The playoffs route has reopened for the Super Eagles following CAF’s recent announcement.

The Super Eagles have been handed a boost in their World Cup qualifying bid after CAF confirmed the new requirements for finishing as one of the four best second-placed teams.

The playoff route was previously closed to Nigeria after it became mathematically impossible to finish as one of the four best second-placed teams. However, Eritrea pulled out of the competition, hence forcing CAF to rejig the criteria for fairness. This has handed Nigeria an added lifeline.

The new CAF criteria

The new parameters for determining the best four second-placed teams according to a CAF circular are as follows:

• There will be 9 second-placed teams, one from each group.

• To compare them fairly, the results against the last-placed team in each group are not counted.

• This means only matches against the top five teams in each group are used for comparison.