{"id":2730,"date":"2022-02-25T18:45:21","date_gmt":"2022-02-25T18:45:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/russia-ukraine-conflict-six-nigerian-footballers-affected"},"modified":"2022-02-25T21:23:00","modified_gmt":"2022-02-25T21:23:00","slug":"russia-ukraine-conflict-six-nigerian-footballers-affected","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/russia-ukraine-conflict-six-nigerian-footballers-affected","title":{"rendered":"Russia-Ukraine conflict : Six Nigerian footballers affected"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Eswatini. <\/strong><\/span>Football activities have now been suspended for Nigerian forward Michael Stephen after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a military invasion of Ukraine on Thursday.<\/b><\/p>\n

Six Nigerian players have been directly affected by this war because they play their football in Ukraine, three in the top-flight and three more in the second division.<\/p>\n

Meet the six Nigerian Ukraine-based players who have been affected by the Russian invasion.<\/p>\n

Michael Gopey Stephen<\/b><\/p>\n

22-year old striker, Michael Gopey Stephen joined Ingulets in the Ukrainian Premier League in July 2021 as a free agent from Wikki Tourists.<\/p>\n

He scored a brilliant goal on his debut after coming on as a substitute in a 2-1 defeat away at Shakhtar Donetsk. Michael only other goal for the club was also scored off the bench, that time in a 3-0 win at home to Mauripol.<\/p>\n

Russia attacks Ukraine, conflict spills over into the world | Africanews https:\/\/t.co\/whq0ZppRu9<\/p>\n

John David Chukwufumnanya<\/b><\/p>\n

22-year old midfielder John David Chukwufumnanya is contracted to Real Pharma Odesa in the Ukrainian Druha Liga but he is yet to play for the club.<\/p>\n

Viv Solomon-Otabor<\/b><\/p>\n

journeyman, Viv Solomon-Otabor is 26 years who signed for Rukh Lviv in January 2022 on a free transfer from St Johnstone in the Scottish Premiership.<\/p>\n

Solomon-Otabor rose through the ranks at Birmingham and made 40 appearances for the club amidst loans to Oxford, Bolton and Portsmouth.<\/p>\n

Ghanaian students in Ukraine advised to “seek shelter” https:\/\/t.co\/ZKgfZuiTZI<\/p>\n

The winger would go on to join CSKA Sofia, Wigan and most recently St Johnstone before signing his one-year deal at Rukh Lviv, for whom he is still yet to play a game.<\/p>\n

Henry Tedum Paago<\/b><\/p>\n

Rivers State-born striker Henry Tedum Paago plays for Trustyanets in the Ukrainian second division, the Druga Liga.<\/p>\n

23-year old Paago has worked his way through the lower leagues of Ukrainian football and played a major role in helping Trustyanets gain promotion to the second division where he currently has two goals in 10 appearances this season.<\/p>\n

Bright John Essien<\/b><\/p>\n

19-year old Bright John Essien plays in Ukraine with Peremoga Dnipro in the second division on a one-year deal which is set to expire in June.<\/p>\n

The winger has only just breaking into the first team, with a solitary appearance for the team in a cup game.<\/p>\n

Michael Obamina<\/b><\/p>\n

18-year old Michael Obamina joined Rukh Lviv in the Ukrainian Premier League in September 2021 from Super Stars Football Academy in Uyo.<\/p>\n

He was spotted by Rukh Lviv as far back as 2019, and they showed a strong interest in the teenager but could not sign him until 2021 due to the global pandemic.<\/p>\n

US President Joe Biden has already denounced Russia\u2019s attack, while UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has advised Putin to \u201cstop troops from attacking Ukraine\u201d.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Eswatini<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Eswatini. Football activities have now been suspended for Nigerian forward Michael Stephen after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a military invasion of Ukraine on Thursday. Six Nigerian players have been directly affected by this war because they play their football in Ukraine, three in the top-flight and three more in the second division. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":2729,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,17,16],"tags":[234,248,249,125,314,437,566],"class_list":["post-2730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-sport","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-eswatini","tag-eswatini","tag-football","tag-nigeria","tag-russia","tag-russia-ukraine-crisis"],"yoast_head":"\nRussia-Ukraine conflict : Six Nigerian footballers affected - Eswatini<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Football activities have now been suspended for Nigerian forward Michael Stephen after Russian President Vladimir Put ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/russia-ukraine-conflict-six-nigerian-footballers-affected\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Russia-Ukraine conflict : Six Nigerian footballers affected\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Football activities have now been suspended for Nigerian forward Michael Stephen after Russian President Vladimir Put ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/russia-ukraine-conflict-six-nigerian-footballers-affected\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Eswatini\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-02-25T18:45:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-02-25T21:23:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/sites\/33\/2022\/02\/img-62194893c413e.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"538\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/russia-ukraine-conflict-six-nigerian-footballers-affected#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/russia-ukraine-conflict-six-nigerian-footballers-affected\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Russia-Ukraine conflict : Six Nigerian footballers affected\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-02-25T18:45:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-02-25T21:23:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/russia-ukraine-conflict-six-nigerian-footballers-affected\"},\"wordCount\":473,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/russia-ukraine-conflict-six-nigerian-footballers-affected#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/sites\/33\/2022\/02\/img-62194893c413e.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Eswatini\",\"Eswatini\",\"football\",\"Nigeria\",\"Russia\",\"Russia-Ukraine crisis\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"homepage-english\",\"sport\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/russia-ukraine-conflict-six-nigerian-footballers-affected#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/russia-ukraine-conflict-six-nigerian-footballers-affected\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/russia-ukraine-conflict-six-nigerian-footballers-affected\",\"name\":\"Russia-Ukraine conflict : Six Nigerian footballers affected - 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