Super Eagles  Hit Gym Ahead First Training in Kigali Today

Duro Ikhazuagbe 

To avoid jet lag, the few Super Eagles players who opened the team’s Radisson Blu Hotel camp in Kigali yesterday ahead of the 2026 World Cup qualifier against hosts Rwanda on Friday, took to the gym to work out while awaiting the arrival of the bulk of the invited 23 Nigerian pros from Europe.

Amongst the early birds that were involved in the workout were; Galatasaray marksman, Victor Osimhen; Olympiacos of Greece defender, Bruno Onyemaechi; Tolu Arokodare of KRC Genk in the Belgian topflight Jupiler league; former Bendel Insurance safe hands now based in Tanzania, Amas Obasogie and the duo from the NPFL, Remo Stars’ Kayode Bankole and Papa Daniel Mustapha of Niger Tornadoes.

Media Officer of the Super Eagles, Promise Efoghe, confirmed from Kigali that top stars like Simon Moses, Victor Boniface, Raphael Onyedika, Jordan Torunarigha, Stanley Nwabali, Samuel Chukwueze, Bright Osayi -Samuel and Igoh Ogbu are expected to troop into camp this Tuesday for the team to have first full training under the watch of Coach Eric Sekou  Chelle in the evening.

The Super Eagles will not have feel of the Amahoro Stadium turf until Thursday evening on the eve of the World Cup qualifier with the Amavubi who are joint leaders of  the Group C standing with South Africa and Benin Republic on seven points. Lesotho are fourth on five points while Eagles are fifth on three points. Zimbabwe are at the bottom on two points.

Meanwhile, Rwanda’s Algerian coach, Adel Amrouche, has named a 28-man provisional list of players that will face Nigeria on Friday in Kigali and then Lesotho on Tuesday on the same ground.

He will, however, prune the squad to 23 as the countdown to the encounter with Nigeria continues.

Midfielders Hakim Sahabo and Rafael York are among the returnees to the squad of the new coach.

The duo’s last call up was on June 11, 2024, when Amavubi defeated Lesotho 1-0 in South Africa.

The two players were suspended from the team by former coach Torsten Spittler due to disciplinary reasons.

Also, back to the squad is attacking midfielder Djabel Imanishimwe who plays for Naft Al Wassat in Iraq.

The former APR captain hasn’t featured for Amavubi since February 6, 2022 when he played in an AFCON qualifier against Mozambique.

Other key returnees are goalkeeper Maxime Wenssens who wasn’t selected during Amavubi’s 2025 AFCON qualifiers as well as APR shot-stopper Pierre Ishimwe who has now cemented his place as APR’s number 1.