NEC FC midfielder Gaddafi Wahab has for his very first time been called up to represent the South Sudan Senior National Team for the forth coming AFCON 2025 preliminary qualification round.
The West Nile player, who also could’ve represented Uganda at any time had he he been called-up has gotten his chance with neighbors South Sudan, and he’ll most probably take it as it has come.
The former Arua Hill and Onduparaka captain will (if he makes the final list) feature for South Sudan in the two AFCON 2025 play-off games against Sao Tome and Principe to be played between March 20-26 this year.
It is out of persistence and consistency, and not sheer luck that Wahab has been listed amongst the 14 midfielders of the 46 players selected to represent the South Sudanese National Team.
Wahab has had a relatively fair campaign, for a player who started the season with struggling Arua Hill in the UPL. The midfielder still managed to shine through their dark moments, directly contributing seven of Arua Hill’s only 12 goals before the Kongolo being disbanded from the league.
The midfielder scored three goals and made four assists at Arua hill before leaving to re-join his former coach Hussein Mbalangu at NEC, where he has already recorded a goal and an assist to his name as the newly promoted UPL side sit 4th on the 16-team table with 31 points from 15 games.
In South Sudan, Wahab will unite with his NEC teammates Joseph Dhata and Geriga Atendere, among other familiar faces like Rashid Toha, Ivan Wani, Joseph Anyama, William Gama, Emmanuel Loki and Tito Okello.
South Sudan is playing in the preliminary qualification round as per the CAF regulations, following a draw comprising of eight nations, which are the lowest positioned on the continent, based on the recently released FIFA Rankings.
Three of the eight are members of the CECAFA, including South Sudan, Djibouti and the recently inducted Somalia. The other five are Sao Tome, Eswatini, Chad, Liberia, Mauritius and Lesotho.
In the other play-off matches, Somalia will play against Eswatini, Chad against Mauritius, while Liberia will tussle it out with Djibouti.
