Euro 2024 qualifiers: FIFA says highly rated Tottenham star still eligible to play for Nigeria despite making Italy debut

Destiny Udogie is eligible to wear the green and white shirt of Nigeria despite playing his first for Italy on Saturday

Nothing can be ruled out in football and Nigerians are still hopeful that the highly rated Tottenham Hotspur defender can still play for the West African giants.

Udogie played his competitive game for Italy as they beat Malta 4-0 in a 2024 European Championship qualifier on Saturday.

He came off the bench in the 79th to replace Federico Demarco at left-back and by then the Azzurri were already three goals up.

Whoscored recorded ninteen touches of the ball for Udogie with accuracy rate of 90 percent of his passes.

However, the full-back remains eligible to play Nigeria unless he goes on to play three games in the colours of the former European champions, according to FIFA rules.

The world football governing body states that a player can feature up to three matches at senior level and still switch allegiance to another country.

However, three of those games must have happened before the player turned 21.