Nigerian defender, Kennedy Ezeji, who was voted Man of The Match in the Special Eagles’ opening game against hosts Egypt at the ongoing Amputee Nations Cup has won the 2024 Amputee AFCON Award.
He described it as another achievement in his service to the country, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.
Ezeji, who runs a Point-of-Sale business as his means of survival aside from amputee football was strong at the back as the Special Eagles recorded a goalless draw against the hosts in the opening game at the Al Salam Stadium in Cairo on Saturday.
In his words on the 2024 Amputee AFCON Award:
“I am very happy, first of all, because we played against the host nation and we were able to prevent them from intimidating us with their fans.
I thank God too and I dedicate the award to my teammates and every member of the technical team who played their parts as well.
Yes, I run a POS business but I had to stop due to some financial reasons associated with amputee football but I hope to revive it soon when I get a club in Turkey.”
The defender scored Nigeria’s first-ever goal at the Amputee World Cup – a freekick against Sierra Leone in 2018.
Following the absence of Cameroon, Nigeria, will play newcomers Burundi in their last group game on Tuesday as they hope to pick one of the seven tickets to the 2026 Amputee World Cup in Morocco.
Since the inception of the Nations Cup in 2007, the Special Eagles have not missed the tournament but their only appearance at the World Cup was in Mexico in 2018.
Aside from reaching their second World Cup, the Special Eagles are also looking to improve on their last outing in Tanzania 2021, which saw them fall off from their second-place finish in Angola 2019, their best-ever outing at the tournament, to seventh.
