People · George Ilenikhena

A Nigerian-born striker who grew up in France finally commits to the Super Eagles

George Ilenikhena spent this week training at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium in Uyo, wearing a Super Eagles kit for the first time.

He was born in Lagos on August 16, 2006. His family moved to France when he was three, settling in Antony, on the southern edge of Paris, where he came up through the Antony Football Evolution academy before Amiens SC, freshly relegated to Ligue 2, signed him into their youth setup in 2021. He scored 24 goals at under-17 level that season, including in the Coupe Gambardella, the kind of numbers that get noticed regardless of which division produces them. He represented France at youth level, involved with their Under-16 setup, on a pathway that looked, for years, like it was heading toward Les Bleus.

Royal Antwerp signed him next. In December 2023, he scored the winning goal against Barcelona in the Champions League. He moved to Monaco, and in September 2024, he did it again, scoring against Barcelona a second time. Along the way, at 19 years and 157 days old, he became the youngest African player to make 15 Champions League appearances, doing it in an 18-minute substitute appearance during a 6-1 defeat to Real Madrid.

In February 2026, Al-Ittihad paid roughly €33 million for him, a fee that made Ilenikhena the most expensive teenager in Nigerian football history, ahead of Kelechi Iheanacho's move from Manchester City to Leicester in 2017.

The international decision took longer to settle than the transfer did. Nigeria left him out of its March 2026 squad while he was still weighing France against the country of his birth. He'd represented France at youth level and had a genuine pathway there. What changed it, by his own account and Nigeria's reporting, was a set of direct conversations with Super Eagles coach Eric Chelle, who pushed to bring him into the senior fold rather than wait and risk losing him to France for good. Reports around July 2026 said he'd chosen Nigeria. In September, days before his call-up, he addressed talk that he'd once turned Nigeria down for France, denying it and clarifying the timeline of when Nigeria first approached him.

This season at Al-Ittihad, he arrived at the international window with six goals and two assists in nine appearances across all competitions. On September 18, coach Eric Chelle named his 24-man squad for Nigeria's opening 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, against Madagascar and Guinea-Bissau, plus a friendly against Russia. Ilenikhena was in it, alongside two other first-time call-ups, Moses Usor and Isaac James. Victor Osimhen made the squad too, despite a recent injury, his fitness uncertain heading into the window.

"To be honest, I am very happy and excited to be here to represent Nigeria," Ilenikhena said. "To win everything with this team, the AFCON, World Cup, and everything I can play with this great team."

He called his parents first. "I called my dad and my mum because I was really happy and excited," he said. "They were really happy and proud of me."

Nigeria hosts Madagascar in Uyo on September 25. Whatever happens on the pitch this week, the harder decision is already behind him, a young man raised on the outskirts of Paris, courted by both countries that could claim him, who chose the one he was born in.

"It is a honour to represent the Super Eagles because I was born in Nigeria," Ilenikhena said, "and to represent this country is a very big thing for me."