Stanley Nwabali, goalkeeper for the Super Eagles, is scheduled to return to South Africa and play for his team, Chippa United, despite threats from some football fans in the country, according to PUNCH Sports Extra.
Following a loss to the hosts in the final, Nwabali performed admirably for Nigeria at the just concluded Africa Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast, leading his team to a second-place finish.
Nigeria defeated South Africa on penalties in the semifinals to earn a berth in the final of the competition. Nwabali stopped two of their penalty kick attempts.
In an interview with Channels Television the day following the victory, ex-international Idah Peterside said that some fans had threatened Nwabali not to come back to South Africa after the AFCON competition.
Despite the threats, the 27-year-old declared he will go back to his club.
“I must go back to my club, but talking about the threats, this is football,” Nwabali was quoted as saying by BluePrint.
“You can’t threaten someone because they (Bafana Bafana) also won against some other teams too. How about if those they beat decided to threaten their players, would it make sense? It’s football, I don’t think there’s anything attached to it. Maybe it was just someone writing on social media.”
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Speaking further, he said, “It’s cool to me because I spoke to my chairman three days ago, but he didn’t say anything like all that stuff. So, he felt like ‘No, it’s cool, you can come back. I must go back to my club because they own me.”
