Bayern Munich defender, David Olatukunbo Alaba has reportedly revealed why he did not play for Nigeria.
According to him, refusal to bribe the coach in order to make the squad to the 2007 FIFA U17 World Cup made him to miss out from the Nigerian squad. At that time, late Yemi Tella was in charge of the Eaglets.
In an interview with All Nigeria Soccer, Alaba called the Nigeria U-17 coaches, “jokers” and vowed not to have anything to do with any of them in future.
He claimed to have trained with Palanga midfielder, Haruna Lukman Abdulkarim, UB Conquense forward, Macauley Chrisantus and Slovan Bratislava’s midfielder, Rabiu Ibrahim ahead of the 2007 World Cup.
The 26-year-old was eligible to represent Nigeria but he switched to Austria, his country of birth, after that encounter.
Alaba, who was born in Vienna, capital of Austria, has a Filipino mother and Nigerian father.
Alaba has earned 68 caps for Austria, scoring 13 goals and represented the country at the 2016 European Championship.
On September 9, 2007, the late Tella led a team of youngsters to win the FIFA U-17 World Cup. That was the third time Nigeria had that title after previous wins in 1985 in China and 1993 in Japan.
