Stanley Nwabali remains without a club after leaving Chippa United by mutual consent in early January, despite performances at successive Africa Cup of Nations tournaments that were expected to open the door to a bigger move, Footynaija.com reports.
The 29-year-old goalkeeper from Port Harcourt left the South African side after four years, during which he made 76 appearances and kept 25 clean sheets.
The Nigeria international asked for his release while still at the 2025 AFCON in Morocco, about two or three weeks before Chippa made it official, but the club waited until the final days of the window to approve it.
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Nwabali confirmed after his release that no offer was in place. “There is no contract in front, there is no club in front,” he said. The only calls he took in the days that followed came from family and people surprised by the news, not from clubs.
Raja Casablanca, Simba SC, Kaizer Chiefs, Al-Ettifaq and Queens Park Rangers had all been mentioned in reports, but none have moved forward with a formal approach.
His showing at AFCON 2025 was supposed to change that. Nwabali kept four clean sheets in seven matches and helped Nigeria take third place. In the playoff against Egypt, he saved penalties from Mohamed Salah and Omar Marmoush in the shootout to secure a 4-2 win.
It was his second strong AFCON campaign, after 2023 when he became the first Nigerian goalkeeper in 44 years to keep four straight clean sheets and saved two penalties in the semi-final shootout against South Africa.
Motsoeneng questions Nwabali’s PSL credentials
Former South African goalkeeper Motsoeneng Tshepo, who played for Chippa among other clubs before retiring in 2015, said Nwabali had not done enough at club level to earn a move to the top teams in the PSL.
“I don’t think Nwabali has moved beyond the PSL,” Motsoeneng said in a report by Kickoff Online. “At Chippa, he needed to show without any doubt that he had grown beyond this league. First, he must be a truly outstanding goalkeeper in the PSL before thinking about moving past it.”
Motsoeneng pointed to the lack of room at clubs like Mamelodi Sundowns, where Ronwen Williams is the established number one.
“If you sign a foreign goalkeeper, he must be number one. But at Sundowns, what happens to Ronwen? They have no space,” he said.
The former Chippa keeper also raised questions about Nwabali’s form since the start of the season.
“Since the start of this season, his performances haven’t been at the level they should be. Maybe after AFCON he expected a move, but that opportunity didn’t come,” he said.
Tanzania’s Simba SC came close to signing him earlier but would not meet Chippa’s $367,000 asking price for a player with six months left on his deal. The move collapsed. Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs were also mentioned in earlier talks, but those negotiations did not lead anywhere.
