Chippa United and Nigeria goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali is keeping his feet firmly on the ground, despite his exploits at the recent Africa Cup of Nations tournament in Côte d’Ivoire.
Nwabali, who was relatively unknown in African football circles until the AFCON tournament, has reportedly attracted a lot of interest from Europe and the Middle East, as well as in South Africa.
The 27-year-old shot-stopper has now cemented his place as the number one keeper for the Super Eagles, after helping them to a runners-up at the AFCON tournament.
Stanley Nwabali joined Chippa United in 2022 from Katsina United in the Nigerian Premier League and has since made his name in South African football.
Before this year’s Africa Cup of Nations tournament, Nwabali had earned just one cap for the Nigerian senior national team.
But he played in all seven of Nigeria’s matches at the AFCON, keeping four clean sheets in the process.
In the DSTV Premiership, the 27-year-old Nwabali struggled for game time in his first season but has since established himself as Chippa United go-to-keeper.
Nwabali has nine clean sheets in the league so far this season and fully enjoys life in the Friendly City.
“It was tough when I was out of South Africa because I got used to these guys like the training the environment the lifestyle here so when I left for the Afcon after one week, two weeks I started missing them. it’s nice coming back like it’s nice to be back in South Africa like it’s nice seeing my good friends, the management and even my teammates also. it’s really nice to be back to be honest yeah”.
But the soft-spoken towering goalminder is not allowing his AFCON heroics to derail his progress at the club level.
Nwabali says, “We won our last game in the Nedbank it does not guarantee me to be in the next game it will depend on the coach so if I am going to be in the next game fine and good, but if I am not going to make it for the next game so be it because coaches have their own strategy especially when we win a game to change a team it’s difficult. So yeah I would love to play with these guys again like I really miss them”.
The Chilli Boys are currently fourth from the bottom, but Nwabali says their aim this season is to finish in the top eight and go all the way in the Nedbank Cup competition.
Chippa hosts amateur side FC Ravens in the second round on Saturday.
Nwabali says, “Last year we lost in the quarter-finals against Sekhukhune to be honest this season for me I wanna win the Nedbank but we will see after our round of 16 we will see if we gonna win it or not. yeah to be honest we really need to finish well. We want to finish well, to be honest, in the top eight we need the top eight spot and also win the Nedbank”.
Nigeria’s number-one keeper has already been linked to top clubs in South Africa. But Nwabali who has already added a clean sheet since returning from the AFCON, has dismissed rumours linking him to clubs in England and Belgium.
“To be honest there’s no deal, I have never seen any deal I only see it online or maybe my friends always tell me. I have never seen a deal on my table, and I wish this rumour would come to pass,” Nwabali explains.
Nwabali has vowed to remain at Chippa United until the end of his current contract which runs until 2026.
