{"id":857545,"date":"2025-06-23T17:12:44","date_gmt":"2025-06-23T22:12:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/06\/23\/ekong-credits-ex-super-eagles-star-for-saudi-move-relishes-middle-east-experience\/"},"modified":"2025-06-23T17:12:44","modified_gmt":"2025-06-23T22:12:44","slug":"ekong-credits-ex-super-eagles-star-for-saudi-move-relishes-middle-east-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/06\/23\/ekong-credits-ex-super-eagles-star-for-saudi-move-relishes-middle-east-experience\/","title":{"rendered":"Ekong credits ex-Super Eagles star for Saudi move, relishes Middle East experience"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Soccer <\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<p><strong>Super Eagles and Al-Kholood central defender, William Troost-Ekong, has credited Al Wehda forward, Odion Ighalo, for his move to the Saudi Pro League, <a href=\"https:\/\/Soccernet.ng\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Soccernet.ng<\/a> reports.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The 31-year-old won the Greek Super League title with PAOK Thessaloniki last season, although he missed a major part of the second half of the season.<\/p>\n<p>This happened because Ekong suffered a\u00a0torn bicep femoris, which is basically the outside part of the hamstring, during Nigeria&#8217;s campaign at the AFCON 2023 competition in Ivory Coast.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_167080\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-167080\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/imago1039274978-1024x681.jpg\" alt width=\"1024\" height=\"681\"  ><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-167080\">William Troost-Ekong during the Afcon 2023 match between Cote D&#8217;Ivoire and Nigeria at Stade D&#8217;Ebimpe in Abidjan, Cote d&#8217;Ivoire. [Photo Credit\/ Imago].<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3><strong>Get Our Sports News First \u2013\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.whatsapp.com\/channel\/0029VagMHLcA89MZvw0Btc21\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Join Our WhatsApp Channel Now!<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><strong>YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE;<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/2025\/06\/osimhen-ighalo-enyeama-troost-ekong.html\">Osimhen, Ighalo, Enyeama, others to storm Onikan for Troost-Ekong\u2019s star-studded charity match<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/2025\/06\/ekong-supereagles-afcon-fwc.html\">William Troost-Ekong reveals plan for Super Eagles as AFCON and World Cup beckon<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/2025\/06\/supereagles-ekong-ronaldo-saudi.html\">\u201cI beat him once\u201d \u2013 Super Eagles captain lauds Ronaldo\u2019s role in the rise in stature of the Saudi Pro League<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure id=\"attachment_167075\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-167075\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/imago1024974930-1024x706.jpg\" alt width=\"1024\" height=\"706\"  ><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-167075\">AFC CHAMPIONS LEAGUE SEASON 2022\/2023 Semifinals in Doha, Al Duhail SC, Al-Hilal Saudi FC. Odion Ighalo. [Photo Credit\/ Imago].<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Ekong joined Al-Kholood from PAOK last season for \u20ac2m and saw his team finish in 9th place on the Saudi Pro League table in his debut campaign.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>In an interview with the Saudi Pro League in Ar Rass, the former FC Watford man revealed he picked Ighalo&#8217;s brains when he got offers from the Middle East, and revealed the experience has been a pleasant one so far.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cIt&#8217;s given me great experiences. Football is the thing that connects people,\u201d the ex-Udinese man said in quotes revealed by <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/onefootball.com\/en\/news\/troost-ekong-on-embracing-saudi-charity-work-life-after-football-nigeria-afcon-aim-41274101\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">One Football<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt&#8217;s what\u2019s always made me feel welcome wherever I&#8217;ve been, whether that has been playing for my club or also all the travelling I&#8217;ve done with the national team.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cI&#8217;ve learned different languages; I speak four or five now. Not Arabic yet, but that&#8217;s something that I&#8217;ll try and work on in the next years. It&#8217;s just been a great way to understand different cultures. I try to make that my power.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<figure id=\"attachment_167079\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-167079\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/imago1039546459-1024x681.jpg\" alt width=\"1024\" height=\"681\"  ><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-167079\">William Troost-Ekong during the Afcon 2023 match between Cote D&#8217;Ivoire and Nigeria at Stade D Ebimpe in Abidjan, Cote d&#8217;Ivoire. [Photo Credit\/ Imago].<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cPicking Ighalo\u2019s brain made sense. He was my teammate in the Super Eagles, who&#8217;s obviously well known here and understands the landscape, the culture, the league, so I tried to get as much information as I could.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<div>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cIt was as new for me from the first day that I landed here in Qassim at the airport and made my way over Ar Rass, and I haven\u2019t looked back since.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Reflecting on the culture shift from playing in Europe to Saudi Arabia, the AFCON 2023 MVP looked inwards to understand the nature of the people and then embraced it.<\/p>\n<div>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cI&#8217;m not a very judgmental person; I always like to form my own opinions. I&#8217;ve been quite lucky to play in different countries, and all the places have always pleasantly surprised me.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cThe biggest thing is that people really embrace you when you come here. I&#8217;ve made some great Saudi friends as much as I have my teammates who are from other countries.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<figure id=\"attachment_167082\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-167082\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/imago1045886161-1024x683.jpg\" alt width=\"1024\" height=\"683\"  ><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-167082\">Troost Ekong celebrate a goal during the William Troost Ekong Charity football match between Team Orange and Team Green at Godswill Akpabio Stadium. [Photo Credit\/ Imago].<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cFrom the moment I came here, they took me out to dinner, took me to drink coffee together with them. People have just been very welcoming.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt&#8217;s given me more time to focus on our job here and really try to develop myself, not just on the pitch, but also the time that I have now.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<div>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cIt&#8217;s given me a lot more free time to explore and also work on other things off the pitch, like my charity, for example, or other business things. It\u2019s been a good experience,\u201d Ekong concluded.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<figure id=\"attachment_167083\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-167083\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/imago1048737361-1024x683.jpg\" alt width=\"1024\" height=\"683\"  ><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-167083\">William Troost-Ekong in action during a Champions League 2nd Qualifying Round match between PAOK FC and Borac Banja Luka. [Photo Credit\/ Imago].<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Ekong is back in Nigeria, and is set to organise another charity game for his foundation at the Mobolaji Johnson Arena in Lagos.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<div>\n<p><img alt=\"Soccer Adefolahan Guerreiro\" src=\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f64d35abfd960f4a5a400c4bb517f7f0be6c48b655560fbdd37e59d9fc9ca58?s=80&#038;d=mm&#038;r=g\"  height=\"80\" width=\"80\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\">\t\t<\/p>\n<div>\n<h3>\n\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/author\/guerreiro\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\tAdefolahan Guerreiro\t\t\t\t<\/a><br \/>\n\t\t\t<\/h3>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\tAdefolahan is a multilingual journalist and writer at Soccernet Nigeria.<\/p>\n<p>With a track record of involvement in College sports, Adefolahan is focused on crafting engaging football content and utilising his language skills and extensive sports knowledge to enhance content accessibility for a global audience.<\/p>\n<p>He has interviewed Nigerian stars like Finidi George, Junior Lokosa, and Abraham Onahi Ogbu.\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/2025\/06\/ekong-super-eagles-saudi.html\" class=\"button purchase\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Read More<\/a>Adefolahan Guerreiro<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Soccer Super Eagles and Al-Kholood central defender, William Troost-Ekong, has credited Al Wehda forward, Odion Ighalo, for his move to the Saudi Pro League, Soccernet.ng reports. The 31-year-old won the Greek Super League title with PAOK Thessaloniki last season, although he missed a major part of the second half of the season. This happened because [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":857546,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26208,144816,2005],"tags":[8632,144815],"class_list":{"0":"post-857545","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-credits","8":"category-ekong","9":"category-soccer","10":"tag-credits","11":"tag-ekong"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857545","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=857545"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857545\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/857546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=857545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=857545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=857545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}