AFCON 2021: Why Ademola Lookman won’t play for Super Eagles – NFF

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) says Ademola Lookman will not play for the country at the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, because he is yet to get clearance from FIFA.

The Leicester City winger in the past, represented England at U-19, U-20 and U-21 levels.

However, in October, Lookman applied to switch his allegiance to Nigeria, where his parents come from.

This is why ex-Super Eagles coach, Gernot Rohr, included the 24-year-old in the initial provisional list for the AFCON.

However, NFF, in a statement on Thursday, said “The Nigeria Football Federation has stated categorically that Ademola Lookman of Leicester City has not yet been cleared by World Football body, FIFA to represent Nigeria at International level.

“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.”