The Federation of Uganda Football Associations (FUFA) has secured the international allegiance of two Nigerian-born goalkeepers, Akpan Udoh and Kingdom Osayi, as part of a broader drive to integrate heritage players into the Uganda Cranes squad.
A well-known name in Nigerian youth football, Udoh was the first-choice goalkeeper for the Golden Eaglets side that won the FIFA U-17 World Cup in Chile in 2015 (alongside stars like Victor Osimhen and Samuel Chukwueze).
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According to FUFA, he qualifies for Uganda through his grandparent from Busia. Currently playing for Maltese club Mosta FC, Udoh requires a formal one-time change of association through FIFA because he previously represented Nigeria in official youth tournaments.
Meanwhile, Osay previously featured for several Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) sides, including Heartland, MFM, Doma United, and Enugu Rangers, before moving abroad to Swedish side Assyriska FF.
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He qualifies for Uganda through his maternal grandmother born in Kaberamaido. Because he never officially capped for Nigeria at any level, he is eligible to represent the Cranes immediately without a lengthy FIFA switch process.
The duo joins the Cranes setup as Uganda prepares for upcoming international fixtures and qualifiers.
3 Comments
Uganda, too, is starting to fish for Nigerian talent to boost its quality? At the last AFCON, they had Uche Ikpeazu. This brings it to 3.
Last Saturday, Ime Okon scored for SA against Guinea.
Nigeria obviously has the highest number of talent exports globally, followed by DRC, then Morocco. It used to be England, France, and Germany scrambling for players of Nigerian origin, but now African teams have joined the fray, having seen the massive results.
The irony is that while Morocco is fully exploring its massive reservoir of talent, Nigeria hasn’t done so much in that regard.
With our huge collection of talent, we should be the first African team to win the World Cup.
Had to ask Gemini:
“1. Nigeria
Nigeria stands out globally as the greatest contributor of diaspora talent. Across major international football tournaments, it has the highest concentration of elite players.
Examples playing for other countries: Michael Olise (France), Bukayo Saka (England), Jamal Musiala (Germany), Manuel Akanji (Switzerland), David Alaba (Austria), Eberechi Eze (England), Karim Adeyemi (Germany), and Noah Okafor (Switzerland).
2. DRC
DRC loses an immense pool of elite talent to European nations, specifically Belgium, France, and Switzerland, due to deep migration links.
Examples of players playing for other countries: Romelu Lukaku (Belgium), Youri Tielemans (Belgium), Presnel Kimpembe (France), and Randal Kolo Muani (France).
3. Morocco.
While Morocco has successfully convinced many diaspora players to return and play for the Atlas Lions, they still have one of the largest populations of players born in Europe with distinct Moroccan roots playing for top-tier European sides.
Examples playing for other countries: Lamine Yamal (Spain—Moroccan father), Matteo Guendouzi (France—Moroccan father), and Ibrahim Diaz (historically eligible for Spain before switching).
4. Cameroon.
Cameroon has a vast, generational footprint in European football, heavily influencing the French, Swiss, and German national pipelines.
Examples playing for other countries: Kylian Mbappé (France—Cameroonian father), Aurélien Tchouaméni (France), William Saliba (France), and Youssoufa Moukoko (Germany).”
Kayode scored for Italy today in their 4-2 whitewash of the Turks.
Constatinople, the prized Ottoman capital was besieged and sacked.
The Ottoman war general Arda Guler watched helplessly as his troops were massacred by the Roman Legion. Rome had a Nigerian in their ranks, the wantaway mercenary named Kayode.
Now that Constantinople is once again under Roman control, what next?
Looks like Italy under Mancini is once again a force to be reckoned with. Free flowing, tiki taka football.
And they looked dangerous each and every time they ventured forward.
While NFF continues to refuse to pay players bonuses, preferring to share the money among themselves, players that were eligible to play for Nigeria are now seeking new homes in other countries.
Some undesirable elements have been forced to resign from NFF.
But many more still remain. They all need to be sacked very quickly, immediately. Today, if possible.
Honestly speaking this is a big call for an U17 World Cup World Cup goal keeping talent who was ignored to be switch to Uganda. Nigeria is going to make Uganda a solid team and we might pay the price of negligence one day.