Football fans are used to seeing people of one nationality playing for other nationalities other than theirs. The phenomenon is easily picked out, thanks to differing skin colours.
Examples abound in the French National team which boasts of more than 40 percent of black skinned players. As much as the phenomenon is most common among European teams, it is also found in African teams. Most of the time though, this is Africa to Africa movement.
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In the Nigerian team, there have also been people of dual nationalities who have chosen to play for Nigeria ahead of the other nation. Most of them have black skins. There are a few however, who have white skins – and can pass for Oyinbo – who have been included in the team. Here are just three of them:
1. Reuben Agboola
Probably the first oyinbo to play for Nigeria. He was introduced to the team by German coach Clemens Westerhof in 1991. He went on to make eight more appearances for Nigeria including seven at the Nations Cup in Senegal in 1992.
Reuben Agboola was born in London to a Nigerian father and an English mother. He began his footballing career at Southampton – joining as a youth in 1978 and eventually signing a professional contract in 1980.
He played as a defender alongside the late Eagles captain Stephen Keshi, who went on to become a coach and Austin Eguavoen and Uche Okechukwu.
2.Peter Odemwingie
Odemwingie was born in Tashkent, Uzbek SSR, Soviet Union to a Nigerian father and a Russian mother who were both medical students. He moved with his family to Nigeria when he was only two years old before returning to Russia to complete his secondary education.
He wore the Nigerian jersey for the first time in 2002 when he came in as a substitute in a match against Kenya.
Nigeria went ahead to win the game 3–0 victory.
He scored his first goal in the 2004 Nations cup qualifying match against Angola. In the finals, he scored in the 80th and 82nd minute against South Africa. At the 2006 Africa Cup of Nations, he played in the semi-final as the Super Eagles lost to Côte d’Ivoire 1–0. He has gone ahead to play 60 more games for Nigeria and has scored eight more times to have a total of 10 goals and 63 caps so far.
3. Carl Ikeme
Ikeme was born in England. Despite having manned the goalpost for about eight English clubs, he has only won four caps for Nigeria.
Ikeme was born in Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands, England and was eligible to represent England or Nigeria at international level. He chose Nigeria, and was first called up to the Super Eagles squad in 2007. He made his international debut for Nigeria on September 5, 2015 against Tanzania in a 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualification game.
4. Leon Balogun
Like Ikeme, Balogun has only won four caps for Nigeria. The 28-year-old defender was born in Germany to a Nigerian father and a German mother. He played for Nigerian for the first time in a friendly match against Mexico in March 2014. He played only for twenty minutes before he was stretchered out for an injury that kept him on the sidelines for about three months. He has played for Nigeria three times after the injury.
5. William Troost-Ekong
Even though he has played for the Netherlands in the age group stages, Ekong made his senior international debut for Nigeria in 2015.
The 23-year-old was born to a Nigerian father, and Dutch mother. He made the final Nigerian squad for the 2016 Summer Olympics. He played every minute at the Rio Olympics men’s football event in the colours of Nigeria, eventually winning the bronze medal at the games.
