{"id":3981,"date":"2019-02-05T17:15:40","date_gmt":"2019-02-05T17:15:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.com\/nigeria\/?p=3981"},"modified":"2019-02-05T17:15:40","modified_gmt":"2019-02-05T17:15:40","slug":"nigeria-appoint-imama-amapakabo-to-lead-u-23","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/nigeria-appoint-imama-amapakabo-to-lead-u-23","title":{"rendered":"Nigeria Appoint Imama Amapakabo to Lead U-23"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"story-body-text\" data-para-word-count=\"17\">The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has handed the reins of their national U-23 team to Imama Amapakabo.<\/p>\n<p class=\"story-body-text\" data-para-word-count=\"24\">The 49-year-old succeeds Salisu Yusuf, who is serving a ban imposed on him by the NFF last year in relation to bribery and corruption.<\/p>\n<div class=\"google-auto-placed ap_container\">\n<div class=\"story-body\">\n<p class=\"story-body-text\" data-para-word-count=\"35\">Amapakabo was the U-23s first assistant coach, but now has the hot seat for their matches against Libya next month in the second round of qualifying for the 2019 African Under-23 Cup of Nations finals.<\/p>\n<p class=\"story-body-text\" data-para-word-count=\"22\">Amapakabo served on the technical team of Nigeria&#8217;s senior side under coach Gernot Rohr at the World Cup in Russia last year.<\/p>\n<div id=\"in-article-p-mid\"><\/div>\n<div id=\"aans-body-mid\"><\/div>\n<p class=\"story-body-text\" data-para-word-count=\"22\">He also worked with Yusuf in the Nigerian team which finished as runners-up at last year&#8217;s African Nations Championship (CHAN) in Morocco.<\/p>\n<p class=\"story-body-text\" data-para-word-count=\"23\">The NFF will expect him to secure a qualification berth for the U-23 continental finals, which will be held in Egypt in November.<\/p>\n<p class=\"story-body-text\" data-para-word-count=\"34\">That tournament will in turn serve as the final phase of qualifiers for the 2020 Olympic Games. The top three teams at the U-23 AFCON secure a place at the global event in Tokyo.<\/p>\n<div id=\"aans-body-end\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"page-end-last\"><\/div>\n<div id=\"page-end-slidebox\" class=\"slidebox closed\">\n<div class=\"page-end-header\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has handed the reins of their national U-23 team to Imama Amapakabo. The 49-year-old succeeds Salisu Yusuf, who is serving a ban imposed on him by the NFF last year in relation to bribery and corruption. Amapakabo was the U-23s first assistant coach, but now has the hot seat for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":3984,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,18],"tags":[116,212],"class_list":["post-3981","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-football","tag-sport"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Nigeria Appoint Imama Amapakabo to Lead U-23 - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/nigeria-appoint-imama-amapakabo-to-lead-u-23\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Nigeria Appoint Imama Amapakabo to Lead U-23\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has handed the reins of their national U-23 team to Imama Amapakabo. The 49-year-old succeeds Salisu Yusuf, who is serving a ban imposed on him by the NFF last year in relation to bribery and corruption. Amapakabo was the U-23s first assistant coach, but now has the hot seat for [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/nigeria-appoint-imama-amapakabo-to-lead-u-23\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-02-05T17:15:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/upload\/sites\/3\/2019\/02\/download.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"168\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"alico\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"alico\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/nigeria-appoint-imama-amapakabo-to-lead-u-23#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/nigeria-appoint-imama-amapakabo-to-lead-u-23\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"alico\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/50afd2ef4f0e900bd0a176404a8484a7\"},\"headline\":\"Nigeria Appoint Imama Amapakabo to Lead U-23\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-02-05T17:15:40+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/nigeria-appoint-imama-amapakabo-to-lead-u-23\"},\"wordCount\":185,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/nigeria-appoint-imama-amapakabo-to-lead-u-23#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/upload\/sites\/3\/2019\/02\/download.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Football\",\"Sport\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/nigeria-appoint-imama-amapakabo-to-lead-u-23#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/nigeria-appoint-imama-amapakabo-to-lead-u-23\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/nigeria-appoint-imama-amapakabo-to-lead-u-23\",\"name\":\"Nigeria Appoint Imama Amapakabo to Lead U-23 - Nigeria\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/nigeria-appoint-imama-amapakabo-to-lead-u-23#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/nigeria-appoint-imama-amapakabo-to-lead-u-23#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/upload\/sites\/3\/2019\/02\/download.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-02-05T17:15:40+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/50afd2ef4f0e900bd0a176404a8484a7\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/nigeria-appoint-imama-amapakabo-to-lead-u-23#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/nigeria-appoint-imama-amapakabo-to-lead-u-23\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/nigeria-appoint-imama-amapakabo-to-lead-u-23#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/upload\/sites\/3\/2019\/02\/download.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/upload\/sites\/3\/2019\/02\/download.jpg\",\"width\":300,\"height\":168},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/nigeria-appoint-imama-amapakabo-to-lead-u-23#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Nigeria Appoint Imama Amapakabo to Lead U-23\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/\",\"name\":\"Africa Press | Nigeria | Homepage\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/50afd2ef4f0e900bd0a176404a8484a7\",\"name\":\"alico\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/author\/alico\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Nigeria Appoint Imama Amapakabo to Lead U-23 - Nigeria","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/nigeria-appoint-imama-amapakabo-to-lead-u-23","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Nigeria Appoint Imama Amapakabo to Lead U-23","og_description":"The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has handed the reins of their national U-23 team to Imama Amapakabo. The 49-year-old succeeds Salisu Yusuf, who is serving a ban imposed on him by the NFF last year in relation to bribery and corruption. Amapakabo was the U-23s first assistant coach, but now has the hot seat for [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/nigeria-appoint-imama-amapakabo-to-lead-u-23","og_site_name":"Nigeria","article_published_time":"2019-02-05T17:15:40+00:00","og_image":[{"width":300,"height":168,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/upload\/sites\/3\/2019\/02\/download.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"alico","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"alico","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/nigeria-appoint-imama-amapakabo-to-lead-u-23#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/nigeria-appoint-imama-amapakabo-to-lead-u-23"},"author":{"name":"alico","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/50afd2ef4f0e900bd0a176404a8484a7"},"headline":"Nigeria Appoint Imama Amapakabo to Lead U-23","datePublished":"2019-02-05T17:15:40+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/nigeria-appoint-imama-amapakabo-to-lead-u-23"},"wordCount":185,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/nigeria-appoint-imama-amapakabo-to-lead-u-23#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/upload\/sites\/3\/2019\/02\/download.jpg","keywords":["Football","Sport"],"articleSection":["all news","Sport"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/nigeria-appoint-imama-amapakabo-to-lead-u-23#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/nigeria-appoint-imama-amapakabo-to-lead-u-23","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/nigeria-appoint-imama-amapakabo-to-lead-u-23","name":"Nigeria Appoint Imama Amapakabo to Lead U-23 - Nigeria","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/nigeria-appoint-imama-amapakabo-to-lead-u-23#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/nigeria-appoint-imama-amapakabo-to-lead-u-23#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/upload\/sites\/3\/2019\/02\/download.jpg","datePublished":"2019-02-05T17:15:40+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/50afd2ef4f0e900bd0a176404a8484a7"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/nigeria-appoint-imama-amapakabo-to-lead-u-23#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/nigeria-appoint-imama-amapakabo-to-lead-u-23"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/nigeria-appoint-imama-amapakabo-to-lead-u-23#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/upload\/sites\/3\/2019\/02\/download.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/upload\/sites\/3\/2019\/02\/download.jpg","width":300,"height":168},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/nigeria-appoint-imama-amapakabo-to-lead-u-23#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Nigeria Appoint Imama Amapakabo to Lead U-23"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/","name":"Africa Press | Nigeria | Homepage","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/50afd2ef4f0e900bd0a176404a8484a7","name":"alico","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/author\/alico"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3981","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/62"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3981"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3981\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}