Noah Okafor retires from international football after ‘painful’ treatment

Leeds United forward Noah Okafor has announced his retirement from international football with Switzerland, saying trust had broken down and commitments had not been honoured.

Okafor made the announcement in a post on Instagram, insisting his decision was not related to the amount of playing time he had received for his country.

“My decision to retire from international football has absolutely nothing to do with the number of minutes I played,” Okafor wrote. “Things happened that hurt me deeply, trust was broken and commitments were not fulfilled.”

The 26-year-old added that the way his performance was judged during Switzerland’s match against Algeria at the World Cup had affected him significantly.

“When I was allowed to play against Algeria at the World Cup, people reacted to simple mistakes in a way that hurt me enormously,” he said.

Okafor said he had spent the weeks that followed reflecting on the situation before reaching his decision.

“I thought a lot about it in the weeks afterwards and decided for myself that I no longer wanted to play for the national team under the current manager,” he added.

Okafor made 26 appearances for Switzerland and scored two goals during his international career.

Switzerland are managed by Murat Yakin, who previously coached Egyptian football great Mohamed Salah at Basel.