Credit: Tung Manh Phan, Breaking Media

Mark Smith

Sun 31 May 2026 10:40, UK

Noah Okafor is loved at Leeds United, but that hasn’t always been the case with his country.

After a sensational second half of the season at Elland Road, the winger has now been called up for the World Cup with Switzerland.

Okafor did end the season with an injury, but had already done his bit to ensure that Leeds would once again be playing Premier League football next season.

His two goals at Old Trafford to secure a 2-1 win against Manchester United will see him remembered for a long time in LS11, but now he is taking it to the international stage.

After a EURO 2024 call-up, Okafor failed to play a single minute before his country was knocked out by England, and that led to reports of a very poor attitude.

Now, he is looking to leave that behind him on the biggest stage of the World Cup.

Noah Okafor takes stand in Switzerland camp

After missing out on squads due to his attitude in previous camps, Okafor has transformed himself with the help of Leeds and Daniel Farke.

Looking to make himself the very best, the winger actually stood up ahead of his Swiss teammates back in April and apologised for his past actions.

Okafor was actually described as “disgraced” before that action, which went down tremendously well with the squad and manager, Murat Yakin.

Now, the attacker arrived early to train with the Switzerland coaching staff and will get the chance to put his best foot forward on Saturday.

Switzerland will take part in their first warm-up game ahead of North America, welcoming Jordan to Kybunpark in St Gallen.

What has Noah Okafor said about Leeds?

He may have had question marks around his attitude for his country, but it’s a different story for Leeds.

When first arriving from AC Milan, there were slight doubts around his work ethic off the ball, but as Dominic Calvert-Lewin pointed out recently, that changed dramatically.

Working his way back from a mid-season injury blow, Okafor exploded into life and could not stop scoring against the likes of Man United, Wolves and Burnley to secure survival.

Okafor has fallen back in love with the game at Leeds after spells at AC Milan and Napoli, where he simply wasn’t one of their main men.

To top off his sensational first season in West Yorkshire, if he backs that up against Jordan today, he’s heading to the World Cup with a huge chance of playing a massive role.

Forget disgraced, Okafor is ready to leave that behind him.