Many footballers of Nigerian descent are scattered all over Europe playing for different clubsides on a regular basis.
Few of them have already don the shirts of their country of births at the junior level but are still eligible to play for Nigeria their roots.
Abimbola Fabunmi of TheNewsGuru (TNG) brings you some of the eligible Nigerian footballers plying their trade for clubsides abroad.
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Noni Madueke
Madueke is an English professional footballer who plays for Premier League club side Chelsea as a winger and attacking Midfielder.
He was born in England to parent of Nigerian origin.He started his career with Crystal Palace Youth Team in 2014 before Joining Tottenham’s Youth side a few months later.
Madueke is of Igbo descent but born in Barnet, he later on signed for PSV Eindoven in the Netherlands.
The young attacking Midfieder/ winger is eligible to play for Nigeria.
Madueke signed for Chelsea in the Janury transfer window and played his first game for the Blues against Fulham on Friday night.
Kelvin Mauss Martins
Martins is the son of Ex-Super Eagles striker, Obafemi Martins. He was born in Italy to a Nigerian father and a Ghanian mother.
Obafemi Martins son, Martins was born to a Ghanaian mother who holds Italy Citizenship.
Martins had him with Mario Balotelli’s sister, Abigail Bawuah.
Mauss-Martins, who is also a striker has represented Italy at the U-15 level but he is still eligible to play for Nigeria.
The striker featured for both AC Milan and Inter Milan before switching to Monza.
“First professional contract for striker born in 2005 Kevin Maussi Martins, who made his debut with AC Monza in the #spring 2-0 victory over Padova,” the modest club wrote on their official Twitter handle.
The youngster was previously at AC Milan and Inter Milan academy before switching over to Monza.
Meanwhile, his father, who played for Inter Milan during his active days has congratulated him on the feat.
Folarin Balogun
On form forward Balogun currently plays for Reims of France but he’s on loan from Arsenal in the English premier League Arsenal.
Balogun currently leads the scorers chart in France, topping the likes of Kyllian Mbappe and Lionel Messi .
Balogun is on loan from Arsenal and the move is already proving to be a big success for all parties, especially for the man who joined the Gunners aged 10.
The 21-year-old once again put on a show against Lorient during Reims’ 4-2 win on Wednesday, scoring his first hat-trick as a professional.
Born in New York to Nigerian parents, he arrived in London with his family as a baby. He climbed through the academy ranks at Arsenal, distinguishing himself each time as a scoring machine: 75 goals in 103 games across the Under-18s and Under-23s.
His first senior appearance came in the Europa League against Dundalk in October 2020. He had a reputation of a player that was too strong for players his own age, but not quite good enough to worry senior opponents.
At that point in his career, Balogun’s future remained uncertain. In their Premier League season opener against Brentford in 2021, Arsenal were without Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Lacazette and Eddie Nketiah so Balogun was thrown into the deep end as a substitute.
Arsenal were beaten 2-0 on a memorable night for the newly-promoted Bees, before Balogun was also part of the team that lost to Chelsea later that month.
Haven’t bagged a senior cap for the three Lions of England Balogun is still eligible to play for Nigeria,
Chuba Akpom
Chuba Akpom currently plies his trade for Championship side Middlesborough and he’s firing on all cylinders for the English clubside.
Akpom has scored 16 times already for Middlesborough and tops the Championship Scorers chart.
For Akpom individually, this is already easily his best goalscoring season. His previous record was 11 goals in all competitions, but he’s already at 17 for the current campaign, including one against Premier League Brighton in the FA Cup.
The former Gunner is hitting his stride with Middlesbrough after a tricky start to life with the club. He’ll hope the season ends with a return to the Premier League, eight seasons after he last featured in the competition with Arsenal.
Akpom is still eligible to play for the Super Eagles of Nigeria.
Authur Okonkwo
Okonkwo is currently Arsenal’s third-choice goalie. The academy graduate was recently listed on their matchday game against Wolves.
Arsenal-owned Nigerian goalkeeper Arthur Okonkwo issued a big statement on his future moments after starring on his competitive debut for Sturm Graz in their 5-4 win on penalties against Red Bull Salzburg on Friday.
Okonkwo was the hero for Sturm Graz as he saved a penalty to knock out Noah Okafor and Junior Adamu’s Red Bull Salzburg from the UNIQA ÖFB Cup.
Okonkwo is on loan at Sturm Graz until the end of the season without an option to buy but the Austrian Bundeslga side have started talks with Arsenal over the extension of the loan agreement.
Michael Olise
Olise is known to all those who are keen followers of the English Premier League. The attacking midfielder made name for himself at Reading in the championship before moving to Cyrstal Palace.
The thing with Michael Olise is that he is eligible to play for four countries; England, France, Algeria and Nigeria.
Olise is yet to make his decision concerning his which country to play for.
Jonas David
Jonas Benjamin Chimezie David was born in Germany to a Nigerian father and a German mother. He currently plays for Hamburg in the German second division.
David is yet to commit his future to any country at the moment but he’s eligible to play for Nigeria or Germany.
Antonio Eromonsele Nordby
Nordby Nusa was born in Norway to a Nigerian father and a Norwegian mother. He has played just one time for the Belgian champions in the league this season.
Nordby was a hero for Club Brugge in one of the UEFA champions League last season where he netted the winner against FC Porto in last season group stage fixture.
The 17-year –old is eligible to play for Nigeria and country of birth Norway.
Shola Shoretire
Shoretire is another eligible Nigerian who plays for Manchester United.
He was born in England to a Nigerian father and English Mother, he’s eligible to represent both nations at International level.
He has already represented the England u-15 team but Shoretire is still eligible to play for Nigeria.