He kept goal for Nigeria at a World Cup, won an AFCON bronze medal, played in four different countries across a professional career that stretched nearly two decades, and was still training with Stanley Nwabali a few months ago. Now Daniel Akpeyi has put it all to rest.
Daniel Akpeyi broke his silence on the question that had been hanging over his career status for months. Speaking at a South African football event on Tuesday, the 39 year old confirmed what the absence of any club activity had suggested his playing days are over. “I’ve retired from active football,” he said, adding that he has enrolled in coaching courses and is waiting for the right opportunity to begin his managerial career. The announcement brought formal closure to a career that carried him from Warri Wolves in the NPFL to the biggest stages of African and international football.
For Nigerian football supporters who watched the Super Eagles across the late 2010s, Akpeyi’s retirement marks the end of one of that era’s most distinctive goalkeeper stories. He was not the most celebrated player in any of the squads he occupied, but he was present and performing at every significant moment Nigeria experienced in that period, from a World Cup to multiple AFCON tournaments, in a role that demands composure at the exact moments pressure is highest. Nigerian football fans following all Super Eagles news and tributes to Akpeyi’s career can find the latest coverage through Bet9ja’s early payout feature page as the new Super Eagles era continues under Eric Chelle.
The Career That Brought Him to This Point
Akpeyi’s journey through South African football was the chapter that defined his international profile. After leaving Warri Wolves, he joined Chippa United in the DStv Premiership and spent four years there as the club’s undisputed first-choice keeper. His performances in that period were consistent enough to place him at the centre of Gernot Rohr’s goalkeeping rotation for the Super Eagles, where he competed with Ikechukwu Ezenwa for the starting jersey across qualifiers, friendlies, and tournament football. Akpeyi made his competitive Nigeria debut in 2016 during an AFCON qualifier against Egypt, and from that point the national team shirt remained a regular feature of his professional life for the better part of three years.
His most consequential tournament was the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt, where Nigeria finished third. Akpeyi was the first-choice keeper throughout the campaign, and while the bronze medal represents a genuine achievement, the semifinal exit against Algeria, who went on to win the tournament, left questions that followed him out of international football. Nigeria lost that match 2-1 in a tie where the goalkeeper’s contribution became a talking point among supporters. His last cap came in November 2019, and the subsequent rise of Francis Uzoho and then Maduka Okoye and Stanley Nwabali made a return increasingly unlikely. Seven years after that final appearance in the green and white, Akpeyi has made it official. His Super Eagles chapter is closed.
Life After Chippa: The Road to Retirement
Following his time at Chippa United, Akpeyi continued his South African football career across three more clubs. He joined Kaizer Chiefs, one of the most supported clubs in South Africa, where he played a backup and then rotational role before moving to Moroka Swallows and subsequently Marumo Gallants, from whom he departed last year. Since leaving Gallants he had been without a club and inactive, a period of quiet that preceded Tuesday’s formal confirmation that his professional playing career had ended some months earlier without a public announcement.
What makes the retirement announcement worth noting beyond the career summary is the detail about the transition already in progress. Akpeyi did not simply confirm he had stopped playing. He confirmed he had started coaching courses and is already preparing for the next phase of a life in football. The fact that he was spotted working alongside Stanley Nwabali during training sessions earlier in 2026 suggests his football intelligence is already being applied in a coaching context, and his familiarity with the Super Eagles environment makes a future role within the national team structure a genuine possibility if the timing and opportunity align. All the latest Super Eagles news as Nigeria’s new era takes shape under Chelle can be followed at FootballInNigeria.com.ng’s Bet9ja promotion code page.
Chippa United’s Nigerian Goalkeeper Legacy
One of the quieter but genuinely interesting threads in this retirement story is what it says about Chippa United’s role in Nigerian goalkeeping history. The Eastern Cape club has been home to two Super Eagles first choice goalkeepers across the past decade Akpeyi, who established himself there before his AFCON campaign, and Stanley Nwabali, whose outstanding 2023 AFCON performances under Jose Peseiro made him a household name across African football and secured his place as Nigeria’s current number one. That a club of Chippa United’s size and standing produced back to back Nigeria first-choice goalkeepers is a statistical quirk worth acknowledging as the first of the two brings down the curtain on his playing career. Akpeyi’s Nigeria legacy, nineteen caps and a bronze medal, may not be the most decorated international record, but it belongs to a goalkeeper who arrived when called and performed under pressure on football’s most demanding stages. That will remain the lasting summary of his time in the Super Eagles shirt, long after the coaching journey now beginning has added its own chapters to his story. Super Eagles fans following every development this summer can stay ahead of all fixtures and news with the latest Bet9ja promotion code from Nigeria’s biggest betting platform.
📌 Did You Know?
- Daniel Akpeyi was born on September 7, 1986, in Warri, Delta State, making him one of the oldest players to have represented the Super Eagles in recent memory. He was 32 years old when he travelled to the 2018 World Cup in Russia as part of Nigeria’s squad.
- Akpeyi attended the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia as Nigeria’s third-choice goalkeeper behind Francis Uzoho and Ikechukwu Ezenwa. He did not feature in any of the three group-stage matches Nigeria played before their elimination, making Russia 2018 a tournament he experienced entirely from the bench.
- Stanley Nwabali, who succeeded Akpeyi as Chippa United’s first choice goalkeeper and went on to become Nigeria’s current number one, was named the best goalkeeper of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast, where Nigeria finished runners-up under coach Jose Peseiro.
- Nigeria’s 2019 AFCON third-place finish was achieved in Egypt, with Akpeyi as the starting goalkeeper. The bronze medal came via a 1-0 victory over Tunisia in the third place playoff, making it Nigeria’s most recent continental medal before the 2025 AFCON bronze won in Egypt under Eric Chelle.
- Algeria, who eliminated Nigeria in the 2019 AFCON semifinal with a 2-1 victory, went on to win the tournament in Cairo. That Algeria squad was coached by Djamel Belmadi and included Riyad Mahrez and Baghdad Bounedjah, whose early strike in the final against Senegal secured the title.
- Kaizer Chiefs, one of the South African clubs where Akpeyi played after Chippa United, are the most supported football club in South Africa and arguably on the African continent, with an estimated fanbase of over 16 million supporters across southern Africa.
- Nigeria’s goalkeeping position has transformed significantly since Akpeyi’s last cap in November 2019. The Super Eagles have since used Francis Uzoho, Maduka Okoye, Stanley Nwabali, and now Arthur Okonkwo as various levels of the goalkeeping hierarchy under different coaching regimes, reflecting how much the position has evolved in six years.
