Super Eagles captain William Troost-Ekong received recognition for his exceptional performance at the 2023 African Cup of Nations at the African Nations Football Awards, which was hosted in Cairo on Saturday.
The central defender won the TotalEnergies Best Player Award and was named in the Team of the Tournament for his outstanding and defending, which helped lead Nigeria to the AFCON finals.
Due to his obligations to the national team, he was unable to attend the ceremony in person, but his friend Omar Tarek accepted the trophy on his behalf.
“I want to just apologise for not being there today, unfortunately I couldn’t make it, I am in transit, and I’ll be travelling to join the National team later today, so I couldn’t make it to the ceremony,” Troost-Ekong said in a video message in response to the victory, expressing regret for missing the award ceremony.
“I want to say a big thank you to everyone at the ANFA awards, first of all to be nominated and now from what I understand, to have won the prize, it is a big honour for me,” he added to express his gratitude to the organisers of the awards.
Troost-Ekong will benefit greatly from the honour as he leads the Super Eagles in their upcoming AFCON qualifying matches against Rwanda and Benin Republic on November 14 and 18, respectively.
