In the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations final, Nigeria is expected to have a strong London connection, with several key players born in Britain likely to feature in the starting lineup against Ivory Coast.
The Nigerian squad boasts four players who were born in the boroughs of the British capital, as well as two other key regulars who have lived in London from an early age.
Among the English-born players in the Nigerian squad, Ola Aina, Semi Ajayi, and Ademola Lookman have made a significant contribution to Nigeria’s progress to the final.
Joe Aribo, who also hails from London and struggled with injury at the start of the tournament, has had limited game time but has made valuable contributions off the bench.
Lookman, who has scored three goals at the tournament, is proving to be an excellent partner in attack alongside Victor Osimhen, the African Footballer of the Year.
Aina, on the other hand, has emerged as arguably the best right-back of the tournament, while Ajayi has played every minute of the six games, proving his mettle as a center-back.
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Lookman, who is a product of Charlton Athletic’s academy, initially rejected Nigeria’s call to play for them, saying that he wanted to play for England.
However, he switched allegiance two years ago and has since become a regular player in the Nigerian squad.
Aina, who came through the Chelsea academy, was also an England youth international, while Ajayi was bought by Arsenal from Charlton but never played in the Premier League.
Calvin Bassey, who was born in Italy, was a junior product at Leicester City but played first at Glasgow Rangers and then at Ajax Amsterdam before joining Fulham, a London club.
Alex Iwobi, another regular in the Nigerian squad, represented England at youth level.
However, given that his uncle is ‘Jay-Jay’ Okocha, one of the Nigerian game’s greats, it was always likely that he would play for Nigeria.
It is worth noting that Nigeria was among the first countries to take players from the diaspora to the Cup of Nations finals.
In 1992, Reuben Agboola was part of the squad, while Efan Ekoku was in their winning squad of 1994.
Despite their dependence on European-born players, Nigeria’s reliance on local talent has not been as marked as that of some of Africa’s other heavyweights, such as Algeria, Morocco, and Senegal, who have increasingly had fewer locally-born players in their teams.
