During the life of the Nigerian national team, many important and long running strings of important matches have been played against various nations who could be considered occasional rivals.
Of these nations, Ghana is widely considered to be Nigeria’s primary rival as the two sides have met one another more than any other opponent.
The overall record is dominated by Ghana though Nigeria has enjoyed periods of success. The most notable of these periods are at the earliest points of the rivalry in the 1950s, and the early 2000s.
FIFA lists the first official match between the two as a World Cup qualifier match which took place in 1960.
However both national teams had already engaged in numerous domestic friendlies and tournaments between themselves and other nations dating back to 1950.
The national teams of these two West African countries were formed while both were still protectorates of the British Empire. At that time the modern day nation of Ghana was known as the Gold Coast and Nigeria, prior to adopting their national colors of green and white, wore scarlet tops over white shorts and were known as the “Red Devils”.
The two sides played for several rivalry and tournament cups during this early period in which full international competition was barred to them.
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