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Liverpool exciting youngster Rio Ngumoha was pictured wearing Nigeria’s iconic 1996 jersey.
Ngumoha was captured in a photo posted on the X handle of ESPN Africa beaming with excitement while putting on the jersey.
The famous jersey is what Nigeria’s U-23 Eagles known as ‘Dream Team’ wore when they won gold in the football event at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games in the United States.
Led by Dutch Coach Johannes Bonfrere, the Dream Team overcame football power houses like Mexico, Brazil and Argentina.
This latest photo of Ngumoha would no doubt generate interest from Nigerians who would not mind seeing him represent the country.
The 17-year-old has featured 17 times in the Premier League this season and has scored two goals and has one assist.
Born in England, Ngumoha is of Nigerian and Guadeloupean descent. He holds both Nigerian and French nationalities from his parents.
Appearance For Junior Three Lions
He made his England under-15 and England U16 debuts in 2023. In October 2024, he played for England U17. He was called-up for the 2025 UEFA European Under-17 Championship.
On 3 September 2025, Ngumoha made his England U19 debut during a 2–0 win over Ukraine at the Pinatar Arena.
Departing Chelsea For Liverpool
Ngumoha joined the Chelsea academy aged eight and scored in Chelsea’s 3–1 win over Wolves in the U17 Premier League Cup final in April 2024.
He joined Liverpool in the summer of 2024 and in the autumn of the 2024–25 season, and was called-up to train with the Liverpool first team squad by manager Arne Slot.
He was named amongst the match day substitutes for Liverpool’s EFL Cup tie against Southampton on 18 December 2024.
Records At Liverpool
On 25 August, Ngumoha made his Premier League debut as an added-time substitute for Cody Gakpo and scored in the 10th minute of stoppage time, securing a 3–2 away win over Newcastle United and becoming the youngest goalscorer in club history.
The goal also surpassed Darwin Núñez’s winning goal against Nottingham Forest in March 2024 by a minute to become the club’s latest game-winning goal in the Premier League.
On 17 September, a month later, he made his UEFA Champions League debut in a 3–2 victory over Atlético Madrid, at just 17 years and 19 days old, making him the youngest Liverpool player to appear in the competition, breaking the previous record held by Trey Nyoni. A week later, on 25 September, he signed his first professional contract with Liverpool.
On 11 April 2026, Ngumoha scored his first goal at Anfield in a 2–0 win against Fulham, becoming the youngest player to achieve this feat, aged 17 years and 225 days, breaking the previous record set by Raheem Sterling.
By James Agberebi
4 Comments
Oya NFF over to you!!!
Dude is exciting to watch like lookman…
Imagine two of them in the startimg line up in the next afcon…
Athletico madrid and liverpool..
Our team will look more prestigious and honourable instead of having all these tolotolo players everywhere on the pitch…lol….
But hope espn africa is not trying to use us for clout…
Cos these guys know nigerians are always excited with things of football…
And they will always trend just by mentioning the name of over 250 million people….
So I would have prefered if it is coming directly from his x account….
Yuh har a fools, yuh knew noting abt footbals, ees eet the name of de club that men want to eat? imagine a comon monki talked about atleti and liverplool, wat is dat to do with individualy teams chemistry tings, mtcheew, monki need to clear out an stopped talking abt footbal, ees not de club dat ees NigerianSE, ees not mattered weda a guy ees in liverploo or real madrid ees about team cohesion, even eef yuh are having 11 player in real madrid and liverploo an man utd and arsenal an psg, dey can stii flop eef de team not geling and individual nt added value to de team, or there nt coash well, so just sharap monki and clearout! eediot!
Yuh knows noting!
Fantastic prospect. Tends to over dribble, and needs to work on end product, but will be a brilliant addition to the SE squad.
The lad is obviously interested, but awon Onigbese nko?
Is it when England is interested that they will notice? Invite this lad for the Unity cup, let’s cap tie the guy.
Well said Mr Monkey
Very well on point