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In the fold of football, the reward of hardwork and consistency is rewarded time and over with titles, trophies and cup triumphs alike across footballing nations and continents.
The 2023/2024 football campaign is now gradually drawing the curtains. Club sides continue to add trophies to their catalogs and their players not left aside in receiving medals for their laurels.
Here, amongst the vast contingent of players to have partaken in a title winning campaign, we take a look at Nigerian international players that have also achieved this feat.
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Wilfred Ndidi (Leicester City)
The Foxes have returned to the English top flight after just a season away under the tutelage of Italian gaffer Enzo Maresca.
Under him, Ndidi’s role has now somewhat evolved from the play-breaking defensive midfielder many are familiar with.
The tactician has opted to have English international Harry Winks at the base of his midfield, he’s now modeled Ndidi into a more mobile 8 and rounds up the midfield trio with Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall.
Leicester strolled to the SkyBet Championship title with a commanding 97-point tally despite a shaky start to the season.
Ndidi himself racked up 4 goals and 5 assists in this new role across the league campaign. An unfortunate injury saw him miss out of the Ivory Coast held final in which the Super Eagles of Nigeria finished as runner-up.
Kelechi Iheanacho (Leicester City)
The 27-year-old Kelechi Iheanacho or “Senior man Kelz” as popularly called was also a part of the 2023/2024 Leicester City title winning squad. As witnessed by most of his career with the Foxes, the former Manchester City man has found it difficult to nail down a starting shirt. This campaign, he amassed just a miserly 915 minutes over a 46-game season. In all, he registered 10 league starts and followed it up with five goals.
Recall, Kelechi Iheanacho received the Golden Ball award at the 2013 U17 world cup in UAE which earned him a move to English giants Manchester City.
William Troost-Ekong (PAOK Thessaloniki FC)
The Nigerian skipper was named most valuable player in the Ivory Coast held Africa Cup of Nations earlier this year. Prior to the tournament, the former Watford man was a strong part of the PAOK side that blazed through the Greek Super League 1.
Having played through the Cup of Nations with injury, the recuperation process from a corrective surgery left him out of contention as the club fought to cart the prized league trophy.
In all his racked up 22 appearances for the club including stints in the UEFA conference league.
Peter Oladeji Olayinka (FK Crvena Zvezda)
The 4-time capped Nigeria international left Czech outfit Slavia Prague after 5 years last month. His 182 game stint accumulated half a century of goals for the club side.
Last summer however, the Ibadan-born forward made the switch to Serbia to join FK Crvena Zvezda on a free transfer. In his first campaign, he’s already won the Serbian Super Liga.
Olayinka’s first season followed with 10 goals in just over 40 appearances. Also taking part in their champions league campaign where they finished last in a group spanning Manchester City, RB Leipzig and Young Boys from Switzerland.
Victor Okoh Boniface (Bayer 04 Leverkusen)
Boniface, 23, was one of many faces to join Xabi Alonso’s title winning Bayer 04 Leverkusen over the summer. Boniface arrived with high pedigree from Royal Union Saint Gilloise in Belgium having finished the previous season with the joint most goals in the UEFA Europa League.
Further, Boniface’s rich vein of form kickstarted the club’s unbeaten run for the entire campaign. The former Bodoø/Glimt forward won the rookie of the month award on four occasions and eventually added the rookie of the year to his portfolio. Across the 2023/2024 campaign, he recorded 14 goals and 8 assists in just 18 starts.
Nathan Adewale Temitayo Tella (Bayer 04 Leverkusen)
The 24-year-old player, Nathan Tella opted for the Nigerian national team last year and despite getting a first call-up earlier in November 2023, he was eventually overlooked for the Africa Cup of Nations tournament in Ivory Coast.
Tella, 24, was a big part of Vincent Kompany’s championship winning Burnley squad and proceeded to join Leverkusen on loan for this campaign. Tella found starting berths rare to come by in the domestic league featuring from the bench in 16 of his 24 appearances in the Bundesliga. He became more frequent in the journey to the Europa league final making 8 starts for the club side.
Tella will return to Southampton on the completion of his loan.
Victor Olatunji (Sparta Prague)
Following stints with AEK Lanarca in Cyprus and Slovan Liberec in Czech, Nigerian forward Olatunji opted to join Czech heavyweights Sparta Prague for the 2023/2024 season. Olatunji featured mostly of the bench in an impact player role as the club side fought their way to the Europa league title. Their Europa league campaign ended at the hands of Liverpool in the round of 16, with Olatunji coming on for a 16 minute cameo in the initial tie.
Arguably one of his best performances came in February against former side Slovan Liberec where he found a goal and assist in their 2-1 victory. In addition to his title winning medal, Olatunji topped off the season with 8 goals across his 46 appearances.
Some other names that fall into this category include:
Francis Ezeh – Eyupspor.
Tosin Kehinde – Ferencvarosi.
Elvis Isaac – Slovan Bratislava.
Sunday Adetunji – Celje.
Hamzan Sani – Hamrun Spartans.
Peter Onyekachi – Ironi Kiryat Shmona.
Samson Ajayi – Lincoln Red Imps.
Jude Airaodion – Al Nasr.
Toheeb Lawal – Eyupspor.
Stephen Daniel – Komarno.
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