Nigeria’s U23 national team, the Olympic Eagles, beat Grassrunners FC/Academy 3-1 in a friendly match as part of their preparations for upcoming Africa U-23 qualifying fixtures.
Multiple outlets describe the friendly as a tune-up in the build-up to a two-legged qualification encounter against the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) for the U-23 Africa Cup of Nations, referenced as an Olympic-qualifier-related preparation in one report and specifically as 2027 U-23 AFCON qualifying in others. One report also names Abdulmuiz Adeleke as the scorer who gives the team an early lead, while other coverage focuses more generally on the match result and the timing of the test.
There is broad agreement across the reports on the opponent, the scoreline (3-1), and the match’s role in preparation for the DR Congo fixtures. Differences are mainly in emphasis: some lead with the match as “step-up” preparation for Olympic qualification, while others frame it explicitly within the U-23 AFCON qualification schedule.
