Former Nigerian international Sam Sodje has questioned the rationale behind the provisional 54-man squad unveiled by Eric Chelle ahead of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations.

The Malian tactician on Tuesday, December 2, named his provisional squad list, which included a mix of both local and foreign-based players for the 35th edition of the Nations Cup.

Chelle is expected to trim the squad to 28 in the next few days before the team kicks off their training camp in Egypt on December 10.

Speaking on Brila FM, Sodje faulted Eric Chelle's decision to call up that number of players considering the short time frame the team has to prepare for the tournament.

“I don’t really understand the reason for the list, it’s confusing. You call some regular players and new ones, but I don’t understand the reason for the 54-man list.

“Why are you doing that? We have to be positive to see how we can go.”

Nigeria have been drawn in Group C and will play against Tanzania, Uganda and Tunisia in the group phase.

WDN