Super Eagles will have the youngest team at 2018 World Cup

godfred akoto

November 28, 2017 7:41 AM

Nigeria's Gerhnot Rohr has built a team that has an average age of 24.9

Nigeria is the youngest team to qualify for next years World Cup in Russia according to the latest datat from the CIES Football Observatory.

The thirtieth Monthly Report of the CIES Football Observatory analysed the profile of the 32 teams that have qualified for the final phase of the 2018 FIFA World Cup. The study covered the thematics of age, height, country of birth and employer association of players fielded by each squad during the qualifying matches.

Nigeria's Gerhnot Rohr has built a team that has an average age of 24.9, with the likes of Alex Iwobi and Kelechi Iheanacho among the young stars who have led the revival of the team.

Players from qualified teams were, on average, 27.4 years old when the matches were played. As a comparison, this value is about 25 years of age for the players of 31 top division European championships. This gap reflects the tendency for managers to privilege the selection of experienced players that have already proven themselves at the highest level.

The Panamanian squad fielded the oldest players overall (29.4 years of age), followed by Costa Rica (29.0 years of age) and Iceland (29.0 years of age). At the opposite end of the scale, Nigeria (24.9 years of age), Germany (25.7 years of age) and England (25.9 years of age) fielded the youngest players.

godfred akoto