{"id":12694,"date":"2026-11-08T20:30:54","date_gmt":"2026-11-08T20:30:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/2026\/11\/08\/2028-olympics-race-chelle-names-squad-for-dr-congo-qualifiers-businessday-ng-2\/"},"modified":"2026-11-08T20:30:54","modified_gmt":"2026-11-08T20:30:54","slug":"2028-olympics-race-chelle-names-squad-for-dr-congo-qualifiers-businessday-ng-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/2026\/11\/08\/2028-olympics-race-chelle-names-squad-for-dr-congo-qualifiers-businessday-ng-2\/","title":{"rendered":"2028 Olympics race: Chelle names squad for DR Congo qualifiers &#8211; Businessday NG"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Nigeria\u2019s head coach, Eric Chelle, has named a 23-man squad for this month\u2019s U-23 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against the Democratic Republic of Congo.\n<\/p>\n<p>Goalkeeper Michael Atata, midfielder Daniel Daga and promising junior international Abdulmuiz Adeleke are among the players selected for the crucial home-and-away tie.\n<\/p>\n<p>Atata, who has received several invitations to the Super Eagles, will compete with SJK FC\u2019s Samuel James and Clinton Andy for the starting goalkeeper position as Nigeria seeks to secure a place in next year\u2019s U-23 AFCON finals in Egypt.\n<\/p>\n<p>The tournament will determine Africa\u2019s representatives at the men\u2019s football event of the <a href=\"https:\/\/businessday.ng\/sports\/article\/2028-olympics-chelle-invites-31-home-based-players-for-dr-congo-clash\/\">2028 Olympic Games<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n<p>Other players named include defenders Victory Akpe, Vince Osuji and Emmanuel Ochobi; midfielders Chibuzor Nwoko and Aderemi Adeoye; and forwards Peter Edokpolor, Zadok Yohanna and Umar Abubakar.<\/p>\n<p>The seven players based in Nigeria are scheduled to depart the country on Tuesday ahead of the first leg, which will take place at the Stade TP Mazembe in Lubumbashi on Friday, November 13.\n<\/p>\n<p>The return leg is scheduled for Tuesday, November 17, at the Remo Stars Stadium in Ikenne-Remo.\n<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"23-players-dr-congo\">23 PLAYERS DR CONGO:<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Goalkeepers<\/strong>: Samuel James (SJK FC, Finland); Clinton Andy (Rivers United); Michael Atata (Ikorodu City)\n<\/p>\n<p><strong>Defenders:<\/strong> Christian Akpan (Genk FC, Belgium); Victory Akpe (FC Basel, Switzerland); Vince Osuji (Troms\u00f8 IL FC, Norway); Emmanuel Godwin (Pardubice FC, Czechia); Odinaka Alfred (Nasarawa United); Emmanuel Ochobi (Rivers United); Aliu Sugau (Barau FC)\n<\/p>\n<p><strong>Midfielders:<\/strong> John Otomewo (Reims FC, France); Daniel Daga (Molde FC, Norway); Wilfred George (Kristiansund FC, Norway); Chibuzor Nwoko (Fulham FC, England); Aderemi Adeoye (Ikorodu City); Sadiq Saleh (FC Metta, Latvia); Victor Samuel (Pardubice FC, Czechia)<\/p>\n<p><strong>Forwards:<\/strong> Peter Edokpolor (SL Benfica, Portugal); Sulaiman Sani (Al-Qadsiah FC, Saudi Arabia); Umar Abubakar (FC Famalicao, Portugal); Zadok Yohanna (Brighton FC, England); Abdullahi Umar (Hradec Kralove, Czechia); Abdulmuiz Adeleke (Sporting Supreme)<\/p>\n<div class=\"bday-read-also\">\n<h4>Related News<\/h4>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"bday-author-bio\" readability=\"7.6279069767442\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/2028-Olympics-race-Chelle-names-squad-for-DR-Congo-qualifiers-Businessday-NG-3.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ee23b3126f1c5dc21b6738f361bff36ef0bc68e6c602d54f5fc2bc191e84d838?s=96&amp;d=mm&amp;r=g 2x\" class=\"avatar avatar-48 photo bday-author-bio__avatar\" height=\"48\" width=\"48\" decoding=\"async\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div readability=\"10.488372093023\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/businessday.ng\/author\/anthony-nlebem\/\">Anthony Nlebem<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Head of Sports at BusinessDay Media, a seasoned Digital Content Producer, and FIFA\/CAF Accredited Journalist with over a decade of sports reporting.Has a deep understanding of the Nigerian and global sports landscape and skills in delivering comprehensive and insightful sports content.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"bday-google-badges\">\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=businessday.ng\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><br \/>\n\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/2028-Olympics-race-Chelle-names-squad-for-DR-Congo-qualifiers-Businessday-NG-4.jpg\" alt=\"Add BusinessDay as a preferred source on Google\"\/><br \/>\n\t<\/a><br \/>\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqKQgKIiNDQklTRkFnTWFoQUtEbUoxYzJsdVpYTnpaR0Y1TG01bktBQVAB?hl=en-NG&amp;gl=NG&amp;ceid=NG%3Aen\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><br \/>\n\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/2028-Olympics-race-Chelle-names-squad-for-DR-Congo-qualifiers-Businessday-NG-5.jpg\" alt=\"Follow BusinessDay on Google News\"\/><br \/>\n\t<\/a>\n<\/div>\n<p>Source: <\/p>\n<div class=\"nSourse\">Businessday NG<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nigeria\u2019s head coach, Eric Chelle, has named a 23-man squad for this month\u2019s U-23 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against the Democratic Republic of Congo. Goalkeeper Michael Atata, midfielder Daniel&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12695,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12694"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12694\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}