Man Utd product Oyedele receives first senior Poland call-up; also eligible for Super Eagles, Three Lions

Manchester United Academy product Maxi Oyedele has received his first ever call-up to Poland's senior national team ahead of the upcoming UEFA Nations League games against Portugal and Croatia. 

The tri-national midfielder ended his 12-year association with Manchester United this summer to join Polish Ekstraklasa side Legia Warsaw, which is one of the biggest teams in Poland.

Oyedele was born and brought up in Salford, near Manchester, to a Polish mother and a Nigerian father, making him eligible to represent the Three Lions, Super Eagles and The Eagles.

From the word go, Poland were in pole position for his services having represented them at U18, U19, U20 and U21 levels.

By featuring in a European U19 Championship qualifier against Bosnia-Herzegovina in September 2022, he became provisionally cap-tied to Poland. 

Poland will face Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal at the National Stadium Warsaw on October 12, before another UEFA Nations League encounter against Croatia at the same venue three days later. 

Oyedele will still be eligible to represent the Super Eagles and Three Lions after the internationals in October if he is given minutes in the two games, based on Fifa's eligibility rules.

Players with dual nationality under the age of 21 can only become cap-tied to a national team if they participate in four matches for their first country, and one of these games has to be a competitive fixture.

The 19-year-old made his debut in the Polish top-flight fixture against Pogon Szczecin this month, coming on as a substitute for Jurgen Çelhaka in the 68th minute and was handed his first start last weekend against Górnik Zabrze.

Warri-born striker Emmanuel Olisadebe represented Poland at the 2002 World Cup, while former Golden Eaglets invitee Kelechukwu Ebenezer Ibe-Torti played five times for Poland U20s.

Michael Izunwanne, one of the stars of the 2024 European U17 Championship, has opted to represent Poland for the time being, though he also qualifies to represent Nigeria through his father and Austria where he was born.

Abdulkareem Abdulhamid

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