1 week Ago By Don Silas
Daily Post Nigeria Why I chose to play for Nigeria over Netherlands – Super Eagles captain, William Troost-Ekong Home News Politics Metro Entertainment Sport Sport Why I chose to play for Nigeria over Netherlands – Super Eagles captain, William Troost-Ekong Published on November 13, 2024 By Don Silas Super Eagles captain, William Troost-Ekong has explained why he opted to play for the national team of Nigeria over the Netherlands. Born in Haarlem, the defender chose to defect from the Netherlands to Nigeria, where his father originally hails from. According to the former Watford star, he made the decision after a telephone conversation with late former Super Eagles coach Stephen Keshi, who was coaching the team at the time.
The 31-year-old played in friendly matches for his country of birth at U19 and U20 level before taking the opportunity to represent Nigeria following discussions with Keshi. Asked why he chose Nigeria over the Netherlands, Troost-Ekong said on the latest episode of The Sports Afterparty Podcast: “I had the decision quite early in my career. I was 20 at the time, I just finished my breakthrough season in the Netherlands, first year of playing probably 30 plus games in the Eredivisie, which is the highest league in the Netherlands.
“And all of a sudden I got a phone call from Stephen Keshi, who was the coach at the time, ex-captain and ex-player, so I was quite blown away when he called me. “Just at the start of the season, I had played for the Dutch U19 and U20 squads, but there was no real perspective yet for the first team. “This was the only tangible option that I had.
The choice was between trying to progress and later in my career maybe have a chance to play for the Netherlands or have a chance now to play for the Super Eagles who were kind of going through a transition stage where a lot of their defenders that time were a little bit older, so I knew that they wanted to make some changes there. “And taking that opportunity which then in turn would give me more perspective for my club so I kind of made that decision thinking about all those things.” Related Topics: Netherlands Nigeria Super Eagles William Troost-Ekong Don't Miss Transfer: Galatasaray propose swap deal to sign Osimhen You may like AFCON 2025 qualifiers: Benin Republic suffer another injury blow ahead Super Eagles clash AFCON 2025 qualifiers: Osho delighted with Super Eagles invitation EFCC reveals real reason for incessant national grid collapses in Nigeria AFCON 2025Q: Full house in Abidjan as Super Eagles hold first training AFCON 2025Q: Three more players storm Super Eagles Abidjan camp AFCON 2025Q: Benin coach, Rohr plans to exploit Super Eagles weak defence Advertise About Us Contact Us Privacy-Policy Terms Copyright © Daily Post Media Ltd.
