THE UNKNOWN STORY BEHIND THE FRIENDSHIP OF SUPER EAGLES STARS’ DADS, CHUKA IWOBI AND FEMI AINA
-How they influenced their children to choose Nigeria over England
The duo of Alex Iwobi and Ola Aina are two of the stars the Nigerian senior national team, the Super Eagles will be banking on to excel at the upcoming FIFA World Cup in Russia. What a lot of people do not know is that away from football, the fathers of these rising stars are close friends and were very instrumental to their sons representing Nigeria instead of England.
Alex Iwobi, who was born in Lagos in 1996 could have opted to play for England, having been living there since the age of 4 but was prevailed upon both by his dad, Chuka Iwobi and his uncle, former Super Eagles captain, Austin Jay Jay Okocha. The story is not so different for Temitayo Olufisayo Olaoluwa Aina, popularly known as Ola Aina. Born in Southwark, England on October 8, 1996, he represented England at junior international levels and was naturally expected to have opted to represent England at senior level but was said to have been advised by his father, Femi Aina instead to choose Nigeria.
While Alex currently plays for English premiership giants, Arsenal Football Club, Ola is currently on loan at Hull City, from another premiership giant, Chelsea Football Club.
Both Mr. Iwobi and Mr. Aina are said to be quite close and passionate about football, they were recently spotted together seeing off their wards at the airport as the footballs were jetting out to join their team mates for a friendly match between Nigeria and Poland, in Wroclaw, Poland.