William Troost-Ekong

William Paul Troost-Ekong (born 1 September 1993) is a Nigerian professional footballer who plays as a defender for Championship side Watford.

William Troost-Ekong
Troost-Ekong training with Nigeria in 2015
Personal information
Full name William Paul Troost-Ekong
Date of birth (1993-09-01) 1 September 1993
Place of birth Haarlem, Netherlands
Height 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)[1]
Position(s) Centre back
Club information
Current team
 Watford
Number 5
Youth career
2008–2010 Fulham
2010–2013 Tottenham Hotspur
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)
2018–2020 Udinese 65 (0)
2020– Watford 18 (1)
National team‡
2011 Netherlands U19 1 (0)
2013 Netherlands U20 2 (0)
2016 Nigeria U23 6 (0)
2015– Nigeria 45 (2)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 14:36, 6 February 2021 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 23:22, 17 November 2020 (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] In his debut season in the Serie A, Troost-Ekong made 35 league appearances and was booked 4 times, helping Udinese to 12th position.[7] The next season, Udinese would finish 13th, albeit with two more points. Despite the team's relatively lacklustre league campaigns, Troost-Ekong started (and played for the full 90 minutes) in memorable victories against AC Milan and Juventus in his two seasons at Le Zebrette.

On September 29, 2020, William Troost-Ekong signed for EFL Championship side Watford on a five-year contract deal.[8] He scored his first goal for the club in a 3-2 win over Coventry City on 7 November 2020.[9]

International career
Troost-Ekong with Nigeria in 2017 against Argentina

Troost-Ekong was born in the Netherlands to a Dutch mother, Eleanore Troost and a Nigerian father. He has two siblings, Emily and Everest.

Despite representing the Netherlands at under-19 and under-20 youth levels,[2] Troost-Ekong eventually chose to represent Nigeria.

He made his senior international debut for the Super Eagles on 13 June 2015, playing 90 minutes in an AFCON qualifying match against Chad.[10]

He made three starts for the senior team in 2016 before being selected for Nigeria's under-23 team in their 35-man provisional squad for the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics.[11]

In June 2018 he was named in Nigeria's 23-man squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.[12]

In April 2019 he said that playing for Nigeria was his "best decision ever".[13] In June 2019, he was named in the country's 23-man squad for the Africa Cup of Nations,[14] where he would score an 89th-minute winner against South Africa to send his team through to the semi-finals on the way to a third-place finish.

Career statistics

Club
As of match played 6 February 2021[15]
Club Season League League Cup Europe Other Total
AppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Groningen 2013–14 Eredivisie 20–––20
Dordrecht 2013–14 Eerste Divisie 100––10110
2014–15 Eredivisie 22010––230
Total 320100010340
Haugesund 2015 Eliteserien 130–––130
2016 24341––284
Total 373410000414
Gent 2016–17 Pro League 3000–5080
Bursaspor 2017–18 Süper Lig 27240––312
2018–19 1100––11
Total 283400000323
Udinese 2018–19 Serie A 35000––350
2019–20 30010––310
Total 650100000660
Watford 2020–21 Championship 1811000—191
Career total 185711100602028

International
As of match played 17 November 2020.[10]
Nigeria
YearAppsGoals
201540
201650
201770
2018121
2019141
202030
Total452

International goals
Scores and results list Nigeria's goal tally first.[10]
NoDateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.28 May 2018Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium, Port Harcourt, Nigeria DR Congo1–01–1Friendly
2.10 July 2019Cairo International Stadium, Cairo, Egypt South Africa2–12–12019 Africa Cup of Nations

References
  1. William Troost-Ekong at Soccerway. Retrieved 28 July 2015.
  2. "Celtic eye Groningen defender William Troost-Ekong". The Scotsman. 12 March 2015. Retrieved 28 July 2015.
  3. "Profile" (in Dutch). Voetbal International. Retrieved 28 July 2015.
  4. Oluwashina Okeleji (28 July 2015). "Nigerian defender William Troost-Ekong joins Gent". BBC Sport. Retrieved 28 July 2015.
  5. "Bursaspor Kulübü Resmi İnternet Sitesi". www.bursaspor.org.tr (in Turkish). Retrieved 8 July 2017.
  6. "UFFICIALE: Udinese, ingaggiato Troost-Ekong" (in Italian). Retrieved 17 August 2018.
  7. "Troost-Ekong Positive On Udinese Future After Escaping Relegation". Complete Sports. 27 March 2019. Retrieved 4 August 2019.
  8. "Troost-Ekong Joins Watford". MySportDab. 30 September 2020. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
  9. "Watford 3-2 Coventry". BBC. 7 November 2020. Retrieved 7 November 2020.
  10. William Troost-Ekong at National-Football-Teams.com
  11. Oluwashina Okeleji (24 June 2016). "Kelechi Iheanacho included in Nigeria's Olympics squad". BBC Sport. Retrieved 25 June 2016.
  12. Crawford, Stephen (4 June 2018). "Revealed: Every World Cup 2018 squad - Final 23-man lists". Goal. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  13. "William Troost-Ekong: 'Playing for Nigeria best decision ever'". BBC Sport. 6 April 2019.
  14. "Nigeria: Super Eagles' Team List for Afcon 2019". Vanguard (Nigeria). All Africa. 11 June 2019. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  15. "William Troost-Ekong". Soccerway.
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