Victor Moses

Early life and career

Moses was born in Kaduna, Nigeria to the son of a Christian pastor. When he was 11, Moses’ parents were killed in the city’s religious riots during a home invasion. He was playing football in the street at the time. A week later, after being hidden by friends, Moses’ relatives paid for him to travel to the UK to claim asylum. He was placed with a foster family in South London. Moses attended Stanley Technical High School (now known as the Harris Academy) in South Norwood. Whilst playing football in the local Tandridge League for Cosmos 90 FC, Moses was scouted by Crystal Palace. The club's Selhurst Park stadium was just streets away from his school. Offered a place in the Eagles' academy, Palace recommended Moses to the fee-paying Whitgift School in Croydon, where former Arsenal and Chelsea star Colin Pates was coaching the school football team. Moses first came to prominence at 14 after scoring 50 goals for Palace's under-14s side. Playing for three years at both Whitgift and Palace, Moses scored over 100 goals as well as helping Whitgift win many School Cups, including a National Cup where Moses scored all five goals in the final against Healing School of Grimsby at the Walkers Stadium, Leicester.

Crystal Palace

Moses made his first team debut for Palace at the age of 16 on 6 November 2007 in a 1–1 draw with Cardiff City in the Championship. He kept his place in the side thereafter and scored his first senior goal on 12 March 2008 in…

England

U16 and U17 level

Despite originally hailing from Kaduna, Nigeria, Moses initially chose to represent his adopted home of England, featuring for the under-16 team, in which he won the Victory Shield in 2005, and under-17 level. He travelled with the squad to the 2007 UEFA European U-17 Championship in Belgium, scoring three times (including the only goal in the semi-final win over France) to help John Peacock's side to the competition final, where they were narrowly beaten by a single goal by Spain, though Moses managed to finish as the competition's top scorer and collect the Golden Boot for doing so. That same summer, the squad travelled to South Korea for the FIFA U-17 World Cup. Moses finished as the Young Lions' top scorer, netting three times in the Group B fixtures, but sustained an injury in the victory over Brazil that ruled him out of the competition. Moses' teammates went on to reach the quarterfinal stage.

U19s

Following that tournament, Moses was promoted to the under-18 squad, and following his goalscoring exploits for Crystal Palace's first-team, he was promoted to the under-19 side without appearing sufficiently for the U-18s to actually collect a cap. He went with the U-19s to the 2008 UEFA European U-19 Championship in the Czech Republic, playing two matches and picking up one assist as the Young Lions failed to make it out of Group B. Speculation grew as manager Stuart Pearce snubbed him that Moses would return to…

Club

As of match played 11 April 2026

International

As of match played 26 June 2018

Scores and results list Nigeria's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Moses goal.

Moses grew up supporting Arsenal. He has a son, Brentley, (born 2012) and a daughter, Nyah, (born 2015).