Stanley Nwabali, the custodian for the Super Eagles and the team’s current number one, is well-known among Nigerians thanks to his exploits at the 2023 AFCON.
Stanley Nwabali has performed admirably since the African Nations Cup began, giving up only one goal via open play in the first five games of the competition.
He received a lot of praise for his superb performance against Angola despite having a knee injury.
However, he rose to prominence with his valiant performance against South Africa in the semifinals. Nigeria advanced to the finals thanks to his saves in regulation time and his two stoppages in penalties during the shootout.
Less than 6,000 people followed Nwabali on Instagram prior to the AFCON. It gradually increased as his profile expanded during the competition.
On February 7, 2024, a Wednesday morning, Nwabali had slightly more than 40,000 followers. But following his outstanding performance against South Africa, his profile took up, garnering him over 300k followers.
Nwabali’s following increased from 52.5k on Wednesday and Thursday night to 352k at the time of posting, and it was already at 369k.
Here are some of the reactions below:
@princessekwuribe: “He was 4k before the beginning of the competition.”
@sola.adetola: “He was on less than 10k before the tournament.”
@pre_pre_2023: “After winning the cup, they’ll verify his acc and he’s gonna hit a million followers.”
@big.zina: “Is like I’m the only one not following.” @chef_amaa: “When God enters your case, all protocols are ruled out.”
@maxwella___j: “Saw it when it was 36k sef during that Angola match Nigerians Dey para oh.”
@ariecollectionsucjeweler: “I Am So Proud Of Him I Followed Him immediately.”