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Nigeria reveal Victor Osimhen injury update as major squad change confirmed

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Flood, G. (2026, September 20). Nigeria reveal Victor Osimhen injury update as major squad change confirmed. Evening Standard. https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/nigeria-victor-osimhen-injury-latest-afcon-b1297663.html

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Evening Standard · collected 2026-09-20 · by George Flood

Quick Summary

Nigeria's football federation announced that Victor Osimhen will miss upcoming matches against Madagascar and Guinea-Bissau due to a groin muscle strain, impacting their Africa Cup of Nations 2027 qualifiers. The 27-year-old striker has been out since September 4 when he scored in a match for Galatasaray; he was replaced in the squad by Coventry City's Taiwo Awoniyi. Osimhen’s absence is significant as he has scored 35 goals in 51 appearances for Nigeria, making him crucial to their offensive strategy and success.
Written by AI on 2026-09-20, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

Victor Osimhen, a key player for the Nigeria national team, will miss upcoming matches due to a muscle strain in his groin. The Super Eagles announced on Sunday that he would not play against Madagascar and Guinea-Bissau in AFCON qualifiers, as well as an October friendly match against Russia. Osimhen last played and scored on September 4 but has missed recent club games for Galatasaray, including a Champions League defeat to Sporting CP and a league win over Kocaelispor. Reports suggest Galatasaray had requested that Osimhen be rested during the international break, but this was reportedly denied by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF). With 35 goals in 51 senior caps for Nigeria, Osimhen's absence is a significant loss as the team aims to qualify for the next AFCON tournament scheduled for Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania in summer 2027.

Written for “Nigeria Squad Update” on 2026-11-03, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.

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📰 Nigeria Squad Update
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13
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0 of 13 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
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Evening Standard · 8264 article(s) · 73 correction(s) detected
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Who wrote this

George Flood
136 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 The plan would always have been that when the ball goes into Mac Allister, Odegaard it’s your job to get after him.
🔮 His performances quickly caught the attention of Arsenal, who will add the Republic of Ireland Under-17 international to their academy ranks in the New Year.
🔮 The under-fire Carrick will remain in charge for the visit of Roma despite a third successive defeat at the hands of Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, with Aston Villa also visiting Old Trafford before the next international break begins.
🔮 Alonso’s side will fancy their chances of making it back-to-back victories against a Sunderland outfit who sit rock bottom of the table after being brushed aside by newly-promoted Coventry last time out.
🔮 But to do so they will need to end their hoodoo at this famous old ground, where they have remarkably not won in the league since 2012.
🔮 Barcelona loanee Ronald Araujo, who played in central defence on Wednesday night, is set to resume his regular role at right-back in the absence of the injured Jeremie Frimpong and Conor Bradley.
🔮 But to do so they will need to end their hoodoo at this famous old ground, where they have remarkably not won in the league since 2012.
🔮 Influential midfielder Szoboszlai limped off just over half an hour into his return from a hamstring issue suffered on international duty with Hungary that initially led to him missing two matches, while winger Munoz sustained a knee problem in the same fixture after scoring the equaliser against the Bees. Both players have sat out the last three games in a row against Villarreal, Brighton and Chelsea, though Liverpool boss Andoni Iraola admitted at his pre-match press conference on Friday that there was “a chance” they could each return against Arsenal.
🔮 Iraola made sweeping changes for Liverpool’s Carabao Cup win over Chelsea in midweek, but Alisson Becker, Jeremy Jacquet, Milos Kerkez, Alexis Mac Allister, Florian Wirtz, Bradley Barcola and Alexander Isak are all expected to return to the starting lineup against Arsenal.
🔮 Cole Palmer then stepped up to dispatch the spot-kick for Chelsea as Senne Lammens got two hands on the ball but could not keep it out, leaving reeling United trailing 2-0 with 10 men and 25 minutes still to play.
Also by George Flood
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Topics

AFCON Galatasaray Guinea-Bissau Madagascar Nigeria

Subjects

Osimhen PERSON · 7× Nigeria GPE · 5× Galatasaray ORG · 4× Egypt GPE · 2× Guinea-Bissau GPE · 2× Madagascar GPE · 2× Turkey GPE · 2× Russia GPE · 1× The Super Eagles ORG · 1× Uyo GPE · 1×

Narrative

Osimhen is a pivotal figure for Nigeria - who failed to qualify for the World Cup earlier this summer - as their most important player and has 35 goals in 51 senior caps for his country so far. Eric Chelle’s side will have to cope without him again as they begin qualifying for the next edition of AFCON, which takes place in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania in the summer of 2027. Nigeria have not played since June, when they were narrowly defeated 2-1 by Portugal and drew 2-2 with Poland in friendly matches after they were unsuccessful in their attempts to overturn the result of their World Cup qualifying play-off defeat on penalties by DR Congo.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-20
🔮 The Super Eagles announced on Sunday that their talismanic striker would miss Friday’s home clash with Madagascar in Uyo in Group L and the trip to Guinea-Bissau four days later, plus the friendly against Russia in October.
2026-09-20 · Evening Standard
Nigeria reveal Victor Osimhen injury update as major squad change confirmed · assertive framing

Claims (13 extracted, 0 hedged)

The Super Eagles announced on Sunday that their talismanic striker would miss Friday’s home clash with Madagascar in Uyo in Group L and the trip to Guinea-Bissau four days later, plus the friendly against Russia in October. asserted
striker → announce → October
Osimhen has been battling a muscle strain in his groin of late and has sat out the last three matches for his club side, Galatasaray. asserted
Osimhen → battle → side
The former Napoli frontman last appeared - and scored the opening goal - in the dramatic 3-2 win away at Istanbul Basaksehir in the Turkish Super Lig on September 4, missing the subsequent 3-1 Champions League defeat by Sporting and 1-0 victory over Kocaelispor. asserted
frontman → appear → Kocaelispor
Osimhen was also absent on Saturday as Okan Buruk’s defending champions and current Super Lig leaders were thrashed 4-0 by Trabzonspor in a game in which Mohamed Salah scored a hat-trick and Lesley Ugochukwu was sent off. asserted
Ugochukwu → defend → trick
There had been reports in Turkey earlier this week that Galatasaray made a request that Osimhen be rested throughout the extended three-week international break as he recovers from injury, which was said to have been refused by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF). asserted
which → make → Federation
The 27-year-old had started the season in superb form, scoring six goals in four appearances for Galatasaray in the Super Lig. asserted
old → start → Lig
Read More “Victor Osimhen will miss Nigeria’s AFCON 2027 qualifiers against Madagascar and Guinea-Bissau as he continues to recover from a muscle strain,” Nigeria wrote on social media. asserted
Nigeria → read → media
“We wish Victor a speedy recovery.” asserted
We → wish → recovery
It was later confirmed that Osimhen had been replaced in the squad by Coventry striker Taiwo Awoniyi. asserted
Osimhen → confirm → Awoniyi
Osimhen is a pivotal figure for Nigeria - who failed to qualify for the World Cup earlier this summer - as their most important player and has 35 goals in 51 senior caps for his country so far. Eric Chelle’s side will have to cope without him again as they begin qualifying for the next edition of AFCON, which takes place in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania in the summer of 2027. Nigeria have not played since June, when they were narrowly defeated 2-1 by Portugal and drew 2-2 with Poland in friendly matches after they were unsuccessful in their attempts to overturn the result of their World Cup qualifying play-off defeat on penalties by DR Congo. asserted
they → fail → Congo
Osimhen did not play in either of those friendlies, but insisted that head coach Chelle’s reasoning that his absence was due to an uncertain club situation at Galatasaray had been “taken out of context and blown out of proportion” as he asked fans to “disregard the speculation surrounding this matter”. asserted
he → play → matter
He also took no part in the friendlies against Jordan and Iran in Turkey in March and has not played for Nigeria since the last AFCON in January, when they lost to hosts Morocco on penalties in the semi-finals before beating Egypt on spot-kicks in the third-place game. asserted
they → take → game
Osimhen did not feature in that fixture against Egypt as the result of an injury. asserted
Osimhen → feature → injury
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