By Shereefdeen Ahmad
The name ‘William Troost-Ekong’ will ring a bell in the minds of every fan of Nigeria’s Super Eagles. Due to his remarkable performance at the just concluded 2023 TotalEnergies African Cup of Nations in Cotê d’Ivoire, the 30-year-old central defender has painted an indelible memory of himself on the golden wall of Nigerian football history.
But Troost-Ekong didn’t just achieve the feat on a platter of gold. His road to the journey of the football world was littered with potholes of resistance, rejections and failures.
Born on 1st September 1993 in Haarlem, Netherlands, William Troost-Ekong grew up as the eldest sibling in a family that includes a sister, Emily and a brother, Everest—all nurtured within a culturally rich Dutch-Nigerian household in Netherland.
His love for football was evident from his childhood, unfortunately, his father never believed in that conviction. Instead, he wanted his son to go to school and study to become a medical doctor.
Trading Education With Football: Ekong’s Journey to England
At the age of 12, Ekong’s father decided to send him to a boarding school in England. At this point, the young boy thought his passion for the game of soccer was completely buried, now that he has to stay within four walls of the classroom to grapple with textbooks instead of football.
Meanwhile, Ekong got to England and instead of focusing on his studies and gaining admission to the university, he drenched himself with the idea of becoming a professional footballer, abandoning his education and focusing on playing football.
His father thought his son was soaked in education and working hard to gain admission into the university. However, after three years of staying in England, Ekong returned home with documents to gain admission into a football Academy. This step infuriated his father who refused to sign the documents.
The clock was ticking and the time for Ekong to get his parents’ signature to process the admission into the academy was running out. With barely 24 hours to the deadline, Ekong was reconciling himself to the fate of not continuing the journey he had always dreamt about, the envision of playing at stadiums with thousands of spectators and the joy of putting pen on the Jerseys of football fans.
But then, a glimmer of hope flickered for Ekong, when his mother, who had always supported his football dreams, signed the documents for him. However, this act of his mother put fuel to the already blazing marriage of his parents, resulting to divorce and eventually creating a dagger-drawn relationship between Ekong and his father.
Ekong returned to England and joined Tottenham Football Academy in London but things didn’t work out for him as expected.
Reminiscing the difficult moments at the academy, William Troost-Ekong, in an interview with Journalists once opened up on one of the saddest things he had heard in his career as he struggled on the paths he trodden to become a successful footballer.
The then 16-year-old started honing his trade at Spurs Academy where he spent three years but failed to make the grade before he moved on to FC Groningen for his first taste of senior football.
“One of my last moments at Tottenham before I left was when I had a meeting with one of my coaches. He told me and my mum that I wasn’t good enough to play, that he didn’t think I could make it as a football player.”
“This kind of upset me so much at the time but later became a big point for me to prove, first to them, then to myself and finally to the world that I am good enough to make it to the top.”
He returned to the Netherlands and joined a small team called Groningen in 2013 but was sent to FC Dordrecht on loan to help him find his feet as he kept on struggling.
Following a year at FC Dordrecht where he staged a remarkable spell, he moved to Gent in 2015 to join the Belgium giants but game time became a luxury for him to afford.
In the meantime, he switched his national team allegiance from the Netherlands to Nigeria after representing the Netherlands at the Under-19 and 20 youth levels.
Struggling to cement himself as a predominant starter in the squad, Ekong
was sent on loan to Norway where he did well and later moved to Turkish club Bursaspor in 2017. After a year in Turkey, he switched to join Italian Serie A side, Udinese.
Ekong became a predominant member of the Udinese team and after two years in Italy, he caught up with one of his dreams of playing in the Premier League following a transfer to Watford. At the same time, he was having a successful international career with Nigeria, winning the Olympic bronze medal with the Nigerian Under-23 and forming a solid rock partnership with Leon Balogun at the national team.
In 2018, after the World Cup, Ekong reconciled with his father who could now see his son fulfill his dreams.
He joined Italian side Salernitana in 2023,
where he had grappled with an injury headache, making him record only nine appearances.
This led him to be dropped from the National team and even after he moved to Greece where he recovered his form and was playing regularly, he wasn’t still invited back to the Nigerian team. It went on for close to a year and Ekong almost thought of retiring from international football.
The Star Man At 2023 AFCON Tournament
He claimed his spot in the starting line up and made it to the AFCON. From the start, Ekong remained the most instrumental defender in the tournament.
The Super Eagles captain was named the best player of the competition following his commanding display for Nigeria.
He scored three goals at the tournament, including one in the final, which unfortunately wasn’t enough to guide Nigeria to a fourth AFCON title.