S8. The Nigeria Football Federation subsequently lodged a formal complaint with FIFA alleging that DR Congo had fielded several ineligible dual-nationality players, a claim NFF general secretary Mohammed Sanusi framed around a conflict between FIFA eligibility rules and Congolese nationality law, arguing that "FIFA was deceived into clearing them" even though, in his own words, "FIFA regulations say once you have the passport of your country, you are eligible" S8. FIFA's disciplinary process ultimately dismissed Nigeria's complaint in full, finding no breach of eligibility rules, a verdict that left the playoff result standing and closed off Nigeria's route to the 2026 tournament S9
Notable players and squad building
Nigeria's title-winning sides have drawn on generations of players who moved between the domestic Nigeria Professional Football League and clubs in Europe, a pattern dating back to 1949 tourists Teslim "Thunder" Balogun and Titus Okere, the first Nigerians to sign for English clubs S1. The 1994 squad built its title and its first World Cup campaign around Emmanuel Amunike, Rashidi Yekini, Daniel Amokachi and Augustine "Jay-Jay" Okocha, several of whom also featured in the Nigeria team that later won Olympic football gold, a separate strand of the country's football history covered in nigeria at the olympics S6. A dedicated index of notable individual footballers, spanning these and later generations of Super Eagles players, is planned as notable nigerian footballers on this site S3
Governance and current status
The Super Eagles play their home fixtures at various stadiums around Nigeria and are selected and managed under the authority of the Nigeria Football Federation, the body that also runs the Super Falcons, Nigeria's age-grade national teams, and the domestic Nigeria Professional Football League S3. The federation's handling of the team — including manager appointments, contract disputes and the fallout from the failed 2026 qualifying campaign — has periodically drawn public criticism in Nigeria, part of a broader pattern of scrutiny facing Nigerian sporting institutions that is addressed further in the sporting-history subcategory of this catalogue S3