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Nigeria begin World Cup preparations with November friendlies

Nigeria celebrate their victory over Zambia Kabiru Abubakar/BackpagePix

Fresh off qualifying for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, Nigeria will begin preparations for the tournament next month.

A top NFF official informed KweséESPN exclusively that the team would sandwich their dead-rubber qualifier against Algeria between two friendlies.

The official confirmed that the first friendly will take place in Morocco against an African team, while the second will be in France and could be against a European nation.

"We want to give the coach a chance to look at as many players as possible before the World Cup, and we plan to start in November," he said.

"The team will camp in Morocco, and play one friendly match there against an African country before flying to Algeria for the final qualifier.

"After that, they will move to France for another friendly, possibly a European team, before the players disperse to their various bases."

Nigeria qualified for their sixth World Cup Finals tournament with a 1-0 victory over Zambia on Saturday, becoming the first African country to reach the 2018 Finals. They were joined by Egypt a day later.