Nigeria Super Eagles have the youngest average squad in the world according to a recent survey released on Wednesday.
Despite being ranked 66th in the world and 14th in Africa, the Eagles were ranked top in terms of fielding young players in international matches in 2015.
It will be recalled that coach Sunday Oliseh began a rebuilding process since taking over from Stephen Keshi in July.
The likes of Kelechi Iheanacho, Dele Alampasu, Alex Iwobi, Wilfred Ndidi, Moses Simon and Kingsley Madu were all given a look by the former skipper last year.
And a CIES Observatory paper has revealed that the three-time African champion with an average age of 24.7 are top followed by fellow Africans, Ghana and Cameroon, with average ages of 25.1 and 25.3 respectively.
Just beneath the Indomitable Lions are Three Lions of England and the Netherlands with an average of 25.6 each.
Korea Republic, Algeria, Switzerland, Germany and Belgium complete the top ten teams with the youngest squads last year.
At the foot of the table is Scotland with an average age of 29.0 closely followed by Slovenia and Hungary with 28.7 apiece.
Ahmed Musa, the new Eagles’ captain was the most used player in the team – he played 544 minutes for the Eagles and scored two goals.
The report also indicated that Nigeria used players not born in the country for 14.6% of the matches played and that would mean Alex Iwobi and Carl Ikeme.
Romania featured the youngest player – defender Cristian Manea, who made his debut at 17 and the oldest one player featured was Hungary’s Gábor Király [the pyjamas-bottom wearing goalkeeper] at 39 as he helped his country qualify for the European Championships.
The oldest outfield player was Ricardo Carvalho, at 37-years for Portugal in a match against Denmark in October.
