International football stars you didn’t know are Nigerians: In contemporary times, Nigerians are known to be scattered across the globe. They end up settling in different continents. Europe is known to have the highest concentration of Nigerians in diaspora. As a result of this, they procreate, hereby giving birth to children with Nigerian heritage.
Some turn out to be talented footballers, in the cases of David Alaba, Ross Barkley etc. They’ve ended up playing for either their country of birth or their country of naturalisation. As a result of this, the Super Eagles has lost plethora of talented footballers to other countries. They failed to act swiftly to try and motivate and convince them to dorn the green and white colours of the Super Eagles of Nigeria. Fast forward to the tenure of NFF President ‘Amaju Pinnick’, he and his cohorts have sought the means to motivate and convince young prospects to turn up for Nigeria as soon as possible, before it is too late. As a result, William Troost-Ekong, Leon Balogun, Carl Ikeme and most notably, Alex Iwobi have all been convinced to ditch their countries of naturalisation in favour of Nigeria. In light of this, here are top ten football prospects that should be convinced to be part of the Nigerian set-up.
1. Tiago Ilori
Tiago Abiola Delfim Almeida Ilori (born 26 February 1993) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays for English club Liverpool FC. Tiago was born in Hampstead, London to a British father of Nigerian descent and a Portuguese mother.
2. Seyi Ojo
Oluwaseyi Babajide “Sheyi” Ojo (born 19 June 1997) is an English footballer who plays for English club Liverpool FC. Sheyi was born in Hemel Hempstead, England to a Nigerian father Olu Ojo and Natasha Ojo.
3. Jordon Ibe
Jordon Ashley Femi Ibe (born 8 December 1995) is an English professional footballer who plays for Liverpool FC. Ibe was born in South London to a Nigerian father David Ibe and Charlet Ibe.
4. Chuba Akpom
Chuba Amechi Williams Akpom (born 9 October 1995) is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker for Arsenal FC, currently on loan at Hull City. Akpom was born in Canning Town, London to Nigerian parents.
Akpom has represented England at various youth international levels. He is still eligible to ply his trade internationally for Nigeria because of his parental roots. Bearing in mind that this was Chuba’s first full season at the age of 20, his future can only get better. Nigeria had better grab him as soon as possible.
5. Ola Aina
Temitayo Olufisayo Olaoluwa Aina (born 8 October 1996) is an English professional footballer who plays for English side Chelsea FC. Ola Aina was born in London, England to Nigerian parents.
He has represented the Three Lions at Under-19s, Under-18s, Under-17s, Under-16s. Ola is still eligible to play for Nigeria due to his parental background.
6. Fikayo Tomori
Oluwafikayomi Oluwadamilola “Fikayo” Tomori (born 19 December 1997) is a professional footballer who plays for Chelsea FC. Tomori was born to Nigerian parents in Calgary, Canada.
Tomori has represented Canada(Country of Birth) and England(Naturalisation) at youth levels. He is still eligible to feature for Nigeria(Parents)
7. Ike Ugbo
Iké Dominique Ugbo (born 21 September 1998) is a professional footballer playing for English side, Chelsea FC. Ike was born in London, England to Nigerian parents.
Ugbo is an England Under-17 international, he is still however eligible to represent Nigeria.
8. Tosin Adarabioyo
Abdul-Nasir Oluwatosin “Tosin” Adarabioyo (born 24 September 1997) is an English professional footballer who plays for the blue side of Manchester (Manchester City). Tosin was born in Manchester, United Kingdom.
Adarabioyo has represented England at the Under-16, Under-17, Under-18, Under-19 levels. However, he is still eligible to switch allegiance to Nigeria due to his parental roots.
9. Dominic Solanke
Dominic Ayodele Solanke-Mitchell (born 14 September 1997) is an English professional footballer who plays for Chelsea FC. Solanke was born in Basingstoke, England.
Solanke has represented England at under-16, under-17, under-18, under-19, and under-21 levels. He is still eligible for Nigeria due to his parental descent.
10. Kevin Akpoguma
Kevin John Ufuoma Akpoguma (born 19 April 1995) is a German footballer who plays for Fortuna Düsseldorf, on loan from 1899 Hoffenheim. He was born in Neustadt an der Weinstraße, Germany to a Nigerian father.
He is still however eligible to feature for the Super Eagles of Nigeria.
NB: The top ten players with Nigerian heritage still eligible to play for Nigeria listed above are in no way listed according to how good they are nor chances of eventually playing for Nigeria.
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