Ugochukwu Iwu, a midfielder for the Armenian national team and Rubin Kazan, has spoken about his debut for the national team Armenni and how he made the decision to play for the Armenian team.
"Of course, I dreamed of making it to the Nigerian national team. Once, already playing in Armenia, I was supposed to go to the youth team, but it never came to that. The paperwork was delayed - I couldn't even get to my homeland. It's hard to say goodbye to your dream. But now I am a player of the Armenian national team. I love it with all my soul. If Armenia really needed me, if they were counting on me, I couldn't refuse.
Six years ago, I didn't even know that there was such a country as Armenia. But in 2018, I received a call from David Abrahamyan - he was looking for players in Africa and arranging them in different clubs. David said: "I need players for Armenian clubs. Will you go?" I decided: let's try. I really wanted to play somewhere abroad.
The first talks about changing citizenship came three years after I moved to Armenia. The head coach of the national team addressed me: "I see you in the squad. I'm waiting for you to get your passport". In 2022 I decided to do it, but I had to wait another year. Even when I received my first official call-up in 2023, my passport was not ready yet. I trained with everyone ahead of the qualifying match against Turkey, but I wasn't sure I could play. The procedure was delayed, and I received the document only on 20 March - five days before the game. By the way, I received it together with Gunko - he is now also an Armenian citizen.
I didn't think that I would come out against Turkey then - well, they will give me a couple of minutes, it will be enough for my debut. After a couple of days of training camp coach Alexander Petrakov said: "I see you in the starting line-up. But here it is not like in the Armenian league. The stadium will be full. The victory over the Turks is more important than anything else. It means everything for Armenia. Aren't you scared? Speak up!" I promised: "I'll be ready." Although I was nervous, of course. Moreover, the stadium was really full - I had never seen such a crowd.
Iwu played 9 matches in the Armenian national team. He moved to Rubin from Uarartu and has already played 25 matches in RPL, scoring 1 goal".