体坛英语新闻：Nigeria's U-17 female soccer team regrouped ahead of World Cup qualifiers

LAGOS, Feb. 6 (Xinhua) -- Nigeria's football governing body on Thursday said that 39 players have begun training in Abuja in preparation for the qualifiers for this year's FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup in India.

A full house of the invited playing body was on ground at the team's camp at Bluespring Hotel in Abuja, Ademola Olajire, spokesperson for the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) said in a statement reaching Xinhua.

The 2020 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup finals will be the seventh since the competition was launched in New Zealand in 2008.

Nigeria has participated in all five tournaments between 2008 and 2016 but narrowly failed to qualify for the 2018 edition held in Uruguay.

This was after losing to Cameroon on the away goal rule in the final lap of the qualification series.

The technical crew had begun work on selecting the squad which will face Guinea in a qualifying fixture early next month.

The first leg will hold in Conakry on March 1, while the return leg in Nigeria will hold a fortnight later.

The Guineans had edged out Guinea Bissau in the preliminary round.