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Victor Boniface is attracting mainstream attention for his exploits in the Europa League with Belgian club Royale Union Saint Gilloise
Two Nigerian strikers named Victor have been in superb goalscoring form this season for their European clubs this season but unlike Osimhen, Boniface is not particularly well known yet.
22-year-old Victor Boniface really stepped into the limelight last week though, with a brace against Union Berlin in the Europa League round of 16 first leg which led to him being named the tournament's player of the week.
Here are 10 interesting facts about Victor Boniface, the Super Eagles hopeful looking to follow in the footsteps of his more popular namesake.
10 interesting facts about Victor Boniface
- Victor Boniface left Nigerian club Real Sapphire FC and joined Norwegian club Bodo Glimt in March 2019 but he could have joined a different club in the same country instead.
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- The other club he almost joined was Valerenga whose head coach at the time Ronny Deila revealed Boniface had a trial and regrets not signing him, claiming “It was a mistake not to offer him a contract and sign him."
- Boniface was invited to the Nigeria U-20 squad to play the 2019 Africa U-20 Cup of Nations in Niger but had to withdraw from the squad due to injury. The Flying Eagles went on to finish fourth after losing the third-place game to South Africa.
- Boniface scored a hattrick for Bodo Glimt in a 3-0 win against Klaksvik in the UEFA Champions League preliminaries on July 6, 2022, making him the first player to score a hattrick for a Norwegian club since 2007.
- Boniface is currently represented by Aneke/Players Management Group, the same agency that handles Super Eagles stars Odion Ighalo and Chidera Ejuke.
- The Ondo-born striker nearly quit football due to depression as he revealed in an interview with Nigerian journalist Ojora Babatunde. “I lost interest in football, I forgot about my diets, I began to eat everything, I started living a normal life, I just wanted to be happy, I started partying and drinking. I don’t drink normally, but I started it because I was depressed," Boniface said.
- Boniface played 66 games for Bodo Glimt, scoring 23 goals and assisting eight more in his time with the Norwegian club.
- He left Bodo Glimt in August 2022 to join Royale Union Saint Gilloise for a €2 million transfer fee and he has already recorded 14 goals and seven assists in 37 games.
- Boniface has scored in every competition he has played in this season and is currently the joint-top scorer in this season's Europa League with five goals.
- The Super Eagles hopeful has had a long and brutal battle with injuries and he tore his ACL twice earlier in his career despite only being 22 years old.
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