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In an interview with Pulse Sports, Switzerland international Noah Okafor speaks on the Super Eagles 'option', his love for Afrobeats and the influence of Granit Xhaka
The Instagram handle of Switzerland international Noah Okafor features the name ‘Arinze’, a diminutive form of ‘Arinzechukwu’.
It is a name of Igbo origin that was bestowed on him by his father. He has no idea what it means, beyond the fact that it’s a “nice” name, a fact to which everyone he meets attests. He is proud of it just the same, and by extension of his roots; he may represent the Rossocrociati at international level, but being born to a Nigerian father has evidently made an impression on the Red Bull Salzburg forward.
That has come chiefly in the form of Nigerian cuisine and music, elements of the culture that are currently enjoying mainstream attention. “When I think of my favourite food, I think Nigerian kitchen,” Okafor tells Pulse Sports. “That means like jollof rice, ogbono soup, puff-puff. I like that kind of food, really.” Ahead of matches, he taps into Afrobeats for motivation, finding enjoyment in the work of Wizkid, Burna Boy and Davido. His favourite song? “‘Saudi Arabia’ by Mr Eazi.”
With all of this Nigerian influence, did he ever seriously consider playing for the Super Eagles instead? Okafor has been a part of the Swiss international set-up since debuting at under-15 level in 2014, and has progressed through the ranks to reach double digits in senior caps since 2019. Could it have been Nigeria for him instead? “It was an option,” he admits.
“I grew up in Switzerland; my dad, as you know, is Nigerian, and my mom is Swiss. So I had a little bit of both the Swiss style of life and the Nigerian life. It’s a good mix.
“But I know the culture, I know the life here. I trusted the first step and I felt good with that. That’s why I decided to play for Switzerland. Sometimes in life you have two things to decide. And you have to take the one with which you feel better, more comfortable. And that’s what I did.”
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A tough decision like that at such a tender age cannot have been easy, but the 22-year-old is grateful for a strong, supportive family unit. He speaks highly of his unique upbringing, which has taught him the importance of goal-setting and inculcated in him strong values. “My parents did a good job from when I was small,” he says. “They pushed me all the time, telling me what I had to do; what is good and what is bad. About this, I’m very happy.”
Instilling in him that moral compass from a young age has made it a lot easier for them to step back and let him chart his own course, only offering encouragement and positive reinforcement where needed. For as long as he can remember, Okafor always wanted to be a professional footballer – “I was so focused that I really wanted to be a footballer that I’ve forgotten what happened when [I was] not, you know?” – and demonstrated prodigious ability early, joining the FC Basel youth set-up at eight. Yet, the path to professional football is far from straightforward; children, especially of Nigerian parentage, are routinely prodded (often not very subtly) toward academics, at least as a recourse.
There was none of that with father, Christian. “Oh, my dad is always on my side,” Okafor says. “He supports my decisions. If I had said I want to play for Nigeria, he would have said, ‘OK, let’s try it and do the best to support you’ and he would have pushed me.”
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So when, at 15, the budding forward copped a major injury that sidelined him for six months, his single-minded pursuit of a career in football meant his misfortune could have put him in a dark place. It was a critical period too: Okafor was due to join up with Basel’s U-16s. “I was a little bit down,” he recalls. “It was not good timing, you know, because it was time for me to develop and move on to the next step.” In that bleak moment, he found solace in his nearest and dearest, and strength to battle through that most inevitable of occupational hazards.
“My family was speaking good to me, pushing me. They made sure I only think positive. Injuries are [a] normal part of the game of football. The important thing is how you react, your mindset and how strong you are in the head. With my family and the people around me, I had a good team pushing me and giving me the right input.
"Because of this, I was really glad, and after that I came back stronger than before. Then I made a good step in a good way, and it went really fast.” After only a year in the Under-16s, he moved up to the Under-18s at the age of 17, and a year after his return from injury, he signed his first professional contract with the 20-time Swiss champions.
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A 12-year affiliation with Basel came to an end in 2020 when, having completed most of his footballing education, Okafor moved to RB Salzburg. Yet, even now, he continues to draw wisdom from that font. Making his senior international bow in 2019 afforded him the opportunity to play with one of Basel’s proudest and most well-known sons: Granit Xhaka.
Okafor cites the 30-year-old as a role model and a key influence on him. Xhaka was many years his senior in the Basel youth ranks, and left the club when the young forward was only 12, but now they defend the Swiss flag side-by-side.
“Granit Xhaka is really a good person, good guy,” Okafor says. “On the pitch, off the pitch, he has helped me as a young player.
“I learn from him a lot, like training, mentality and everything, and I think that is so important because he is already a big player, a huge player. When I speak to him sometimes, I just feel good because… The way I’m on now, he did already, so I can learn and profit from him.”
Some of that advice is clearly getting through, and if Okafor is enthusiastic about walking the same path as his international colleague, reported interest from Arsenal is perhaps the biggest indication he is on the right track. Two-week-old reports from dailies in the United Kingdom have the Gunners at the front of a queue of big clubs who would like to recruit the forward.
Okafor welcomes the interest, but is keen to keep his mind on the here and now. “For sure, I’m really glad to hear (of Arsenal’s interest),” he admits. “But the way for me is to focus on every game and every training. It’s really nice that a big team is interested in you. It makes you feel confident. We will see what happens in the future. But yeah, for me, it’s very clear that, soon, the next step is coming. So I prepare now for this.”
If his intuition is correct, then he could very quickly be gracing the biggest leagues in the world, squaring up against the best on a weekly basis. The pressure that comes with that seems unlikely to faze him; 18 months ago, with qualification for the 2022 World Cup going down to the final day, it was his opener just after the interval against Bulgaria that settled nerves and opened the floodgates for Switzerland, effectively punching the Swiss ticket to Qatar.
He counts it as the most memorable goal of his career for the emotion of it, with an honourable mention to his equaliser against Chelsea in the Champions League last September. That latter finish, following an impeccably-timed near-post run, served notice in England of his ability, and it may not be very long before his blend of quality, focus and mental strength are making a more permanent impression on the big time.
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