Former Super Eagles midfielder and 1994 Africa Cup of Nations winner, Mutiu Adepoju, speaks to SportingTimes.ng about his career, the national team, his former teammate Austin Eguavoen, and Ademola Lookman’s CAF Awards African Player of the Year chances…
The Super Eagles seem to be back to form with decent results in the AFCON qualifiers. What do you think was wrong with the team in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers?
Well, I wouldn’t know, I wouldn’t know. Probably that moment, they didn’t have the opportunity and all that. I believe everybody knows what is at stake and shouldn’t fail.
I mean Nigerians are expecting much from them. I believe that made them to understand and see the reason why have to fight and play very well and win the games.
If the Super Eagles retain this form, do you think they can still qualify for the 2026 World Cup with six matches to play?
Yes, it is difficult but not impossible. We still have six more matches and if we can win all the six matches, I believe it is possible looking at the way they played against Republic of Benin and Rwanda, they should be able to because Nigeria need to be at the World Cup and I’m sure the players too want to be at the World Cup. I believe they are going to go for it.
Let’s talk about Ademola Lookman. He has had an impressive 2024 for club and country, including that historic hat-trick for Atalanta in the UEFA Europa League final.
Do you see him as one of the favourites for the CAF Awards African Player of the Year later in the year?
Yes. I think I see him (as a favourite). It would be nice if he wins it because he has really done very well to deserve to be among the African Player of the Year nominees.
It would be good for Nigeria too. So he has done really well in the year. He played in the final of the AFCON, played a very important role in Nigeria qualifying for the final. He won the Europa League for his club and he did very well, scoring the three goals in the final.
We’d have won 1996 AFCON, Super Eagles need Eguavoen, Lookman deserves CAF award — Mutiu Adepoju 
I think he has done very well. He did very well in the last game too against the Republic of Benin. He scored two goals, so he has really done very well to deserve to be among the players to vie for the best player of the year.
The last time Nigeria won the CAF award back-to-back was in 1996 and 1997, when Victor Ikpeba won it after Nwankwo Kanu. Do you think Lookman or could succeed Osimhen?
Like I said, I think it is going to be good for Nigeria, for us to have two Nigerians as best players two years in a row, which would mean that we have good players; we have talents in Nigeria and it would be very, very good for us. And the players deserve it.
Osimhen deserved it when he won it and I think this year too, if Lookman wins it, he deserves to win it.
Some of your former national teammates have asked that Augustine Eguavoen should continue as Super Eagles coach, following recent results. What is your opinion about it?
I think I have the same opinion. If things are not going well and we have somebody who is on the right path, I believe he (Eguavoen) has done very well for him to continue.
I don’t see any reason why we should be looking outside again when we have somebody that can take care of it here.
Who do you think plays like you in the current Super Eagles?
Well, I don’t know, I don’t know. I would leave it to the fans or the people who watched me play and watch football now. They will be the ones to say how they saw me and a player they are seeing now. They should be the ones to say that “somebody plays or looks like him’.
Do you think Nigeria can go a step further and win the next Africa Cup of Nations after finishing as runners-up this year?
I believe it is possible if we continue well and do things correctly. When we won the AFCON in 1994, we had two AFCONS before then. We got to the final in 1990 and in 1992, we won bronze. Then going to AFCON in 1994, we went there to win it.
So, we knew that time that we were supposed to go for it because we had got near to it in two previous AFCONS.
I believe this time around, what we have to do is to go all the way to go and win because I mean, since 2013, we’ve not won AFCON. We just have to go all the way for it.
What would you say was your best moment as a footballer?
Well, I wouldn’t be able to say this was my best moment. I had many memorable moments and I cannot say one was too good. But I believe qualifying for the World Cup and winning the AFCON in 1994 was big and then going to the World Cup in 1998 too.
They were good moments for me but I had so many good moments. Even in the U-20s when we qualified for the final in Saudi ‘89; so those are good moments and I cannot discard any of them.
Any regrets or something you wish had never happened in your career?
Well, I wish we had attended the 1996 AFCON that we didn’t go to because of the ban, and the 1998 AFCON too that we didn’t go to.
It would have been a very good one, which probably we would have won. I’m thinking of it, we would have won it in 1996 if we had gone. I was present in three AFCONS; that was 1992, 1994 and 2000. It would have been five if we had gone in 1996 and 1998. That is what I just wished but did not happen.
Your Super Eagles team and the present set, what similarities or differences do you see?
I won’t want to go into the similarities or differences. They are different times and we are talking about twenty something or thirty something years ago.
And our last AFCON in which we got to the final was year 2000 and that was 24 years ago. Probably some of the players now were not born at that time, so I don’t want to put similarities or differences because they are different periods and times and how it was then is not the way it is now and what they enjoyed now, we didn’t have it.
So, I don’t want to go into the similarities or differences.
