FIFA have accepted the nationality change of Leicester forward Ademola Lookman after the player requested to represent Nigeria instead of England.
Lookman who was born in the United Kingdom to Nigerian parents, is one of the players who possesses dual citizenship and is eligible to play for either England or Nigeria.
He has thus far played for England at the youth level, featuring in the U19, U20 and U21 levels. The Leicester forward was part of the England squad that won the 2017 FIFA U20 World Cup which took place in South Korea.
However, in January of 2020, Lookman began to set in motion the requirements to facilitate a nationality change and pledge his allegiance to Nigeria from England.
Former Super Eagles technical assistant Tunde Adelakun revealed this to the media as per AOI:
“Lookman has applied for the switch and all the documents are in order. It’s a positive step forward when he made his commitment to Nigeria and we are just waiting for a Fifa clearance.
“Once the go-ahead is sorted, it will be up to coach Gernot Rohr to decide if his club performance would earn him a call-up.
“He’s one of three former England youth players we’ve filed for but they are all aware of the caveat. All the players were told that they can only earn a place in the squad by playing regular club football.”
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After almost two years since the statement, there was still no word on when Lookman would be eligible to play for Nigerian.
Nigerians were quick to raise questions when Lookman was amongst the players not called up to represent the country at the Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon.
The uproar forced the Nigerian Football governing body to clarify and educate Nigerians on the situation.
The Nigeria Football Federation revealed that Lookman was initially listed for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations but could not represent the three-time winners as Fifa had not sanctioned the request at the time.
“The Nigeria Football Federation has stated categorically that Ademola Lookman of Leicester City FC of England has not yet been cleared by world football body, Fifa to represent Nigeria at international level. The process for his switch is ongoing,” read a statement from NFF.
“It is therefore incorrect for any medium to claim that interim head coach, Austin Eguavoen is the one who axed the player from Nigeria’s final list of 28 for the Africa Cup of Nations Cameroon 2021.
“However, his name was included in the initial provisional list with the belief that the process would have been completed before the commencement of AFCON.”
Lookman is currently on loan to Leicester City from Leipzig. He has made 22 appearances in all competitions this season scoring five goals and providing thee assists.
The player spent last season on loan to Fulham in the Premier League but was unable to help keep them in the division as they were relegated.
Lookman joins Victor Moses, Sone Aluko, Ola Aina, Alex Iwobi amongst others who have had a nationality change and pledged their allegiance to Nigeria.
His availability will give Augustine Eguavoen and Emmanuel Amuneke a selection headache ahead of their World Cup qualifiers playoffs against Ghana in March.
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