Chelle – Why More Foreign Born Players Want To Play For Super Eagles

Head coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Eric Chelle has revealed what is attracting players born abroad to pledge their international future to his team, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Chelle has so far succeeded in luring the likes of Felix Agu, Ryan Alebiosu, Emmanuel Fernandez, Femi Azeez, Arthur Okonkwo and George Ilenikhena to switch their nationality to Nigeria.

The above mentioned players are expected to be in his squad for the upcoming AFCON qualifiers games against Madagascar and Guinea-Bissau respectively later this month.

According the coach players switching to African nations is now a common practice and Nigeria as a power house in African football can’t be an exception.

” If you look around Africa, it’s what is happening. From Morocco, Algeria, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Mali, Dr Congo, Cameroon. Everyone is doing it and a giant like Nigeria can’t be an exception”, Chelle told OwnGoalNigeria.com.

He however said being born abroad doesn’t guarantee a player an automatic spot in his team, and revealed that some players born abroad have been turned down for not been good enough.

” Even if you play for a top club you have to be of a certain level and standard to compete with the boys we have and you know we have the best players in Africa in almost every position. We have turned down some players for that reason”, he concluded.