Bayer Leverkusen and Nigeria striker Victor Boniface has been ruled out of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) due to injury, dealing another blow to the Super Eagles’ pre-tournament preparation.
Nigeria Forward Victor Boniface Ruled Out Of AFCON
The 23-year-old is the latest member of the Nigeria squad to be ruled out of the Africa Cup of Nations, which kicks off on January 13th in Abidjan.
Replacing him is Nice striker Terem Moffi, pending the approval of his Ligue 1 club and the Confederation of African Football (CAF), so he could link up with the squad in the next 24 hours.
Boniface joins a growing list of Super Eagles players who have been forced to withdraw from the sqaud, including Nottingham Forest striker Taiwo Awoniyi and Leicester City ace Wilfred Ndidi.
The latter’s Foxes team-mate Kelechi Iheanacho has also been struggling with a knock and missed their training camp. However, the former Manchester City attacker is expected to fly out to Ivory Coast this week.
Boniface is set to be a huge miss for Nigeria considering his sensational form thus far this season. He has scored 10 goals and assisted a further seven for Bayer Leverkusen. He has been performing to such a high standard that he has been named Bundesliga Player of the Month on four occasions already in 2023/24.
The 23-year-old picked up his injury in Nigeria’s Abu Dhabi training camp and missed their 2-0 loss in a friendly to Guinea on Monday afternoon.
🚨🇳🇬 Bad news for Bayer Leverkusen as Victor Boniface will miss AFCON with Nigeria but also almost two months of activity.
“Victor sustained a muscle-tendon injury in the right adductor area during preparations for the Africa Cup and will undergo surgery in the coming days”. pic.twitter.com/zUaJ5NIjl0
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) January 9, 2024
Super Eagles To Start AFCON With Equatorial Guinea Clash
Nigeria will now get their AFCON campaign underway in Group A against Equatorial Guinea on January 14th, bidding to win their fourth title.
They are also in the same group as host nation Ivory Coast, as well as Guinea-Bissau, so they should at least be able to make it through to the knockouts, despite their injury problems.
Nigeria AFCON Fixtures
- Nigeria vs Equatorial Guinea – Sun 14th Jan 14:00
- Ivory Coast vs Nigeria – Thurs 18th Jan 17:00
- Guinea-Bissau vs Nigeria – Mon 22nd Jan 17:00
- More TBC
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