Emilio Nsue won the 2023 AFCON top scorer by scoring 5 goals after he led Equatorial Guinea to the quarter finals of the tournament in Ivory Coast. He was a star turned in Abidjan in the group stages of the competition after they smashed host and eventual winners Ivory Coast into pieces with Nsue scoring twice. He scored a hattrick against lowly Guinea Bissau in CAN 2023 and became the first player since Soufiane Alloudi who scored a hattrick for Morocco in the 2008 AFCON in Ghana.
Born in Spain to a Spanish mother and an Equatoguinean father in Palma de Mallorca. He represented Spain in all age levels and in March 2013 decided to switch nationality to represent his father’s homeland.
What led to his suspension?
Emilio Nsue in May 2024 was declared ineligible to represent Equatorial Guinea which he had been doing. He was accused of allegedly using a fraudulent Passport of Equatorial Guinea which stated that he was born in Malabo instead of Mallorca.
A month later FIFA ruled that Nsue had never been eligible to represent the Central Africans in his entire career and was subsequently handed a 6-month ban from playing international games.
What next for Emilio Nsue?
Equatorial Guinea is getting their star man back and they must celebrate his presence. The president of the Equatorial Guinea national team Venancio Tomás Ndong Michá, was so excited about the return of Emilio Nsue to the national team and said, “We are very happy for this day in which we confirm that FIFA has approved the eligibility of Emilio Nsue with the National Team,” Michá said.
“It is one of the greatest achievements of this Executive Board and a great joy for the people of Equatorial Guinea,” Ndong Micha concluded.
Nsue is the beacon of the Equatorial Guinea national team having scored 23 goals in 42 games for Nzalang Nacional. He will be available for the Thunder’s two games in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against Sao Tome and Principe and Nmaibia in rounds 5 and 6.
Equatorial Guinea 5th in Group H of the World Cup qualifiers with qualification looking so unlikely after trailing leaders Tunisia by an astonishing 7 points.
Equatoria Guinea is in Group E alongside Algeria, Burkina Faso and Sudan for the 2025 AFCON to be played in Morocco.
