Leicester City striker, Ademola Lookman, has been cleared by FIFA on Thursday to switch his nationality and play for Super Eagles of Nigeria instead of England.
Lookman, who is currently on loan at Leicester from RB Leipzig, is a frequent starter for the premier league side and has played at the highest level, having also featured for Everton earlier in his career.
The London native, who was born to Nigerian parents, has not represented England’s senior team, but was an Under-19, Under-20, and Under-21 youth international. He was part of the squad that won the Under-20 World Cup in 2017.
According to The Associated Press, FIFA approved the switch today, February 10.
Lookman came up the youth ranks at Charlton Athletic FC and featured for the England youth teams alongside other players of Nigerian descent like Tammy Abraham and Bukayo Saka, both deciding to stick with the Three Lions.
He has played 22 times under Brendan Rodgers this season, scoring 5 goals and making 3 assists.
He had previously expressed his wish to switch allegiance from England to Nigeria but different administrative bottlenecks meant that FIFA delayed his paperwork and he could not feature earlier.
The striker might get an immediate invite with the Super Eagles playing against Ghana in March.
Nigeria face a two-legged play-off against Ghana to qualify for this winter’s World Cup in Qatar.
“New Eagle Alert! Ka bo @molalookman,” the Super Eagles wrote on its Instagram page on Thursday evening alongside the player’s photo. “Let’s show him love people.”
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Ademola Lookman‘s switch follows Alex Iwobi, who declared for Nigeria after representing England at junior level in 2015, and Joe Aribo, who grew up in neighboring Camberwell.
Sone Aluko, Victor Moses, Shola Ameobi, and Ola Aina have also all successfully swapped nationalities to Nigeria.
