Nigerian athletes have produced some of the most astonishing records and strange twists in world sport, from goalless spells that preceded stardom to feats no other African has matched. PUNCH Sports Extra’s PETER AKINBO picks out some of the most surprising facts about the country’s sports personalities
Lookman: 414 games, no red cards
The Atletico Madrid forward has never been sent off in his professional career. Reports put his tally at 413 games before Tuesday’s 2-0 win over Manchester United in the UEFA Champions League, 368 for his clubs and 45 for Nigeria, without a red card.
His record came into focus last Saturday in La Liga. He was booked in the 45th minute against Alaves for a challenge on Angel Perez, with referee Alejandro Quintero Gonzalez ruling it reckless rather than dangerous. Another ankle challenge in the same match led to a red card after a video assistant referee review.
Victor Osimhen: 16 appearances, no goal at Wolfsburg
Before becoming one of Europe’s most feared strikers, Osimhen failed to score in 16 Wolfsburg appearances between 2017 and 2018. He played 14 Bundesliga matches, two in the 2016/17 season and 12 in 2017/18. He also featured in a relegation play-off and in a cup tie.
The turnaround was swift. He joined Belgian club Charleroi on loan in August 2018 and scored 20 goals in 36 appearances, before moving to Lille and later Napoli and now Galatasaray and has two Golden Boot honours (Serie A and Turkish Super Lig). The contrast between his barren German spell and his elite scoring record since is one of the most remarkable in recent football.
Yekini scores at four consecutive AFCONs
The late striker scored for Nigeria at four consecutive Africa Cup of Nations tournaments, an extraordinary run of consistency for an international forward. He finished as the leading scorer at the competition in 1992 and 1994.
His 13 goals at the competition make him Nigeria’s highest scorer in its history and put him third on the all-time list, behind Samuel Eto’o with 18 and Laurent Pokou with 14. Yekini is also Nigeria’s all-time leading men’s international scorer with 37 goals.
Tobi Amusan: faster in final, but record in semis
At the 2022 World Athletics Championships, Amusan clocked 12.12 seconds in the semi-final to set a new 100m hurdles world record. In the final, she ran even faster, 12.06 seconds, but the tailwind of 2.5 metres per second was beyond the legal limit, so the time could not count as a record.
She still won gold, which made her slower semi-final run the record and the faster one only a title-winning time. The mark stood for four years until American Masai Russell ran 12.09 seconds at the Zurich Diamond League on August 27, 2026. Russell’s time awaits ratification.
Atlanta ’96: Ajunwa’s historic individual Olympic gold
Three decades after her historic leap at Atlanta 1996, Chioma Ajunwa stands alone in Nigerian sports history. Thirty years on, the nation continues its wait for a second individual Olympic gold medalist.
She won the long jump with a first-round leap of 7.12 metres, the longest of her career. The jump beat Italy’s Fiona May, who managed 7.02 metres, and Jackie Joyner-Kersee of the United States, who managed 7.00 metres. It made her Nigeria’s first Olympic gold medallist and the first Black African woman to win Olympic gold in a field event.
Nigeria has won Olympic gold in a team event, with the football side beating Argentina at the same Games. In individual events, no Nigerian man or woman has won gold at the Olympics since.
She remains the only woman to compete at both the FIFA Women’s World Cup as a footballer and the Olympics in track and field.
Toriola: Seven Olympics, one epic 41-shot rally
Table tennis great, Segun Toriola, competed at seven consecutive Olympic Games, from Barcelona 1992 to Rio 2016. He was the first African athlete, across all sports, to reach seven Games, and the International Table Tennis Federation inducted him into its “Club 7”.
At the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, he also won a spectacular 41-shot rally against Singapore’s Gao Ning, returning smash after smash with defensive shots. Gao Ning won the match, but the exchange became a viral highlight of the competition.
Oshonaike: seven Olympics
Funke Oshonaike also competed at seven consecutive Olympic Games, starting in Atlanta in 1996 and ending at the Tokyo 2020 Games, which were held in 2021. She was the first African woman, and the first woman in table tennis, to reach that landmark.
She said she was motivated by seeing Toriola honoured at Rio 2016 and realising it was a table of men. She described reaching a seventh Olympics as a remarkable thing for her career.
Mikel: The transfer saga
Mikel Obi’s move to Chelsea is one of the strangest transfer stories involving a Nigerian. Manchester United announced his signing from Norwegian club Lyn Oslo in April 2005, and he even appeared in a United shirt. He later said he had been pressured into signing and wanted to join Chelsea.
The dispute dragged on for a year before Chelsea settled it in June 2006 with a £16m deal, £12m to United and £4m to Lyn Oslo. Manchester United initially saw him as an attacking midfielder, but Jose Mourinho converted him into the defensive midfielder who defined his Chelsea career.
Rufai: The rare tale of Nigeria’s goalscoring goalkeeper
Goalkeepers rarely score for their countries, but the late Peter Rufai did. He converted a penalty in the 90th minute of Nigeria’s 6-0 win over Ethiopia in a 1994 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier at the Surulere Stadium in Lagos on July 24, 1993.
It was his only international goal, and the victory secured Nigeria’s place at the finals in Tunisia, where he went on to win the title.
Okocha: World Cup dribbling record
Okocha completed 15 successful dribbles against Italy in Nigeria’s round-of-16 match at the 1994 World Cup. FIFA identifies it as the most successful dribbles by a player in a single World Cup match. Italy still won 2-1 after extra time.
Jairzinho of Brazil and England’s Paul Gascoigne are joint second with 13. At the 1998 tournament, Okocha averaged 12 successful dribbles per 90 minutes. Spain’s Lamine Yamal matched that mark at the 2026 World Cup, according to Opta, among players with at least 200 minutes at a single tournament.
D’Tigress: Five straight continental titles
Nigeria’s women’s basketball team won the Women’s AfroBasket in 2017, 2019, 2021, 2023 and 2025. The fifth successive title, sealed with a 78-64 victory over Mali in Abidjan, made Nigeria the first nation to win five consecutive editions of the competition.
The team also stretched its AfroBasket winning streak to 29 games, a run that began after the third-place match of the 2015 tournament. Winning five straight championships in a team sport, where one poor night can end a title run, makes the feat even more striking.
Golden Eaglets: The most successful nation at the FIFA U-17 World Cup
Nigeria has won the FIFA U-17 World Cup five times, in 1985, 1993, 2007, 2013 and 2015. No country has won it more often, with Brazil next on four.
The Golden Eaglets’ triumph in 2015 made them only the second team after Brazil to win the title in back-to-back editions. At this level, Nigeria has outperformed traditional powers such as Brazil and Germany, even though those nations have stronger senior men’s World Cup records.
Iwobi: Most Premier League appearances by a Nigerian
Iwobi became the first Nigerian to make 300 appearances in the English Premier League, after overtaking Shola Ameobi, who made 298. He has also never been sent off in the competition and is now on 323 appearances.
He has, however, been shown a red card while playing for Nigeria. He was sent off five minutes after coming on as a substitute in the 1-0 defeat by Tunisia in the round of 16 at the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations.
