FIFA Super Stars U-20 List

• Samson Siasia

Samson Siasia also played in two editions of the FIFA Under-20 World Cup (1983 and 1985) before moving up to the National team where he played for 11 years, scoring in the 1994 World Cup loss to Argentina, winning Gold, Silver and Bronze in three African Nations Cups. He is recognized as the third leading scorer for the National Team.

At club level, he played for a number of clubs in Belgium, France (notably Lokeren and Nantes FC, where he became league champion in 1994-95), Australia, Portugal, Saudi Arabia and Israel.

He has had a very impressive coaching career since. Winning the African Under-20 Championship gold, silver at the World Cup as well as silver at the Olympics football event amongst several others.

•  Joseph Yobo

Despite starting out at the 1999 Under-20 World Cup as a striker, Joseph Yobo played most of his career as a defender in five countries across Europe for Standard Liege in Belgium, Marseille in France, Tenerife in Spain, Everton and Norwich City in England, as well as Fenerbache in Turkey.

In 2007, he became the first African to captain Everton FC, and was also one of only seven players in the entire league to play every minute of every game throughout the 2006–2007 English Premier League Season. Until 2012, he was the record appearance holder for an overseas player at Everton. However, the Turkish Süper Lig and Turkish Cup (twice) are the only trophies he has won at club level, despite his travels.

He was the captain of the Nigerian national team until his international football retirement in June 2014, and he is the most capped Nigerian player and the first to make a century of appearances, playing at three FIFA World Cups and six Africa Cup of Nations tournaments, winning the African competition just once.

•  Mutiu Adepoju

Popularly referred to as “the headmaster” for his uncanny ability to score with his head, Mutiu Adepoju is fondly remembered for his brace against the United States in the 1989 edition of the FIFA World Youth Championship, which ensured passage to the final. He was promoted to the Senior National team where he played for 12 years, featuring in Nigeria’s first three world Cups as well as winning an African Nations Trophy, Silver and Bronze in the three editions he took part, scoring decisive goals along the way.

Adepoju joined Real Madrid but stayed in the B-Team in his three years at the club before moving to Real Santander and later Real Sociedad, all in Spain. He also played for several other clubs in Turkey and Cyprus.

• John Obi Mikel

Raised John Michael Nchekwube Obinna, the Nigerian Football Association mistakenly submitted his name as “Mikel” instead of “Michael” (and he decided to keep the new name) when he featured in the 2003 FIFA Under-17 World before joining Norway’s Lyn Oslo.

Two years later, he stormed the World stage with the Flying Eagles and emerged the Silver Ball winner at the 2015 FIFA Under-20 World Cup in Holland, where his talent in a silver-winning performance resulted in a protracted battle between English giants Manchester United and Chelsea FC for his services.

Mikel joined Chelsea in the end and has in 9 years won almost every accolade in European Club football including the UEFA Champions League and Europa Cup, two Premier league titles, four FA Cups, a League Cup and a Community Shield.

He was named Chelsea Young Player of the Year for two years in a row – 2007 and 2008. On the African scene he was also named African Young Player for the years 2005 and 2006.

A somewhat controversial personality at international level Mikel in 2013, became an African Nation’s Cup winner and played at the World Cup the next year after making his Super Eagles debut almost 10 years earlier.

• Nduka Ugbade

Current Assistant Coach of the Flying Eagles to New Zealand 2015, Nduka Ugbade came to prominence when he captained a group of schoolboys to win the maiden edition of the (then) U-16 World Youth Championship in China 30 years ago.

 He underlined his potentials when he featured in two editions of the World Under-20 World Cup (1987 and 1989) before joining the senior national team.

Ugbade joined Castellon in Spain after Saudi ’89 and moved to Real Aviles two years later. He later featured in the Singaporean, Malaysian, Isreali and Danish leagues before he hung up his boots and went on to obtain his coaching badge in Ireland.

• Jonathan Akpoborie

Jonathan Akpoborie featured for the Flying Eagles at the 1987 FIFA World Youth Championship in Chile two years after scoring in the final match to help Nigeria win the first edition of the (then) FIFA U-16 Championship in 1985. This earned him a scholarship to play college soccer in the United States. But he left the United States for Germany (where his career really blossomed) after only a year.

For a player with more than 100 goals in the German leagues with the likes of FC Saarbrucken, Carl Zeiss Jena, Stuttgart Kickers, Waldhof Mannheim, Hansa Rostock and VfB Stuttgart, Akpoborie was somewhat a peripheral figure on the international circuit.

He was in the Super Eagles’ teams at the 1992 and 2000 Africa Cup of Nations where he won bronze and silver respectively. In between, he was surprisingly dropped from Nigeria’s 1998 FIFA World Cup team, despite playing in five of the six qualification matches, as well as being the joint second top scorer in that year’s UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup tournament and one of only two Nigerian footballers to play in a European Cup final that year. Now a Licensed players’ agent and TV Sports pundit, Akpoborie finished his playing career at 2002.

•  Julius Aghahowa

Despite the quarter-final exit, hitherto unknown Julius Aghahowa had left a big enough impression during the FIFA Under-20 World Cup of 1999 to warrant being drafted into the Super Eagles just under a year later. And he was simply an instant hit, scoring three goals in his first two games during the 2000 African Nations Cup, his brace taking the Eagles past Senegal in the Quarterfinals.

Overall, he played in four African Cup of Nations, the 2000 Olympics football event and the 2002 World Cup. He scored 14 goals in 32 matches for the national team including Nigeria’s solitary goal at the 2002 World Cup and was Nigeria’s top goal scorer at the 2002 African Nations Cup.

His club career did not quite hit the same heights. He played top-flight football in Tunisia, Ukraine, England and Turkey for the likes of Esperance, Shahktar Donetsk, Wigan and Kayserispor, winning the Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle, four Ukrainian Premier League and two Ukrainian Cups.

Going by the team’s antecedent, composition and performances, there is a feeling of near-certainty that the current flying Eagles team can go all the way to win this year’s FIFA Under-20 World Cup for the first time. What is not certain, however, is which of the players in this team will last the distance by equaling and hopefully surpassing the achievements of the aforementioned former youth internationals.