Nigeria’s Super Eagles and the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon will renew their rivalry, when they lock horns in round of 16 of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations.
The titanic clash between two of Africa’s football heavyweights is billed for Saturday, 27 January, 2024, inside the Felix Houphouet Boigny Stadium, Abidjan.
The Super Eagles finished second behind Equatorial Guinea in Group A, while the Indomitable Lions relied on a late comeback against The Gambia to progress behind defending AFCON champions Senegal in Group C.
Cameroon captain Richard Abega (l) shakes hands with Nigeria captain Stephen Keshi (r) before the 1984 AFCON final in Abidjan.
Both sides have a long-standing rivalry at the AFCON which began with the final of the 1984 tournament which incidentally took place in Côte d’Ivoire.
Cameroon triumphed 3-1 against Nigeria to land their first-ever AFCON title despite going behind in the game.
Both teams met on two occasions at the 1988 AFCON in Morocco – in the group stage which ended 1-1 and in the final which Cameroon won 1-0.
The Super Eagles recorded their first AFCON win against Cameroon thanks to a 2-1 win in the third-placed match at the 1992 AFCON in Senegal.
Then at the 2000 edition co-hosted by Ghana and Nigeria, Cameroon once again showed their dominance over Nigeria when it comes to the AFCON final.
After a thrilling 2-2 draw, the Indomitable Lions went on to win 3-2 on penalty shootout with current Cameroon coach Rigobert Song scoring the winning spot kick.
Since emerging winners at the 2000 tournament, Cameroon have remained winless in the last two meetings with the Eagles at the AFCON.
The Eagles avenged the defeat to their rivals, when they came from a goal down to win 2-1 in the quarter-finals of the AFCON 2004 hosted by Tunisia.
A brilliant free-kick from Austin Okocha and a John Utaka winner cancelled out Samuel Eto’o’s opening goal.
The last time the two teams met at the AFCON was in round of 16 in 2019 in Egypt and once again the Eagles won 3-2.
Odion Ighalo, who scored two goals, and Alex Iwobi were the scorers for the Eagles.
It remains to be seen whether the Indomitable Lions will secure a first AFCON win over the Eagles in 24 years, when both teams take to the field on Saturday.
