Moses Usor Biography: The Nigerian Star Who Just Earned His Super Eagles Call Up

When Moses Usor opened his phone in September 2026 and saw his name on Nigeria’s squad list for the first time, he described it as everyone’s dream come true. He had been drafted in to replace the injured Brighton winger Femi Azeez ahead of the Super Eagles’ opening 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Madagascar and Guinea Bissau, and for a player who had spent the previous two seasons quietly building his reputation in Austria, that phone call changed everything. Today, Moses Usor is a forward for LASK in the Austrian Bundesliga, and he is suddenly one of the most talked about Nigerian footballers of the moment, not because of a transfer saga, but because Eric Chelle finally came calling.

To understand why that call up matters so much, it helps to go back to where his career actually began. Usor was born on 5 February 2002 and grew up developing his game at 36 Lions FC, a Lagos academy that has produced several Nigerian professionals over the years. It was there that he first sharpened the traits that now define him: a low centre of gravity, genuine pace, and a left foot that lets him drift infield from the right flank and shoot on his stronger side.

His route to Europe began in 2022, when Czech club Slavia Prague signed him into their B team. He scored six goals in nine games almost immediately, forcing his way into first team plans. On 15 May 2022, he made his professional debut in the Czech First League, coming on as a late substitute in a 2 to 1 loss to Sparta Prague. Just over a month later, on 23 June 2022, Slavia rewarded him with a three year professional contract, a clear signal that the club believed his early form was no fluke.

The next step in his career came in January 2023, when LASK took him on a season long loan from Slavia Prague. Whatever the Austrian club saw in that loan spell convinced them to move permanently. On 17 November 2023, LASK made the transfer permanent and tied him to a contract running until June 2028, a long term commitment that gave Usor the stability to develop into the player Nigerian fans are now excited about.

That development accelerated dramatically during the 2025/26 season. LASK produced one of the most remarkable campaigns in the club’s history, ending a 61 year wait for an Austrian league title and completing a domestic double by lifting the Austrian Cup as well, their first cup and league double since the 1964/65 season. Usor was central to it. He scored for the third straight game in the cup final against SCR Altach, equalising just minutes after Altach’s early opener, before goals from fellow Nigerians George Bello and Samuel Adeniran secured a dramatic 4 to 2 win after extra time. It was his fourteenth goal of the season across all competitions, part of a productive campaign that finished with fifteen goals and ten assists in thirty five appearances.

Success rarely arrives without setbacks, and Usor’s did come. In May 2026, after a home game against RB Salzburg, further medical examinations revealed a torn meniscus, with his cruciate and collateral ligaments thankfully unaffected. The injury forced him to withdraw from Nigeria’s 2026 Unity Cup squad, a tournament the Super Eagles went on to win for the fourth straight time. Usor has since described that period as emotionally difficult, coming so close to a national team opportunity only to have it taken away by injury. He has credited his family, LASK, and his mentors back at 36 Lions FC for keeping him focused through rehabilitation.

That recovery set up the story that has now put him in the headlines. LASK’s Champions League playoff win over Celtic, a 5 to 1 victory that secured a 5 to 4 aggregate triumph and sent the Austrian club into the Champions League group stage for the first time in its history, showed he had returned to top form. He carried that into the new season, contributing three goals and five assists in his opening twelve appearances of 2026/27, numbers that made his rise impossible for Nigeria’s coaching staff to ignore.

That form is exactly what brought Eric Chelle to select him. Usor joined fellow first time call ups George Ilenikhena and Isaac James in a twenty four man squad announced ahead of matches against Madagascar in Uyo and Guinea Bissau in Morocco. Speaking about the opportunity, Usor said he holds tremendous respect for the established attackers already in the squad, among them Victor Osimhen, Ademola Lookman, Samuel Chukwueze, and Moses Simon, and that his aim is simply to contribute his own qualities: pace and incisive play, whatever role the coach hands him.

For Nigerian football followers, the appeal of the Moses Usor story is obvious. It is a reminder that the pipeline from Lagos academies to European leagues to the Super Eagles is still very much alive, and that a player can spend years quietly proving himself abroad before suddenly becoming a household name overnight. Whether he earns significant minutes against Madagascar and Guinea Bissau or has to wait a little longer for his full debut, Usor has already achieved something many young Nigerian footballers only dream about: a first invitation to wear the green and white.

What happens next will likely determine how his career is remembered. A strong showing in these qualifiers could put him firmly in the frame for Nigeria’s 2027 Africa Cup of Nations plans, while continued performances for LASK in Austria and in Europe’s premier club competition should only add to his growing transfer market profile. For now, though, the headline is simple. A Lagos raised, Prague trained, Austria based forward has arrived at the doorstep of the Super Eagles, and Nigerian football is paying attention.