Egypt have sealed a deal to play Nigeria in a friendly game on March 26, 2019, the country’s football association, EFA announced Thursday.
The Super Eagles are to host the Pharaohs during the international break which will also see both countries complete their qualifying campaigns to the Africa Cup of Nations later in June.
Egypt and Nigeria have already booked their tickets to the Afcon ahead of the final round of qualifiers. While the Super Eagles host Seychelles, the Pharaohs travel to Niger before dashing into Nigeria to face Gernot Rohr’s men.
“The Egyptian Football Federation has received the approval of its Nigerian counterpart to hold a friendly match between the two countries’ teams in Nigeria on March 26 during the international break, which will be after the last national team game in the African nations qualifiers to Niger on 22, 23 and 24 March next year,” the Egypt FA confirmed on its official twitter handle.
The friendly encounter is being tipped to be hosted in either of the Southern Nigeria cities Uyo or Asaba.
Egypt have won all their matches since Javier Aguirre took over the Pharaohs job after the 2018 Fifa World Cup. They crushed Niger 6-0, defeated eSwatini 4-1 and 2-0 home and away respectively and thrilled Tunisia 3-2 via a stoppage-time strike from Mohamed Salah.
Their last meeting with Nigeria was during the Afcon 2017 qualifiers. Egypt edged the Super Eagles 2-1 on aggregate after securing a 1-1 draw away from home before winning 1-0 in Alexandria to qualify for the Gabon tournament.
Egypt and Nigeria have previously met 17 times. The West Africans have won more – 7 times – while Egypt have 5 wins with another 5 games ending in a draw.
