The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) says the AFCON 2019 Qualifiers date of June 10 won’t be shifted despite a request from South Africa for the tie to be moved forward.

The South Africa Football Association (SAFA) wants the tie to be brought forward to enable them fix a friendly game before their players depart to their respective clubs.

However according to a big wig of the NFF, the request from SAFA is best described as dead on arrival, because the football house has planned its programme for the tie.

“We had from 5-10th as possible dates, and only after due deliberation did we decide on 10th as the date for the game. We won’t shift or alter our plans to accommodate a late request”, the source said.

“As host of the game, the decision to shift the tie or not lies in our hands, and we have decided to stick by our date. It’s not going to change for any external reason”.