Newly capped Super Eagles and Standard Liege of Belgium striker, Ezekiel Imoh, has revealed that but for his father he would have been playing for Belgium instead of Nigeria at the international level.
Speaking to Super Eagles Media Officer, Ben Alaiya in Atlanta, United States during the international friendly against Mexico, Imoh said he was actually approached to fast-track his Belgian citizenship papers and he did not see anything wrong with it.
“Ordinarily, it takes three years of stay in Belgium to apply for citizenship but after two years I was called up to come and get the papers and I was excited by the offer. But when I called my dad back home in Nigeria, he told me not to because they were luring me with it so that I can play for Belgium. It took a long argument between both of us but at the end of the day I have to listen to my father”.
The stocky striker said the Belgian football authorities wanted him in their junior team immediately for him to blossom for the future, but pressure from Nigeria was also huge hence his change if mind. “I was encouraged then to join them because more than half of the Belgium national team players are not original indigenes of the country and I thought I could be one for the future but that has changed now that I have played for Nigeria”.
Speaking to Super Eagles Media Officer, Ben Alaiya in Atlanta, United States during the international friendly against Mexico, Imoh said he was actually approached to fast-track his Belgian citizenship papers and he did not see anything wrong with it.
“Ordinarily, it takes three years of stay in Belgium to apply for citizenship but after two years I was called up to come and get the papers and I was excited by the offer. But when I called my dad back home in Nigeria, he told me not to because they were luring me with it so that I can play for Belgium. It took a long argument between both of us but at the end of the day I have to listen to my father”.
The stocky striker said the Belgian football authorities wanted him in their junior team immediately for him to blossom for the future, but pressure from Nigeria was also huge hence his change if mind. “I was encouraged then to join them because more than half of the Belgium national team players are not original indigenes of the country and I thought I could be one for the future but that has changed now that I have played for Nigeria”.
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