Atletico Madrid’s Not World Cup Friendly Match – Ibitoye

Super Eagles spokesman, Toyin Ibitoye has revealed that the Atletico Madrid match slated for Uyo isn’t part of the team World Cup friendly match.

Ibitoye stated that players such as Alex Iwobi, Ahmed Musa, Shehu Abdullahi and William Troost-Ekong are already in Nigeria for the big game, which was part of a sponsorship deal between the Nigeria League and the Spanish club.

He told a Lagos based radio station in an interview on Sunday that was monitored by soccernet.com.ng that 90% of the players would have been in camp by Tuesday.

“Many of the players are in camp such as Alex Iwobi who has always been one of the early birds in camp and was involved in a commercial engagement, Ahmed Musa, William Troost-Ekong, Shehu Abdullahi and a few to mention. By Monday and Tuesday, we should be having 90-95% of the players in camp.

“This is not a World Cup preparation game. This is just a friendly game arranged by a sponsor and some partners of our league to consolidate on whatever arrangement they have already had. It is different entirely from the World Cup programmes we have because the World Cup programmes start with the DR Congo game before facing England.”