Australia to play Nigeria in London friendly

SYDNEY, Oct 23 (Reuters) Australia will play Nigeria in a friendly in London on November 17, Football Federation Australia (FFA) said today.

The match against the African side, ranked 25 places above Australia at 23rd in the world, will take place at Craven Cottage, the home of English Premier League club Fulham.

''Nigeria are the number one ranked team in Africa and will provide a very competitive match,'' FFA chief executive officer Ben Buckley said in a statement.

''It is vital that we give the team another match ahead of the World Cup qualifiers and we look forward to seeing Australia's national football team play against a high quality opponent.'' The Socceroos, knocked out of this year's Asian Cup in the quarter-finals, begin their 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign in February.

REUTERS CS KN1122