Abuja – Flying Eagles Coach , Manu Garba, on Thursday said that the team would resume camp before the end of the year in preparations for the 2015 African Youth Championship (AYC).

Garba, who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in a telephone interview, said he would reopen camp quickly to ensure everything goes well ahead of the Championship.

STRATEGISING . . . Nigeria’s U-20 footballers mapping a new strategy during a training session ahead of their clash against England today in Armenia, Colombia in a FIFA U-20 World Cup Round of 16 match. Photo: AFP

The 2015 AYC U-20 Championship, which is scheduled for March 8 to March 22, 2015 in Senegal, will be the 20th edition of the football tournament.

He said the reason for the decision “is to prepare early so as to have a standing team on ground bearing in mind that most of our players are abroad’’.

“You know the AYC will be coming up in March, so we intend to resume our training camp in Abuja either in the last week of October or in the first week of November.

“So, we need to assemble a team on ground before the end of the year just in case our players abroad are not released by their various clubs before the Nations Cup in January,’’ he said.

Nigeria, alongside seven other teams, qualified for the championship.

The Flying Eagles drew bye into the second round of the qualifiers defeating Tanzania 6-1 on aggregate and walking over Lesotho in the second and third rounds, respectively.

The other teams, which qualified for the championship, include Congo, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Mali, Senegal, South Africa and Zambia.

The eventual semifinalists of the AYC will qualify for the 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup. (NAN)