John Ogu, the former Nigeria international midfielder, has publicly alleged that Gernot Rohr’s dismissive view of the Israeli top flight was a direct factor in his exclusion from match action at the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.
Speaking on the Home Turf podcast, the 37-year-old recalled a specific moment during the tournament in which Rohr made his position clear. “I went to the World Cup, and I didn’t play a game,” Ogu said. “We are in the room where we watch football, and the coach looked at me and said, because we are playing in Israel, that our league is not at the top.”
Ogu elaborated further, stating: “He has already downgraded me because I was coming from the Israeli league. He downgraded me. He said it in our meeting.”
At the time of the tournament, Ogu was a prominent figure at Israeli club Hapoel Be’er Sheva, where he had accumulated considerable domestic success. Despite that standing at club level, he did not feature in a single minute of Nigeria’s three Group D matches before the team was eliminated at the group stage.
Nigeria’s midfield options in Russia were far from limited. Rohr had at his disposal John Obi Mikel, Wilfred Ndidi, and Ogenyi Onazi — a trio with significant experience at the highest levels of European club football — which made competition for places exceptionally fierce. Mikel was captaining the side, Ndidi had established himself as a key figure at Leicester City in the Premier League, and Onazi was a regular in Serie A.
Ogu made his international debut for the Super Eagles in 2013, entering as a substitute for Victor Moses in a fixture against Kenya. Over the course of his international career, he accumulated 25 caps for Nigeria, a record that underlines his contribution to the national setup across several years, even if major tournament minutes eluded him.
Rohr managed Nigeria from 2016 to 2022, overseeing two Africa Cup of Nations campaigns and the 2018 World Cup appearance. His tenure was a subject of recurring debate, with questions around squad selection and player management surfacing at various points during his six-year spell in charge. He was eventually replaced by Augustine Eguavoen on an interim basis before Peseiro took over.
Ogu’s comments add to a broader conversation about how European-based players from leagues outside the traditional top five are evaluated within international setups. The Israeli Premier League, while competitive domestically, has historically received limited recognition in global football discourse despite producing players who perform consistently at club level in that environment.
Separately, Ogu has recently voiced confidence in Victor Osimhen’s goal-scoring potential, according to reports, suggesting the striker could surpass 50 goals in a single season if he were to join a club of the calibre of Barcelona or Arsenal.
