Players and officials of the Nigeria U-15 team also known as the Future Eagles, have been denied visa by the Spanish Embassy to take part in the UEFA U-16 Development Tournament starting on Friday.
This was made known by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
A post on the Federation’s X handle read, “Players and officials of the Nigeria U15 team, Future Eagles, have been denied visas by the Spanish Embassy and will therefore not be travelling to take part in the UEFA U16 Development Tournament starting on Friday.”
The players and officials were supposed to fly into Spain on Tuesday (Today) afternoon for the tournament to which the African giants have been invited.
The statement did not state what reason had been given for the visa denials.
The Spanish authorities have also not yet commented on the visa refusal to the Nigerian team.
The UEFA Under-16 Youth Development Tournament, which is organised by Europe’s football governing body, has been held since 2012.
It is intended to expose elite junior players to international football and ease their transition into senior levels of the sport.
Nigerian athletes and their supporters often complain about being denied visas by other countries, even when they say they have fulfilled all the visa requirements.
In February, Nigeria’s national football team pulled out of a planned friendly match against Argentina, which was to be held in the United States, after the Nigerian players were refused visas on time.