Akpoguma to play for Nigeria after FIFA approval

World football governing body, FIFA, has approved the application of defender, Kevin Akpoguma to switch international allegiance from Germany to Nigeria.

The announcement was made by the President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Amaju Pinnick via his official Twitter page on Monday evening.

“I’m extremely happy to announce that @FIFAcom has just granted Hoffenheim defender and former German U-20 national team skipper Kevin Ufuoma Akpoguma permission to make his switch to Nigeria with immediate effect,” Pinnick tweeted.

The NFF had earlier announced in the statement on Wednesday that the 25-year-old defender, who was not invited for the friendly matches against Algeria and Tunisia – had joined the Eagles camp in Austria to familiarise with the team set-up while awaiting FIFA clearance, The Punch reports.

Akpoguma, who has a Nigerian father and a German mother, had in 2018 first signified his intention to play for the Eagles.

Eagles coach Gernot Rohr however told BBC in September that he had convinced the defender to play for Nigeria.

Akpoguma represented Germany from U-16 level to the U-21s, and captained the German U-20 side at the 2015 U-20 World Cup in New Zealand, helping the Europeans beat Nigeria’s U-20 side 1-0 in the Round of 16.