If there’s a sport that Nigerians are great at, it’s football. Nigerians have been tearing it up in Europe since the 90s; from Jay Jay Okocha who played in Ligue 1 and the Premier League, to Kanu Nwankwo who won the Champions League with Ajax and the Premier League with Arsenal. Even in this era, Nigerians are still tearing it up in Europe so we made a list of the best-performing Nigerians in the Bundesliga. Let’s dive right in.
1. Victor Boniface (Bayer Leverkusen)
Probably the most famous Nigerian in the Bundesliga, Boniface has been nothing short of phenomenal ever since he joined Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen. The 23-year-old was scoring goals for fun in the Bundesliga before he suffered a groin injury in January that has kept him out of action for months. The Ondo-born striker had 10 goals and seven assists in 16 appearances for Bayer Leverkusen in the Bundesliga before his injury in January.
He has four goals and one assist in five matches in the Europa League and two goals in two appearances in the DFB-Pokal making a total of 16 goals and eight assists in 23 appearances for the club. He basically took ownership of the Rookie of the Month awards ever since he joined Bayer Leverkusen as he won the award five times consecutively from August till December. Boniface is set to make a return to football soon as he has started training with the squad again. He’ll probably continue from where stopped in terms of goals when he gets back.
2. Nathan Tella (Bayer Leverkusen)
Nathan Adewale Temidayo Tella also plays for Bayer Leverkusen in the Bundesliga and currently has five goals and two assists despite only starting three games so far in the League. He plays as an attacking midfielder or right winger and has played in 18 games for Leverkusen of which he has won 17 with the club which now holds the record for the longest unbeaten run in Europe. He also has one goal and one assist for the club in the Europa League. Leverkusen are set to win the Bundesliga for the first time in their history and Tella has played an important part in that even as a substitute, coming in to score important goals for the club.
3. Karim Adeyemi ( Borussia Dortmund)
Karim represents Germany but he is of Nigerian descent being born to a Nigerian father and Romanian mother in Munich, Germany. The 27-year-old striker has four goal contributions (three goals and one assist) in 16 Bundesliga appearances for Dortmund this season as well as two goals and one assist in the Champions League. Do you think we will ever see Adeyemi in a Nigerian shirt?
Other Nigerians in the Bundesliga include
Felix Uduokhai (FC Augsburg)
Felix Agu (Werder Bremen)
Noah Sarenren Bazee (FC Augsburg)
Justin Njimah (Werder Bremen)
Nnamdi Collins (Borussia Dortmund)
Noah Atubolu (SC Freiburg)
These players are not cap-tied yet and are still eligible to play for Nigeria and we may yet see some of them in a Nigerian shirt.