‘I Must Go Back’, Stanley Nwabali Insists Despite Threats From South Africans

Super Eagles goalkeeper, Stanley Nwabali has confirmed that he would return to his South African club, Chippa United, despite the raging threats against him.

Stanley Nwabali became one of the most hated people in South Africa after he saved two penalties in the 2023 AFCON semi-final clash between the Super Eagles of Nigeria and Bafana Bafana.

His two saves helped the Super Eagles to knock out the Bafana Bafana 4-2 on penalties and halted their dream of winning their second AFCON title.

Stanley Nwabali led Nigeria to the final of the tournament where they lost 2-1 to the hosts, Ivory Coast.

Before and even after the final, some South African football enthusiasts have been threatening to harm the goalkeeper if he returns to Chippa United according to reports.

In the same vein, Former CAF Appeal Committee vice president Mazi Amanze Uchegbulam has warned the goalkeeper not to return to South Africa. 

However, Stanley Nwabali has stressed that he would return to his club as he stressed that it was just a football game that must produce a winner or a loser.

“I must go back to my club, but talking about the threats, this is football,” the 27-year-old goalkeeper said according to BluePrint.

“You can’t threaten someone because they (Bafana Bafana) also won against some other teams too. How about if those they beat decided to threaten their players, would it make sense? It’s football, I don’t think there’s anything attached to it. Maybe it was just someone writing on social media.”

He added, “It’s cool to me because I spoke to my chairman three days ago, but he didn’t say anything like all that stuff. So, he felt like ‘No, it’s cool, you can come back. I must go back to my club because they own me.”