POPULAR ACTIVE FOOTBALLERS YOU DIDN’T KNOW WERE FROM ANAMBRA STATE
Football is a game of love, and passion that surprisingly unites friends, foes and family together. The exceptional quality about this sport is that anyone from any part of the world can possess the skill and with subsequent practice be good enough to be called a professional footballer. In Nigeria, the skills are not lacking judging from the performances of the footballers in the big and small leagues. Without wasting much of your time, I will like to introduce you to popular active footballers from Anambra state.
MIKEL OBI: John Nchekwube Michael Obi popular referred to as Mikel Obi is a famous Nigeria footballer who plays as a midfielder for the Chinese club Tianjin TEDA in the Chinese Super League and the Nigerian national team. Mikel was born on April 22, 1987, in Jos, Nigeria into the family of Mr Michael Obi but is a native of Anambra state. Mikel started his career at the age of 12 when he was picked by over 3,000 football players to play in the Pepsi Academy.
Later he qualified to join the under 17 football world championship in Finland. After the tournament, he went on to a trial at South African club Ajax Cape Town, ultimately joining Oslo-based club Lyn Fotball in Norway. He decided to adopt the name “Mikel” instead of Michael after the 2003 FIFA under 17 world championship following the organizer’s mistake of addressing him as that.
In April 2005, Mikel was signed into the English Premier league days before turning 18. He was officially signed into Chelsea FC in the 2006/2007 season after some unforeseen issues with Man united and other leagues claiming to have also scouted the player to their team. He played with Chelsea from 2006 to 2016 and made a total of 374 appearances while scoring multiple goals for the team. In 2017, he joined the Chinese Club Tianjin TEDA and has since been hitting high performances in the club. Asides from this, Mikel has represented his country- Nigeria for the last 16 years. He led the Nigerian team to win the bronze medal at the Rio Olympics game in 2016, earning him a huge amount of support from the people. He has bagged several awards from; the Premier League, FA cup, league cup, African Young Player of the year, FA community shield, UEFA Championship League, UEFA Europa League, etc.
HENRY CHUKWUEMEKA ONYEKURU
HENRY CHUKWUEMEKA ONYEKURU: Henry Onyekuru was born on June 5th, 1997 in Lagos state but hails from Anambra state. He is a professional football player who play for the Nigerian national team and as a left-winger for Olympiacos. His football career started at the Aspire academy in 2010 where he was a member of the team until 2015. He became part of the K.A.S Eupen Club in 2015 and had his first match against K.F.C Dessel sport in the Belgian second division.
As his football career progressed, he joined Everton but was sent on loan to Anderlecht as soon as he joined. In the club, he suffered a knee injury which kept him off football for quite some time. After recovery, he was again sent on loan to Galatasaray in 2018 where he had an interesting performance. He was on the score sheet for Galatasaray when they defeated Istanbul Basakeshir 2-1 to secure the Super-Lig championship for the second season. He joined AS Monaco in August 12,th 2019 and later signed a four years deal with Olympiacos.
Henry made his debut with the Nigerian team during a friendly match against Togo and has since played subsequent matches with the team.
UCHE NWAFOR: Uche was born on September 17th 1991 in Lagos state where he got his education. His parents were education driven and wanted him to pursue his studies to the highest level but shortage of finances and interest in football push him to another direction of life. His football career began as a member of Anambra FC where he made an name for himself. His performances enabled him to participate in the Nigerian premier league.
His representation on the Nigerian national under-20 team was remarkable. He scored 4 goals in 5 appearances and finished as the highest goal scorer in the 2011 African Youth Championship making Nigeria win the 6th continental title. He played in the 2011 FIFA under 20 world cup in Colombia where he scored a goal in 6 minutes against Croatia. He also scored a last minute equalizer in the 2014 World Cup warm-ups match against Scotland. Three days after the match, Nwafor made the world cup rooster. Uche played for the Anambra pillars from 2008-2010, Shooting stars from 2009-2010, Enugu Rangers from 2010-2011, VVV Venlo from 2011-2014, Heerenveen on loan from 2013-2014, Lierse from 2014-2015, Boavista from 2015-2016, AS Trencin from 2016-2017, Rivers United from 2017-2018 and JS Kabylie from 2018-2019. As of now, he is currently a free agent.
DANIEL AKPEYI: The Nigerian goalkeeper Daniel Akpeyi was born on August 1986 but was raised in Nnewi Anambra state. He is a professional goalkeeper for Kazier Chiefs and the Nigerian national team. He began his career in Gabris international FC but moved to Nasarawa United FC in 2007. Daniel participated in the CAF Champions league under Heartland FC but on February 2014, it was announced that he would be leaving heartland FC to Warri wolves which was denied by Heartland FC management a few days later.
Daniel Akpeyi made his first debut in 2015 in a friendly match between Nigeria and South Africa. During the match, he stopped a penalty shot from the opposite team which earned him a right amount of praises from Nigerians.
ALEX IWOBI: Alex Iwobi was born on May 3rd, 1996 in Lagos state but is a native of Onitsha, Anambra state. His family moved to Turkey when he was 2 years old. The famous Nigerian footballer Jay-Jay Okocha is his mother’s brother hence the love for football flows within him. At the age of 4, Iwobi developed an interest in football and joined the Arsenal as a trainee at age 8. During his teen years, his performance dropped drastically and the club even threatened to drop him. To improve he had extra training from his family and friends. He said that his sister even attempted to play football just to help him. In October 2015, Iwobi made his first-team debut with the club.
In the Olympic qualifiers, where he played alongside Mikel Obi, Iwobi scored a win against Zambia which made the super-eagles secure the 2018 Olympics spot. He won the CAF young player of the year award in 2016. He played for Arsenal until 2019 but is currently playing for Everton.
AUGUSTINE EJIDE: Augustine Amamchukwu Ejike is a native of Onitsha Anambra State. He was born on April 8th, 1984. He is a professional goalkeeper who keeps for the Israeli club “Hapoel Hadera”. He has kept for Gabros international and SC Bastia in Corsia. His football career began with Gabros international where he played for a season before joining Etoile du Sahel; a Tunisian club.
His first National debut in Nigeria took place in 2001 against Namibia. During the 2008 African Cup of Nations, he was chosen as the first-choice goalkeeper for the matches rather than Vincent Inyeama the popular goalkeeper at that time. Also, in 2018, he was among the few selected to be part of the Nigerian super eagle’s squad for the FIFA confederations cup. He joined SC Bastia, a french league for 3 years before moving to Hapoel Petah where he rescued the team from relegation that season. Augustine stayed in Hapoel from 2006 until the 2014/2015 season. He was named in 3 FIFA world cup squads in 2002, 2010 and 2014. He has been a member of the super eagle’s squad in the 5 African Cup of Nations.
The Anambra News Sports Report Team
