Wilfred Ndidi will captain the Super Eagles at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations after he was officially appointed William Troost-Ekong’s successor on Friday, Completesports.com reports.
Troost-Ekong announced his retirement from international football earlier this month.
Ndidi was handed the armband for the Super Eagles’ 2026 FIFA World Cup playoffs in Rabat last month.
The 28-year-old is one of the most experienced players in the Super Eagles.
Ndidi Ready To Lead
“It’s a huge responsibility, with the help of the players everything will be smooth,” Ndidi told the Super Eagles media.
Read Also:AFCON 2025: Super Eagles Ready To Soar — Gusau
“I have had conversation with a couple of the players, just to let them know the reason why we are here . I also need their support as well, including the staff, we are all in this together.
“We have conversation on the task ahead, and it is important for us to be together on the same page.”
Kind Words For Troost-Ekong
Ndidi also showered encomium on his predecessor, Troost-Ekong.
“As a great leader, he stands for the team, he takes everything for the team, he speaks for the team. I admire him a lot , how outspoken he is. He is someone everyone in the team look up to. He is that guy that stands for the team. He is an amazing guy, I learnt a lot from him,” added Ndidi.
“We spoke a couple of days ago, he gave me some advice, I feel like he is still part of the team. He is going to be missed.”
By Adeboye Amosu
11 Comments
Ndidi is not a bad choice to lead the team but let it be known that Moses Simon is the most senior member of the team. Those lousy folks that come online should maintain the same decorum when it doesn’t favor them.
If Ndidi is considered ahead of Simon based on capacity, Osimhen can be considered ahead of others based on commitment and moral.
This Ndidi hmmm. I like him as a person but i dont like his aura. S. E may never achieve anything meaning under his umbrella . He doesn’t command the requisite influence of an S.E captain. Be that as i may, all fingers crossed.
This is a development that will anger and perplex many fans who do not see Ndidi as the one to captain the Super Eagles into an era of revival.
Some fans, to my astonishment, advocate for Victor Osihmen to be the next captain for the Super Eagles. Victor Osihmen? That loose cannon. That tinder box waiting to explode at any time. Not for my money. I don’t have to be a fan of Osihmen, Osihmen does not need my fandom. He has enough fans to last him 5 lifetimes, so, I might as well keep my patronage to myself.
But, honestly, the captainship requires level-headedness. A cool, calm and collected article with latent, hidden explosiveness which, for me Ndidi brings.
My only concern is that Ndidi is at the twilight of his career. He peaked around 2018 to 2021 and has now plateaued towards a downward trajectory.
Nigeria is blessed with a truckload of centre or defensive midfielders, many yet to be discovered. My worry is that, will there not be pressure to play Ndidi as captain whereas players like Tom Dele-Bashiru, Tochukwu Nnadi of even Benjamin Frederick can do a far better job?
I stand by my view of Ndidi being a good choice for the here and now. But that should not make him an automatic starter. Far too many defensive midfielders are coming up the ranks that it will be suicidal to hang on to Ndidi well beyond his sell-by date.
You people have now believed in me that what [Agbalaba] the old man saw when sitting, the younger people haven’t seen it yet.
I have highlighted everything about the new captain, and didn’t I mention it before?
I knew Ndidi would be the next captain of the Super Eagles, but in my view, Ndidi doesn’t possess the qualities of a captain. He is a good person, a good player, but not as a captain.
Nwabali merits that captancy more than any player on that team.
The best for the role is Frederick. He should study Nwabali to be perfectly fit for the future captain. Very calm, mature and a cool-headed player.
Oshimen can’t be the captain, the responsibility will be too much for him. And Oshimen is not calm enough yet to be the captain of any team.
I won’t write off the Super Eagles team. When you don’t expect anything from them, they surprise you. Just like when Keshi won the 2013 Afcon in South Africa. This team and situation back then were similar to this situation. Fingers crossed.
All the best to our new captain and the Super Eagles. Ire o. God bless Nigeria!!!
NDIDI does not deserve that captainship. Honestly, I can’t remember any moment NDIDI have done something spectacular, phenomenon and eye catching on that green and white jersey. Well, already I have given up on this current super eagles. Let them just go and play three matches probably round of 16 and come back. They will not exceed quarter final.
This appointment has the NFF written all over it.
We already have a stooge as coach, let us complement it with appointing another stooge as captain.
On a good day, Ndidi shouldn’t be making the starting XI of the SE Eagles anymore, if at all he is still worthy of regular call-ups. But what does the NFF and Chelle do, cement his unshakable starting spot with the captain’s armband.
Anyways, good luck to them……..I watch this year’s AFCON as a neutral.
@Dr Drey. I always told you Onyinye Wilfred Ndidi is the rightful Captain of this team. I have always backed Osimhen since god knows when even in your Ahmed Musa craze days. Musa might I add should never have been called up to SE post 2018 WC talk less of Captain. Osimhen who cannot arrive camp on time is that who should be Captain. A great a player he is He is too short tempered for the Armband. The problem is that you people watch football from the back of your TV Sets. Ndidi’s only mistakes was that equalizer Congo scored but then again if we had More clinical finishers that shouldn’t have mattered. Because Lookman and Chukwueze wasted Golden opportunities to finish the game in the first half. Ndid played 120mins in Playoffs against Gabon played instrumental since Chelle took over. I mean Look at his performance in Rwanda and SA games as well as Benin the guy played the midfield role basically on his own against Gabon and we did more solidly then than we did all last AFCON with 5 midfielders under pesiero. Ndidi the rock is the only Person suited for the captaincy now. Period.
He should not make the team lol that means you want the team to fall apart
So ndidi has just been made the SE captain….? I thought you lied Ndidi was the substantial SE captain heading to the last AFCON….LMAOooo.
Ndidi has always been the downfall of the SE is all major tournaments….
*He gave away the needless freekick Mahrez punished us with in 2019
*He escorted Msakni all the way to goal in 2022
*In his absence we got to an AFCON final in a decade in 2023
*He returned in the world cup qualifiers only to either be escorting opponents to goal or giving them assists to score against us.
* He’s yet to score a goal of any sort in the SE when even Onyedika who came in yesterday has already registered one in his name.
*He carries ZERO inspiration when he plays. I have never seen him rallying the boys or motivating them to perform or charge for victory in any match.
He’s not one to rely on for any form of inspiration when the team is trailing or in need of a goal. He can’t shoot straight at goal even from 6yrds.
He played a fluke against Gabon and all of a sudden he’s better than the midfielders that powered us all the way to an AFCON final.
With all the plethora of young, energetic and talented midfielders we have now, your mouth had lost its ability to shout that old players be forced out of the SE because they are blocking younger ones.
Watch how our midfield will continue to get exposed the more, now that your lazy, spentforce Ndidi has been handed a guaranteed starting slot as Captain…..LMAOoo
My God will continually bless and be with you @Dr Dre. Sir, I’v been following your contributions here right from the time of Gernet Rohr. Your knowledge of Nigerian football is so deep that I can’t fathom. You foresee disaster and profer solutions but it’s a pity no one listens to you but it seems they prefer the advice of entities like Ugo Iwunze and others. UNTIL NIGERIA STARTS LISTENING TO DR DRE WHEN IT COMES TO FOOTBALL MATTERS THEY’L STILL BE GROPING IN DARKNESS.
That boy oyedika is far better than ndidi
People won’t appreciate Ndidi’s impact until he is gone. He may have not scored any goals like Drey pointed out but the stability he brings to dat midfield can’t be understated. We can fault Iwobi for the red card he got against Tunisia innd afcon hosted by cameroon, we can also fault him for losing the ball against DRC abd contributing little in our WC and afcon qualifiers. The blame game can be spread around. The fact that Frank and Iwobi did well at the last afcon in Ndidi’s absence can be related to d fact that we played 5 at d back (Chelle might be smart to adopt dis philosophy in some games). I have seen Ndidi calm Osihmen down on several occasions when he was going thru some tantrum telling him bro, calm down we need u, even in d game against Gabon where osimen missed a glorius chance, Ndidi was there telling him to chill that tinz will be fine. We r not privy to what goes on in camp to really know his leadership skills. I think a midfielder is always the best person to captain a team as he links the defence and attack, sees the entire field, with dat in mind, u can’t give the captaincy to Iwobi, Onyeka, Onyedika, definitely not Nwabali in my opinion. Ndidi is extremely intelligent, didn’t he obtain an MBa at the university of Leicester? He has d temperament of being a leader/captain, is not only by gingering d boys which he does too but carrying dem along and seeking advice from dem wen need be. Personally, i think Ndidi is a perfect choice and we should all rally around d team. For me i like 9ja chances in this competition especially wen they’ve been written off like dis. My dark horse is DRC, those guys are good, u should see what they did to SA at the last afcon 3rd place or Ivory Coast in d semis, if 9ja doesn’t win it, i will put my moni on DRC not any of the North African countries (Morocco, algeria, egypt nor tunisia). E go shock pipo wen moroccon wen pipo dey talk up as favorite will be eliminate in 1/4 final. Senegal and Ivory coast are aging.