It has been 12 years since the Super Eagles won the last of their three Africa Cup of Nations titles, at the 2013 edition in South Africa. One would have to go back another 19 years to when they won the one before that and further back 14 years to their first title.
Three titles might be considered a meagre return for a country that is widely acknowledged as one of Africa's best teams, but they still hold the record for the most podium finishes.
According to Nigeria Football Federation President Ibrahim Musa Gusau, coach Eric Sekou Chelle has been given a target of reaching the Final of the AFCON.
If they are to meet that mark, or even match the successes of those teams of yore, they will have to take a few lessons from their predecessors, including those who did not exactly finish top of the podium. And maybe even a few from the teams that failed, too.
Defence as a foundation for success -- AFCON 2023
They did not win it but let's start with the most recent tournament, when the Super Eagles defied expectations to reach the final and could well have won it.
For the last few years, a proliferation of outstanding forwards playing in Europe gave the appearance of a Super Eagles team front loaded with talent, who had the ability to pump opponents full of goals.
Unfortunately, that did not pan out in qualifiers and coach Jose Peseiro smartly decided to go in a different direction. His team in Ivory Coast was built on a foundation of defence-first philosophy rather than attack.
After a 1-1 opening day draw with Equatorial Guinea, the Portuguese came under initial criticism from Nigerians. But he stuck to his strategy, with minor adjustments all the way to the final, It was no coincidence that defender William Troost-Ekong was named tournament's Most Valuable Player.
Lesson
As the saying goes -- attack wins games, defence wins championships. The Super Eagles defence, despite the loss of leader Troost-Ekong, and emergent youngster Benjamin Fredrick, must get away from their habit of leaking goals the way they did during World Cup qualifying.
But more importantly, Sekou Chelle must develop his tournament strategy based on his actual personnel and their shape and form -- and be prepared to make adjustments.
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Don't give away too much -- AFCON 2021
There is a lesson to be learned, even from failure. For only the second time in 15 tournaments, spanning nearly 30 years, the Super Eagles failed to make it to the quarterfinal of an AFCON tournament, beaten in a stunning upset by Tunisia in the round of 16.
Barring the complete defensive breakdown that led to Tunisia's goal, there were two parts to this. The first was Austin Eguavoen, then the interim coach after Gernot Rohr was fired, completely giving away his tactics in a media interview, then proceeding to deploy the exact same tactics during the group stage.
Eguavoen's tactics were completely nullified by the Tunisians, and getting midfielder Alex Iwobi sent off further turned down the degree of difficulty.
The second layer was almost a sense of overconfidence. It was clear that there was an air of looking beyond Tunisia, even if they did not explicitly state it.
It is possible that that over confidence played its part in underestimating the North Africans. The rest is history.
Lesson
Keep all tactical ideas and strategies away from press conferences and media interviews.
While much may not be expected of them pre-tournament, the Super Eagles will quickly find that once the whistle goes, Nigerians will expect them to win every game by significant margins.
If they do what Eguavoen's team did and advance comfortably from their group, they need to stay grounded in the moment -- and focus on the team in front of them.
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Unknowns can make a difference
In 1994, Emmanuel Amuneke was a virtual unknown. He ended up the hero of the triumph as the Super Eagles emerged victorious. In 2013, outside of Nigeria Premier Football League followers and fans of Enugu Rangers and Rivers United barely anyone knew Sunday Mbah.
The understanding was that Mba, like four other NPFL players in the squad, were only there to make up the numbers -- Godfrey Oboabona was the only one of the six domestic league players selected at the time who was a guaranteed starter
But Stephen Keshi did not take them to South Africa just to take photos with the giant Nelson Mandela statue.
He had Oboabona bench Joseph Yobo, Ejike Uzoenyi came on for minutes and Mba, well, he re-wrote the entire storybook.
Lesson
Just like 12 years ago, Sekou Chelle has picked a number of unknowns, even if not as much as Keshi did at the time. Still, six of the selected players in the 2025 squad have zero caps among them and one other has just a lone appearance.
Keshi at least had the benefit of having players who had some international experience. Kenneth Omeruo was the only uncapped player, while Ogenyi Onazi went in with two caps. But those two received plenty of minutes, and Mba ended up the star of the show.
Sekou Chelle can follow suit. Both Tochukwu Nnadi and Ebenezer Akinsanmiro showed glimpses that they can deliver whether as subs or starting players. Sekou Chelle would do well to make the call for his youngsters and unknowns when and if required.
Nobody is too big to beat
Staying with the 1994 squad, fans were already writing them off when they were drawn to play Ivory Coast in the quarterfinal. That elephant team had Didier Drogba, Yaya Toure, Kolo Toure, Didier Zokora, Salomon Kalou, Gervinho, among others.
Fans and media alike were already writing the Super Eagles off, and it looked like they were right. Emmanuel Emenike opened the scoring for Nigeria. Cheick Tiote erased the advance before Mba pulled up like an Avenger.
Underdogs Nigeria claimed the upset victory and went on to win the tournament. Conversely, nobody is too small to lose to, especially in the fluid landscape that African football has turned into.
In 2019, a confident Nigeria, having won their first two games, faced Madagascar in the last game. With the ticket secured, Rohr was planning an outing to the beach for his players after what was expected to be an easy win. Madagascar stunned the Nigerians with a win, prompting the cancellation of said outing.
Lesson
Stay in the moment, focused, prepare and believe anybody can be beaten (including the Super Eagles themselves), irrespective of the opposition.
Fight through adversity
Nigeria were close to not making it to the final in 1994. Ivory Coast were the team that almost ended Nigeria's run. The Ivorians led twice through Michelle Bassole, but each time, they were pegged back by the Super Eagles.
First Ben Iroha played a great give and go with Austin Okocha, and was on hand to finish off the return ball and cancel off Bassole's early strike. Then it was the turn of Rashidi Yekini to level after Bassole did it again.
Any other team, even an Eagles team of a different generation, might have wilted. Not this team. They did not believe in losing and kept fighting, even during the penalty shootout.
Lesson
Obstacles will show up, sometimes unexpectedly. These Super Eagles have to believe that they can win, no matter the setback on or off the field.