…… Nigeria will not participate in the next Olympic Games after the U-23 Eagles fell quite early in the race to qualify for the competition.

The Salisu Yusuf side fell 2-0 away in the second leg of their final qualifying fixture in Rabat, Morocco on Tuesday night.

The Nigerian team drew 0-0 on home soil last Wednesday at the Moshood Abiola stadium, Abuja.

In the thrilling encounter, both teams fought hard for one hour before Guinea took the lead, TheCable reports.

They also added a second goal 15 minutes later to the consternation of the Nigerian squad and their coach.

All the Olympic Eagles needed was just a draw to qualify for the AFCON slated for Morocco next month.

With the result, Nigeria has been denied the opportunity of qualifying for the Olympics slated for Paris, France next year.

The 2024 summer Olympics is scheduled to hold from July 24 to August 10.

This will be the second time in a row that Nigeria will fail to qualify for the Olympics football event.

The last time Nigeria U-23 Eagles went to the Olympics was in 2016 when the nation won a bronze medal in Brazil.

The team was unable to go past the group stage of the 2019 U-23 AFCON, and thus also missed out on qualifying for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

The defeat was a bitter pill to swallow for a team that emerged champions of the Africa U-23 Cup of Nations in Senegal in 2015. The team also reached the finals staged in Egypt four years ago.

The 4th edition of the U-23 AFCON tournament will be hosted by Morocco between June 4 and July 8, 2023.

The top three teams of this edition of the tournament will qualify for the 2024 Summer Olympic men’s football tournament in Paris while the 4th-placed team will play in the Asian Football Confederation–CAF playoffs to decide the final slot at the Olympics.