Switzerland World Cup Star Akanji: NFF Never Invited Me To Play For Super Eagles

One of the young stars of the ongoing 2018 World Cup, Manuel Akanji, has disclosed that he was never contacted by the Nigeria Football Federation before he made his international bow for Switzerland against Faroe Islands in June 2017.

The central defender has stressed that he does not regret committing his international future to the Swiss, pointing out that they reached the last sixteen of the World Cup while the Super Eagles were knocked out in group stage.

''Nigeria never called me to come and play for them. So, it was never a question to be answered because Switzerland called me to play for them and I accepted,''  Akanji told The Cable.

''No regret at all for not playing for Nigeria. We came into the next round, Nigeria didn’t. And it was my decision. I don’t know if I would have played for Nigeria if I had been invited or not. Really I don’t know.

''I don’t have to think about if they called me because they did not call me. My parents never discussed with me where I should play or not. They just told me to do whatever I want to do. They always support me all the time no matter what I do.''

Akanji's father is from the Yoruba speaking part of Nigeria and his mom is from Oberwinterthur in Switzerland.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel