Former Super Eagles and Juventus midfielder Sunday Oliseh has weighed in on Maduka Okoye’s omission from Nigeria’s 28-man AFCON 2025 squad, Soccernet.ng reports.
Coach Eric Chelle initially released a 54-man preliminary list two weeks ago, just before captain William Troost-Ekong announced his retirement from the Nigerian National team.
Stanley Nwabali’s wrist and ankle injuries meant the Udinese goalkeeper finally had his chance to reclaim the number one spot for Nigeria heading into the AFCON tournament, considering he was already included in the preliminary squad.
However, the final list saw many big-name omissions, although several reports claimed the Germany-born Nigerian opted out after he wasn’t promised the starting role in Morocco.
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AFCON 2025: Sunday Oliseh weighs in on Maduka Okoye’s absence
Given the presumption that Okoye opted out over playing time differences, many have questioned the goalkeeper’s patriotism.
Oliseh, who led the Super Eagles to three World Cup tournaments and an AFCON title, revealed that the Udinese goalkeeper is not to be blamed, stating the position gets a different treatment away from outfield players.
“The goalkeeper, they are a different race. The goalkeeper is a totally different species. It’s a different race,” the former Borussia Dortmund midfielder said on Sunday Oliseh’s Global Football Show.
“The way you manage the goalkeeper is not the way they manage players. Goalkeepers must know in advance whether they will play or not. That is how it’s going to be.
“Going specifically now to Okoye, the last game he played for Nigeria, I remember this boy being torn into bits online, online, television, everywhere.
“He was so much destroyed that I remember looking at it and saying, If this boy were my son. I will tell him now, go and stop playing. Just go make your life again. Forget it.
“Now, if you look at it from the man’s point of view, Okoye is now at Udinese. He is doing very well. He’s now finally got his act back together.
“That is why we invite, that is why he’s even on the list of being invited. Because he has now worked himself back up, you know, and people did not even look at it that as, at the time Okoye was keeping for Nigeria, the defence was not really what it was, so he was a lot exposed, and of course he made some errors too, but he was exposed.
“Now, having fought himself back to this point. His coming now to play at the AFCON at a time when the league is still on in Europe means that he will be losing his place at Udinese.
“If this player now comes to the Super Eagles and you don’t play him. Once again, you destroy this man because what happens is that now he will not play here.
“He will go back to his club. God forbid the goalkeeper who took his place has done well in a few games.
“They will not tell him, sorry, you went for AFCON, now you sit on the bench. The man is tied down.
“So that is why it’s not the goalkeepers, we tell the goalkeepers in advance, you’re going to keep, because they have a special way of working.
“We always have a number one goalkeeper and an assistant. And even when they are doing their training sessions, the goalkeeper who is number one trains differently from the others. He’s the focus of attention. That’s why I say they’re different, especially.
“If truly, he said, I’m not coming, I can understand it. Now I know people will say Yeah, but it’s unpatriotic, but let’s not exaggerate.
“We’ve seen people who have been patriotic and have even died, and they refused to bury them. People are not slaves or to be used,” the one-time Bundesliga winner concluded.
Despite the buzz of AFCON being around the corner, the former Watford goalkeeper has kept his head down. He was instrumental and kept a clean sheet in Udinese’s 1-0 win over Napoli a week ago.