Nigeria's De Royals’ journey to the United Arab Emirates for the 2015 World Football Fives (F5WC) did not end with the enthronement of the lads as champions.
They lost out in the group stage after hard fighting battles against Singapore, France and the UAE.
Having beaten Singapore 6-2 in the first game, Nigeria lost to France in the second with a slim 2-1 score line, a result not too far from many predictions.
With just a draw needed for the team to make the eliminator stages ahead of France, Nigeria entered the last game against hosts UAE who had also beaten the French 3-2.
The boys fought hard but fell to a narrow 1-0 defeat to UAE at the SkyDive ground in Dubai.
The outcome of the group being something of a shock as Nigeria had been tipped to confidently beat the UAE, Singapore and possibly engage tightly with France as they did.
Despite Nigeria's loss and the rest of other five African countries, Morocco carried on with the continent's honour by topping Group B with seven points.
They eliminated Germany 3-2, beat Tunisia before facing South Americans, Colombia in the quarterfinal and they ran away 1-0 winners.
The Moroccans could not be denied after their remarkable 1-0 win over defending champions Denmark in the semis.
In the presence of Crown Prince of Dubai, HRH Sheikh Hamdan Bin Nahyan bin Hamdan al Nahyan, the boys from the Atlas lifted the trophy beating Spain.
Spain led the first 10mins and were running away winners before Morocco stunned the Europeans with less than five minutes to go in the second half.
After five minutes of extra time and scores still at 1-1, the two teams went into penalties and Morocco was left standing tall as they smiled home as the 2015 winners of the World Football Fives.
De Royals celebrate winning the Nigeria title in Lagos
De Royals in Dubai
Morocco celebrate victory at F5WC 2015 in Dubai
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