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Like many nations football is Nigeria's national sport. There is also a local Premier League of football. Nigeria's national football team, known as the Super Eagles, has made the World Cup on three occasions (1994, 1998, and 2002), won the African Cup of Nations in 1980 and 1994, and also hosted the Junior World Cup. They won the gold medal for football in the 1996 Summer Olympics and various other junior international competitions. According to the official July 2006 FIFA World Rankings, Nigeria is currently the highest-rated football nation in Africa and 11th in the world.
World cup history
Nigeria has played in three consecutive World Cups.
USA 94
Nigeria's first World Cup appearance was in the 1994 USA World Cup. Nigeria qualified by leading the group stages with 6 points. Nigeria defeated Bulgaria 3 - 0, lost to Argentina 2 - 1, and defeated Greece 2 - 0. But Nigeria's race was cut short in the Round of 16, suffering a 2 - 1 defeat by Italy.
France 98
This was Nigeria's second World Cup. Nigeria started out good in the group stages by defeating the Spaniards 3 - 2 and defeating Bulgaria by 1 - 0, but lost to Paraguay 3 - 1. Nigeria topped the group into the Round of 16, but failed to move on into the quarter- finals with a 4 - 1 defeat by Denmark.
Korea/Japan 2002
This was Nigeria's poorest World Cup outing; they were defeated in their first two games, but managed to get 1 point through a 0 - 0 draw with England.
Best International Outing
Nigeria's best outing was in the Atlanta '96 Olympic finals defeating Brazil 4 -3 in the semi-finals and won the Gold medal by beating Argentina 3 - 2 in the finals.
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