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CLUB WORLD CUP

Nigeria’s amazing connection at 2022 FIFA Club World Cup

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There is no Nigerian clubside at the on-going FIFA Club World Cup in Morocco. But the influence of Nigeria here in Tangier and Rabat is very apparent.

The 2022 edition holding in 2023 have seen an amazing Nigerian connection in the seven-match series.

So far, there have been five matches while the last two will be the final game and the classification duel on Saturday.

The Nigerian connection at the Club World Cup have manifested in three out of the five matches and will again come to fore in the final match.

Three of the five matches so far have produced winners who are parentally connected with Nigeria.

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Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal featured the internationally retired Nigerian striker, Odion Ighalo in their penalty shootout victory over Wydad Casablanca on Saturday.

In the first semi-final match, it was a team having Nigeria’s Ighalo that won as Al Hilal edged out Brazil’s Flamengo.

In the second semi-final, Real Madrid had David Alaba, an Austrian citizen of Nigerian parentage. Real Madrid expectedly won in the third match of the five games played so far in the Club World Cup.

The final match on Saturday will see two players of Nigerian roots featuring for each of the two teams. What ever the result, a player of the Nigerian roots will be victorious!

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Kunle Solaja is the author of landmark books on sports and journalism as well as being a multiple award-winning journalist and editor of long standing. He is easily Nigeria’s foremost soccer diarist and Africa's most capped FIFA World Cup journalist, having attended all FIFA World Cup finals from Italia ’90 to Qatar 2022. He was honoured at the Qatar 2022 World Cup by FIFA and AIPS.

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