Nigeria has settled for the city of Pyatigorsk as first-choice base camp for next year’s World Cup in Russia, subject to approval from FIFA.
Pyatigorsk is located on the Podkumok River and the administrative centre of the North Caucasian Federal District of Russia.
The Super Eagles would be lodged at the Professional Sanatorium Complex Mashuk Aqua-Therm, which, according to the FIFA guidebook, is “one of the best spa facilities located in the protected eco-resort region of the Caucasian Mineral waters.”
Located in the southern cluster of FIFA’s Base Camps, the Sanatorium is almost equidistant from the Eagles’ match venues, namely Kaliningrad, Volgograd, and St Petersburg respectively.
It is two hours’ flying time from the venue of the first match against Croatia, one and half hours away from the venue of the second match, and 50 minutes flying time away from the venue of the final group game.
Importantly, the base camp is two hours flying time from Moscow, where the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) delegation will be lodged, according to a top source within the federation.
“The NFF is only going with a small delegation, but that delegation will still be far away from the team so that there will be no distractions,” an NFF source told ESPN.
Nigeria is drawn in Group D alongside Argentina, Croatia and Iceland.
