Al-Kholood central defender William Troost-Ekong was a surprising inclusion in the Super Eagles squad for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast.
He played a key role in last year’s competition, captaining the Super Eagles to the final, earning Player of the Tournament honours, and becoming Afcon’s highest-scoring defender in history with three goals in six starts.
Troost-Ekong had been in international wilderness before the Afcon, making just a solitary appearance for the Super Eagles out of a possible eleven across eighteen months.
The 31-year-old was not invited for the Africa Cup of Nations qualifying matches with Guinea Bissau and was an unused substitute in back-to-back games against Sierra Leone and São Tomé and Príncipe in the summer of 2023.
He was left out of the squad for the international friendlies against Saudi Arabia and Mozambique in October 2023 and was snubbed again the following month when Peseiro announced his roster for the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.
Troost-Ekong revealed that he fell out with former Super Eagles coach Peseiro before the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast and was prevented by the Nigeria Football Federation from announcing his retirement from international football.
In a no-holds-barred interview with Fozcast – The Ben Foster Podcast, Troost-Ekong detailed why he fell out with the Portuguese football tactician.
“I had fallen out with the coach earlier, he didn’t call me for the last three camps before the tournament and that was because in June, there was a game which wasn’t very important. I had just come back from injury, was playing at Salernitana in Italy at the time,” Troost-Ekong explained.
“We just had a baby, our third child. I hadn’t been home so my wife was saying to me I would like you to be here. I called the coach, I would come to play, obviously it’s a big honour, but if I’m not going to play just let me know because I would prefer to stay home, I haven’t seen my family.
He said you need to be here, sat on the bench for two games. I had absolutely head loss and then we played again in September and we played in my home state which is Uyo so all the fans were excited to see me there to play.
“We were 6-0 up and people were chanting my name as I was warming up. I was looking at the gaffer, just put me on for five minutes, this is what the people want. He didn’t do that again so I got to a point, have you got a problem I don’t really understand.
“I don’t think he really liked that I confronted him. Then I got to a point where I thought I might actually stop playing international football.”
He continued: “I left England again so I am away a lot. I’d written my resignation letter to thank anyone and then I spoke to the Federation one more time I am going to put this out a month before the Afcon list comes out, so it doesn’t look like I’m doing it because I’m not going to the tournament.
They told me to hold on, so the manager called me and he said I need advice on how I need to do the training camp before the tournament and I was like why is he asking me? He said make sure you are there before January 3, we are meeting in Abu Dhabi. Not any chance for an apology.
“I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it. We had the last friendly game before the tournament and all the subs played. I was in the team so I played, I had the game of my life, like when you’re angry and ready to destroy the world.”
Troost-Ekong’s performance at the Afcon was truly remarkable, considering the fact that he was forced to play through the pain barrier in the knockout rounds, having suffered a hamstring injury in a group game against Ivory Coast.
Explaining why he was named in the starting lineup for Nigeria’s opener against dark horses Equatorial Guinea, he stated: “And then we got to the training before the opening game of the tournament, he pulled me over to the side and said, ‘listen I think you are going to play tomorrow, not because you are better than the other guys but I need some experience in the team’.
“I came back, I told the boys, they were laughing, I had like head loss again. We played the first game. We drew 1-1, we had like ten chances, we only managed to score one. They had like a long distance shot or good solo whatever.”
Troost-Ekong continues to enjoy the support of the Nigeria Football Federation and the coaching staff, and was among the two players who played the full duration of every match in the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.
