Why Gift Orban is recently being snubbed by Jose Paseiro despite blistering form (Insight)

It’s the most open secret to all Nigerians and non Nigerians that Gent striker,Gift Orban has not received call ups for the Super Eagles of Nigeria to face Lesotho and Zimbabwe in the 2026 world cup qualifiers and also in October,when the Eagles took on Saudi Arabia and Mozambique, despite his fantastic run of form.

The 21 year old striker has proven to be one of the world’s hottest young prospects after scoring 16 goals in 22 games for Norwegian side,Stabæk in the 2022/2023 season after which he moved to Gent in the Belgian Jupiter league and has netted 17 goals in 24 appearances.

Despite having such fantastic goal scoring record,the young striker has missed on the last two camps of the Super Eagles of Nigeria,hereby arousing concerns from the Nigerian supporters.

The 21 year old was giving his first senior call up(for the Super Eagles) in September,2024 after being unable to honour Salisu Yusuf’s invitation to play for the Olympic Eagles. He however did not feature in the game that international break,against Sao Tome and Principe,with the likes of Taiwo Awoniyi,Victor Boniface and Victor Osimhen given the nod ahead of him.

In October,Gift Orban was absent from the call up for the games against Saudi Arabia and Mozambique and also absent in the sqaud released in November.

This is because the Togolese Football Federation sent a correspondence to the Nigeria Football Federation that Gift Orban is of Togolese nationality and is not eligible to represent Nigeria.

In order to avoid issues with the world football governing body, FIFA,the NFF decided not to call up Nigerian and Togolese striker,Gift Orban until these nationality issues have been sorted.