William Troost-Ekong, the captain of the Super Eagles, has explained why he chose to play for the Nigerian national team instead of the Netherlands.
Born in Haarlem, the defender chose to defect from the Netherlands to Nigeria, where his father is from.
According to the former Watford star, he made the decision after a telephone conversation with the late former Super Eagles coach Stephen Keshi, who coached the team at the time.
The 31-year-old played friendly matches for his country of birth at U19 and U20 levels before taking the opportunity to represent Nigeria following talks with Keshi.
When asked why he chose Nigeria over the Netherlands, Troost-Ekong said on the latest episode of The Sports Afterparty Podcast:
“I made the decision pretty early in my career. I was 20 at the time, I had just finished my big season in the Netherlands, the first year I played probably more than 30 games in the Eredivisie, which is the highest league in the Netherlands.
“And suddenly I got a phone call from Stephen Keshi, who was the coach at the time, former captain and former player, so I was quite impressed when he called me.
“Right at the beginning of the season I played for the Dutch U19 and U20 teams, but there were no real prospects for the first team yet.
“This was the only tangible option I had. The choice was between trying to progress and later in my career maybe having the opportunity to play for Holland or having the opportunity now to play for the Super Eagles, who were going through a transitional stage where many of their defenders at the time They were a little older so I knew they wanted to make some changes there.
“And take advantage of that opportunity which in turn would give me more perspective for my club, so I made that decision thinking about all those things.”
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