Leeds United star makes return from injury with international minutes
A Leeds United star has made his return from injury.
Leeds United star Noah Okafor has made his return from action with minutes from the bench just in time for the 2026 World Cup.
Okafor was enjoying a particularly impressive end to the season for Leeds but a calf injury ruled the winger out of his side’s last three games.
The 26-year-old was still named in boss Murat Yakin’s World Cup squad although Okafor missed last Sunday’s penultimate pre-World Cup friendly against Jordan, ahead of which Yakin said he was not worried about Okafor’s long-term availability.
Six days later, Okafor was named on the Switzerland bench for Saturday’s final pre-World Cup friendly against Australia and the Whites star bagged his first minutes for just over five weeks when brought on with 11 minutes left of the 1-1 draw.
Nottingham Forest’s Dan Ndoye had fired Switzerland ahead in the 14th minute but Tete Yengi equalised for Australia four minutes before the hour mark.
Okafor now heads to the World Cup as one of four Leeds players competing at the competition along with Brenden Aaronson (USA), Gabi Gudmundsson (Sweden) and Ao Tanaka (Japan).
Switzerland will begin their tournament next Saturday evening with their Group B opener against Qatar.