Nigeria

After playing other colonies in unofficial games since the 1930s, Nigeria played its first official game in October 1949, while still a British colony. The team played warm-up games in England against various amateur teams including Bromley, Dulwich Hamlet, Bishop Auckland, and South Liverpool. Nigeria's match against Marine A.F.C. at Rossett Park drew 6,000 spectators, a record for the small ground.

Nigeria first appeared in the Africa Cup of Nations in 1963, when they were drawn in a group with Sudan, and the then United Arab Republic. They did not advance to the next stage.

The team's first major success was a gold medal in the 2nd All-Africa games in 1973 led by captain, Victor Oduah. The team went on to achieve 3rd-place finishes in the 1976 and 1978 African Cup of Nations to follow. In 1980, with players such as Segun Odegbami and Best Ogedegbe, the team, led by Christian Chukwu, won the African Cup for the first time in Lagos. Nigeria Olympic men's football team won the football event at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, beating Mexico, Brazil and Argentina in the process. They were runners-up in the same event at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, losing to Argentina in a rematch of the 1996 Final of the event.

In 1984, 1988 and 2000, Nigeria reached the Cup of Nations final, losing to Cameroon. Three of the five African titles won by Cameroon have been won by defeating Nigeria. Missing out to Cameroon on many occasions has created an intense rivalry between both nations. Three notable occasions; narrowly losing out in the 1988 African Cup of Nations, qualifiers for the 1990 World Cup, and the controversial final of the 2000 African Cup of Nations where a kick taken by Victor Ikpeba during the penalty shoot-out was adjudged not to have crossed the goal-line by the referee.

The team withdrew from two African Cup of Nations between 1963 and 1974, due to political instability and in 1996. In 1976, they came back to the Cup of Nations with third-place finishes in both the 1976 and 1978 Africa Cup of Nations.

Nigeria hosted the 1980 Africa Cup of Nations and also won their first Cup of Nations Title that year in Lagos. Ghana came out as runners-up three times and had one group stage elimination, between 1982 and 1990. They also failed to qualify for the 1986 Africa Cup of Nations hosted by Egypt.

Nigeria appeared again in the African Cup of Nations in 1992 and 1994, they finished third in 1992 and won the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations, which was the second time they won the tournament.

Nigeria finally reached the World Cup for the first time in 1994 after years of struggling to get there. They were managed by Clemens Westerhof. Nigeria topped their group which included Argentina, Bulgaria, and Greece. Nigeria defeated Bulgaria 3–0, lost to Argentina 1–2, and reached the second round after a 2–0 victory over Greece. In the second round, Nigeria played Italy and took the lead with a goal from Emmanuel Amunike in the 25th minute. Nigeria was within two minutes of qualifying for the quarter-finals, when Roberto Baggio scored to take the game to extra time. He also scored the eventual winning goal. The game ended 2–1 in favour of the Italians. In 1996 the team withdrew from that year's African Cup of Nations under pressure from the country's military dictator Sani Abacha due to the criticism received from the tournament hosts South Africa and especially its president Nelson Mandela, for the execution of Ogoni activist Ken Saro-Wiwa. Nigeria was subsequently banned from entering the 1998 African Cup of Nations.

In 1998, Nigeria returned to the World Cup alongside Cameroon, Morocco, Tunisia, and South Africa. Optimism was high due to its manager Bora Milutinović and the return of most 1994 squad members. In the final tournament Nigeria were drawn into group D with Spain, Bulgaria, Paraguay. Nigeria scored a major upset by defeating Spain 3–2 after coming back twice from being 1–0 and 2–1 down. The Eagles qualified for the second round with a win against Bulgaria and a loss to Paraguay. The team's hopes of surpassing its 1994 performance were shattered after a 1–4 loss to Denmark. This is currently the only World Cup that Nigeria qualified for without playing Argentina in the tournament finals.

In 2000 they returned to the Cup of Nations and were the runner-up and subsequently finished in third place at the 2002, 2004 and 2006 Africa Cup of Nations.

The 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan saw Nigeria again qualify with optimism. With a new squad and distinctive pastel green kits, the Super Eagles were expected to build on its strong performances in the 2000 and 2002 African Cup of Nations. Nigeria was drawn into group F with powerhouses Sweden, Argentina, and England. The first game against Argentina started with a strong defence that kept the first half scoreless. In the 61st minute, Gabriel Batistuta breached the Nigerian defence to put Argentina in the lead 1–0, and Argentina would go on to win the game. Nigeria's second game against Sweden saw them take the lead but later lose 2–1. Nigeria then drew 0–0 with England and bowed out in the first round.

Nigeria failed to qualify for the 2006 World Cup after finishing level on points in the qualification group with Angola, but having an inferior record in the matches between the sides.

In the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations, Nigeria ended their campaign in the quarter finals after losing to Ghana. They qualified for 2010 Africa Cup of Nations, hosted by Angola, but were eliminated by Ghana in the semi-finals. They failed to qualify for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations after ending the qualifiers with a 2–2 draw against Guinea with goals from Ikechukwu Uche and Victor Obinna.

Nigeria came back in the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations hosted in South Africa; after playing through the tournament with an unbeaten run, they defeated Burkina Faso in the finals to lift the Cup for the third time. However, they did not qualify for either of the next two tournaments.

On 14 November 2009, Nigeria qualified for the 2010 World Cup after defeating Kenya by 3–2 in Nairobi.

Nigeria lost its opening match against Argentina 1–0 at Ellis Park Stadium following a controversial Gabriel Heinze header in the 6th minute. In its second game Nigeria led early on by a goal from Kalu Uche. A red card against Sani Kaita gave Greece the advantage. Greece scored the equaliser late in the first half and Nigeria conceded the second goal in the second half and lost the game 2–1. In their last group stage match against South Korea, Nigeria took an early lead in the 12th minute off of a great finish by Kalu Uche after a low cross from Chidi Odiah. However, goals from Lee Jung-Soo and Park Chu-Young gave South Korea a 2–1 lead, which looked to be enough for South Korea to advance into the round of 16. However, Nigeria got a chance in the 66th minute, on the end of a pass from Ayila Yussuf that was fed through the South Korean defense was none other than Yakubu, once the pass found Yakubu's foot about four yards away from the empty goal, Yakubu pushed the ball wide of the left post to leave South Korea still ahead 2–1. Three minutes later, Yakubu was able to calmly finish a penalty to knot the score at two apiece, but Nigeria was unable to score again and the match ended in a 2–2 draw. With this result, Nigeria was eliminated from the 2010 World Cup with just one point, while South Korea advanced into the round of 16 with four points. On 30 June 2010, following the team's early exit and poor showing, the then President of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan suspended the national football team from international competition for two years. This suspension put the team at risk of being banned from international football by FIFA for reasons of political interference.

On 5 July 2010, the Nigerian government rescinded its ban of the national football team from FIFA/CAF football competitions, but the sanction of suspension was applied by FIFA some three months after. On 4 October 2010, Nigeria was indefinitely banned from international football due to government interference following the 2010 World Cup. Four days later, however, the ban was "provisionally lifted" until 26 October, the day after the officially unrecognised players' union – National Association of Nigerian Footballers (NANF) dropped its court case against the NFF.

Nigeria's campaign in the 2014 FIFA World Cup opened with a disappointing 0–0 draw against Iran. Four days later the team played their second game against Bosnia and Herzegovina. A controversial 29th-minute Peter Odemwingie goal gave Nigeria their first World Cup match win since 1998. They faced Argentina another four days later: a 3rd minute Lionel Messi goal for the opposition was followed almost instantly with an equalizer by Ahmed Musa. Messi gave Argentina the lead back just before half-time. In the second half, Musa leveled the game out again, Lionel Messi was substituted and handed over his captaincy to Marcos Rojo only for Rojo to put Argentina 3–2 ahead minutes later.

Nigeria lost the match, but still qualified for the round of 16. In the Round of 16, Nigeria faced France, an 18th-minute stabbed shot from Emmanuel Emenike saw the ball in the net, past the French goal-keeper but the goal was ruled off-side by the linesman. Nigeria held them off until the 79th minute when a cross and a Paul Pogba header gifted France the lead. An accidental own goal by Super Eagles Captain Joseph Yobo in injury time put the result beyond any doubt: Nigeria was out. This is the third time Nigeria is eliminated in the round of 16 and they were not still able to enter the Quarter-finals in the FIFA World Cup.

On 24 June 2016, The Confederation of African Football released the draw for the 3rd round of the World Cup qualifiers which saw Nigeria grouped in what was described as a "group of death"; alongside Zambia, Algeria, and Cameroon. Nigeria started their group stage matches with a 2–1 win over Zambia in Ndola and defeated Algeria 3–1 in their second match at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium. They went on to beat Cameroon 5–1 home and away in a back to back contest.

The Super Eagles of Nigeria became the first African team to qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup after beating Zambia 1–0 in Uyo. On 3 June 2018, coach Gernot Rohr unveiled a 23-man squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Nigeria lost their first match of the tournament 0–2 to Croatia in Kaliningrad, before they won 2–0 in the second match against a brave Iceland, with Ahmed Musa scoring both goals. Nigeria had a huge chance to qualify to the next round as Argentina was demolished 3–0 by Croatia. Despite this advantage, they lost 2–1 in their last group stage match against Argentina, with one goal by Victor Moses. For this defeat, and followed with Iceland's defeat to Croatia, Nigeria missed the opportunity to advance to the round of 16 and got eliminated from the tournament.

The Super Eagles started their campaign at the 2019 AFCON by defeating Burundi 1–0 in group B opening match. They went on to defeat Guinea and lost 2–0 to Madagascar in their final group stage match. The round of 16 saw the national football team of Nigeria defeating Cameroon 3–2 with goals coming from Jude Ighalo and Iwobi, they later went on to confront South Africa in the quarter-finals of the tournament. An 89th-minute header from Troost-Ekong gave Nigeria the lead over South Africa and the match ended 2–1 in favour of Nigeria. Nigeria faced Algeria in the semi-finals and were knocked out of the tournament after a 95th-minute free kick from Riyad Mahrez gave Algeria the lead. The Super Eagles later faced Tunisia in a third place match which they won 1–0 with the only goal coming from Ighalo which made him the top scorer of the tournament.

On 18 July 2019, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) released the draw for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualification. The Super Eagles were grouped in group L alongside Lesotho, Benin, and Sierra Leone. Nigeria started out by defeating Benin 2–1 at Uyo in their first group match and later went on to beat Lesotho 4–2 in an away match. In March 2020, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the CAF postponed all AFCON qualifiers indefinitely. Subsequently, on 30 June 2020, CAF rescheduled the 2021 African Cup of Nations to 2022, to take place from 9 January to 6 February 2022. The qualifiers resumed on 9 November 2020.

The 2021 AFCON started on 9 January 2022, and Nigeria was the only team in the tournament to win all three group stage matches after defeating Egypt 1–0, Sudan 3–1, and Guinea-Bissau 2–0. However, Nigeria lost 1–0 in the round of 16 to Tunisia on 23 January.

Nigeria failed to qualify for the FIFA World Cup for the first time in 16 years, losing to Ghana on the away goals rule after drawing 0–0 in Ghana and 1–1 in Nigeria.

The Super Eagles started their campaign at the 2023 AFCON by drawing 1–1 to Equatorial Guinea in their opening group A match. They went on to defeat hosts Ivory Coast 1–0 and defeated Guinea Bissau in the same scoreline. The round of 16 saw the national football team of Nigeria defeating Cameroon 2–0 with a brace from Ademola Lookman, they later went on to defeat Angola in the quarter-finals of the tournament thanks to a first half strike from Lookman. Nigeria faced South Africa in the semi-finals. Substitute Kelechi Iheanacho scored to give Nigeria a 4–2 penalty shootout victory over South Africa. The match finished 1–1 after extra time. In the final, Super Eagles finished as runners-up, losing 2–1 to hosts Ivory Coast.