Ikpeba, Super Eagles not too big for home-based players

When the home-based players fumbled badly at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations Championship in Morocco, most of us were so disappointed that we vowed never to advocate their inclusion in the main Super Eagles again. Under the guidance of Coach Eric Chelle, the CHAN Eagles struggled significantly in Group D. Their campaign was marked […]

When the home-based players fumbled badly at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations Championship in Morocco, most of us were so disappointed that we vowed never to advocate their inclusion in the main Super Eagles again. Under the guidance of Coach Eric Chelle, the CHAN Eagles struggled significantly in Group D. Their campaign was marked by lack of clinical finishing and defensive errors. A narrow loss in the opening match to defending champions, Senegal set a difficult tone for them. And a shocking 0-4 loss to Sudan effectively sealed their early exit as the 2-0 win over Congo in the final group match counted for nothing more than national pride.

The abysmal performance of the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) players attracted wide condemnation from Nigerian football fans, who attributed the show of shame to faulty team selection as the decision by the coach to select almost the entire team from a single club failed to yield the expected result. For those who have forgotten, more than half of the team was made up of players from one NPFL club – Remo Stars – who had just won the 2024/2025 title.

When the team crashed, most fans concluded that there were better players who could have performed far above those the coach had selected for the tournament. Consequently, there were deafening calls for the players who had disgraced Nigeria – one of the African heavyweights in football – to be banned from playing for the national team.

It was in the midst of this uproar that some of us who are living witnesses to the embarrassing performances of the home-based players in recent competitions decided that it was better to lower the tone of calls for the home-based players to be integrated into the main Super Eagles. Before now, many of us had consistently called on coaches of the senior national team to emulate Dutchman Clemence Westerhof who built his 1994 AFCON-winning team around home-based players. Moreover, when Stephen Keshi of blessed memory followed in the footsteps of Westerhof, he also won the AFCON in 2013. Therefore, the victories in 1994 and 2013 underscored the need for local players to be given a chance to play for the Super Eagles.

However, going by their recent shambolic performances in CAF Inter-club competitions and CHAN, a huge shadow of doubt now looms over their suitability for the Super Eagles. Many football fans, especially those who have lost faith in the domestic league, believe the league is bereft of the abilities that helped players like Moses Kpakor, Thompson Oliha, Yisa Sofoluwe, Uche Okechukwu, Daniel Amokachi, Ben Iroha, Herbert Anijekwu, Isaac Semitoje, and a host of others, to play for the Super Eagles, even when they were still playing in the domestic league. Sadly, in recent times, some NPFL players got the same opportunity, but most of them failed to grab the chances with both hands. Before he left the NPFL, a player like Ismaila Sodiq was given an ample opportunity to tie down a shirt in the Super Eagles, but he allowed it to slip through his fingers.

It was against this background that a former Super Eagles player and winner of the prestigious African Footballer of the Year Award, Victor Nosa Ikpeba, attempted to nail the coffin of home-based players when he emphatically declared that the senior national team was too big for the local boys. The legend, who was speaking on a popular TV show, Monday Night Football, said Chelle did nothing wrong by excluding home-based players from the squad for the 2025 AFCON in Morocco. He stressed that the national team was not a place for trial-and-error with players. Interestingly, his honest comments were countered by a co-analyst, Segun Agbede, popularly called “the Guru,” who insisted that home-based players must be included in the Super Eagles.

Although I am one of those who have consistently questioned the quality of the domestic league and its players, I want to slightly disagree with the legendary Ikepba, who thinks only foreign-based players are good enough for the Super Eagles. Of course, after so many decades, the standard of the local league has refused to improve, but that is not enough reason to conclude that no talented players can be discovered in it.

I want to queue behind “the Guru” who was courageous enough to challenge the outright condemnation or disdain for local players by Ikpeba, who started his professional career at ACB FC Lagos. Accepted, most of the players in the NPFL lack the exposure and experience of foreign-based players, but some can compete favourably with their foreign counterparts. After all, some of the players in Europe who are preferred to the local boys hardly measure up when invited to play for the Super Eagles.

Personally, I condemned the decision by Chelle to completely shut out local players because I knew he wasn’t going to use some of the foreign-based players he had included in the list. As I predicted, players like Usman Mohammed, Salim Fago Lawal, Amas Obasogie and Ebenezer Akinsanmiro, warmed the bench in Morocco. So, it would have been better or more profitable for him to take along local boys for them to get the necessary exposure. Even if they didn’t play, they would have at least felt the AFCON atmosphere, inspiring them to aspire to become big players in future.

Ikpeba, who I adore so much, may disagree with me, but I insist that the NPFL is not without quality players. It is the failure of the organisers to upgrade the NPFL that makes many conclude that it is totally unproductive. Once we look beyond the poor organisation to the potential in the league, we would begin to identify those players who need only a little refining to become superstars.

So, even as it is tempting to go with Ikpeba on his uncompromising position on the local boys, we must avoid comments that are capable of killing the morale of the players, who are doing their best to get national team invitations. It is not wrong to criticise the players – trying hard to make us believe that as local players, the NPFL stars are either worthless or do not stand any chance of playing for the Super Eagles – but this is dangerous to their professional aspirations.

In addition, Mr Ikpeba bragged to the “Guru” when he said: “I have been there;” which suggested that only those who have played international football know what it takes to play for the Super Eagles. I beg to differ. Even those who never kicked an object in the name of football are knowledgeable in the sport. In fact, some football fans can discuss tactics and techniques more than some trained coaches. So, the knowledge of football is not an exclusive preserve of former players. I, therefore, say no to discrimination against local players.