William Troost-Ekong
William Paul Troost-Ekong (born 1 September 1993) is a Nigerian professional footballer who plays as a centre back for Italian club Udinese.
 Troost-Ekong training with Nigeria in 2015 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | William Paul Troost-Ekong | ||
| Date of birth | 1 September 1993 | ||
| Place of birth | Haarlem, Netherlands | ||
| Height | 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)[1] | ||
| Playing position(s) | Centre back | ||
| Club information | |||
Current team | Udinese | ||
| Number | 5 | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2013–2015 | Groningen | 2 | (0) |
| 2014–2015 | → Dordrecht (loan) | 32 | (0) |
| 2015–2017 | Gent | 3 | (0) |
| 2015–2016 | → Haugesund (loan) | 37 | (3) |
| 2017–2018 | Bursaspor | 28 | (3) |
| 2018– | Udinese | 47 | (0) |
| National team‡ | |||
| 2011 | Netherlands U19 | 1 | (0) |
| 2013 | Netherlands U20 | 2 | (0) |
| 2016 | Nigeria U23 | 6 | (0) |
| 2015– | Nigeria | 42 | (2) |
Honours
| |||
|
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 18:35, 1 December 2019 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 15:55, 22 November 2019 (UTC) | |||
Born in the Netherlands into a mixed Dutch and Nigerian family and being eligible for both Netherlands and Nigeria in international football, he opted to represent the latter.
Club career
After playing football at youth level in England for Fulham and Tottenham Hotspur,[2] Troost-Ekong began his senior career in the Netherlands with FC Groningen and FC Dordrecht.[1][3]
After being linked abroad with transfers to Celtic among others,[2] he signed for Belgian club KAA Gent in July 2015 and was immediately loaned out to Norwegian club FK Haugesund.[4]
In July 2017, Troost-Ekong signed for Turkish Süper Lig club Bursaspor.[5]
On 17 August 2018, Troost-Ekong joined Italian Serie A club Udinese.[6] Troost-Ekong made 35 league appearances, and was booked 4 times, in his debut season in the Serie A, helping Udinese to a respectable 12th position.[7]
International career
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Troost-Ekong was born in the Netherlands with sister Emily Ekong and brother Everest Ekong to a Nigerian father, and Dutch mother Eleanore Troost. He represented the Netherlands at under-19 and under-20 youth levels.[2]
He made his senior international debut for Nigeria on 13 June 2015, playing 90 minutes in an AFCON qualifier against Chad.[8]
He made three starts for the senior team in 2016 before being selected by Nigeria's under-23 team in their 35-man provisional squad for the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics.[9]
In June 2018 he was named in Nigeria's 23-man squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.[10]
In April 2019 he said that playing for Nigeria was his "best decision ever".[11] In June 2019, he was named in the country's 23-man squad for the Africa Cup of Nations.[12]
Career statistics
Club
- As of match played 1 December 2019[13]
| Club | Season | League | League | Cup | Europe | Other | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | |||
| Groningen | 2013–14 | Eredivisie | 2 | 0 | – | – | – | 2 | 0 | |||
| Dordrecht | 2013–14 | Eerste Divisie | 10 | 0 | – | – | 1 | 0 | 11 | 0 | ||
| 2014–15 | Eredivisie | 22 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 23 | 0 | |||
| Total | 32 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 34 | 0 | ||
| Haugesund | 2015 | Eliteserien | 13 | 0 | – | – | – | 13 | 0 | |||
| 2016 | 24 | 3 | 4 | 1 | – | – | 28 | 4 | ||||
| Total | 37 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 41 | 4 | ||
| Gent | 2016–17 | Pro League | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 5 | 0 | 8 | 0 | |
| Bursaspor | 2017–18 | Süper Lig | 27 | 2 | 4 | 0 | – | – | 31 | 2 | ||
| 2018–19 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Total | 28 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 32 | 3 | ||
| Udinese | 2018–19 | Serie A | 35 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 35 | 0 | ||
| 2019–20 | 12 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 13 | 0 | ||||
| Total | 47 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 48 | 0 | ||
| Career total | 149 | 6 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 165 | 7 | ||
International
- As of match played 17 November 2019[8]
| Nigeria | ||
| Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 4 | 0 |
| 2016 | 5 | 0 |
| 2017 | 7 | 0 |
| 2018 | 12 | 1 |
| 2019 | 14 | 1 |
| Total | 42 | 2 |
International goals
- Scores and results list Nigeria's goal tally first.[8]
| No | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 28 May 2018 | Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium, Port Harcourt, Nigeria |  | 1–0 | 1–1 | Friendly |
| 2. | 10 July 2019 | Cairo International Stadium, Cairo, Egypt |  | 2–1 | 2–1 | 2019 Africa Cup of Nations |
References
- William Troost-Ekong at Soccerway. Retrieved 28 July 2015.
- "Celtic eye Groningen defender William Troost-Ekong". The Scotsman. 12 March 2015. Retrieved 28 July 2015.
- "Profile" (in Dutch). Voetbal International. Retrieved 28 July 2015.
- Oluwashina Okeleji (28 July 2015). "Nigerian defender William Troost-Ekong joins Gent". BBC Sport. Retrieved 28 July 2015.
- "Bursaspor Kulübü Resmi İnternet Sitesi". www.bursaspor.org.tr (in Turkish). Retrieved 8 July 2017.
- "UFFICIALE: Udinese, ingaggiato Troost-Ekong" (in Italian). Retrieved 17 August 2018.
- "Troost-Ekong Positive On Udinese Future After Escaping Relegation". Complete Sports. 27 March 2019. Retrieved 4 August 2019.
- William Troost-Ekong at National-Football-Teams.com
- Oluwashina Okeleji (24 June 2016). "Kelechi Iheanacho included in Nigeria's Olympics squad". BBC Sport. Retrieved 25 June 2016.
- Crawford, Stephen (4 June 2018). "Revealed: Every World Cup 2018 squad - Final 23-man lists". Goal. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
- "William Troost-Ekong: 'Playing for Nigeria best decision ever'". BBC Sport. 6 April 2019.
- "Nigeria: Super Eagles' Team List for Afcon 2019". Vanguard (Nigeria). All Africa. 11 June 2019. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
- "William Troost-Ekong". Soccerway.
