Emeka Ezeugo

Emeka Ezeugo (born 16 December 1965 in Aba) is a retired Nigerian professional football defender and midfielder, who debuted as a professional footballer for eminent Indian club East Bengal FC, has also represented Nigeria in the FIFA World Cup.[1] He last managed Abia Warriors FC as a football coach.

This article is about a footballer. For the preacher, see Chukwuemeka Ezeugo.

Emeka Ezeugo
Personal information
Full name Emeka Ezeugo
Date of birth (1967-08-08) 8 August 1967
Place of birth Aba, Nigeria
Height 1.84 m (6 ft 0 in)
Position(s) Defender
Club information
Current team
 Abia Warriors (head coach)
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1986–1987 East Bengal
1988–1989 Enugu Rangers
1989–1990 Mohammedan
1990 Pahang FA 34 (2)
1990–1992 Lyngby Boldklub 3 (0)
1992 Boldklubben Frem 20 (4)
1993–1994 Aalborg BK 4 (0)
1994 Budapest Honvéd FC 4 (0)
1994–1995 Fremad Amager ? (?)
1995–1997 La Coruna B ? (?)
1997 Mohun Bagan A.C. 4 (0)
1997–1998 Churchill Brothers SC ? (?)
1998 Hershey Wildcats 16 (1)
1998–1999 Porthmadog F.C. ? (?)
1999 Connecticut Wolves 19 (3)
2000 Deportivo Wanka
2001 Estudiantes de Medicina
National team‡
1988 Nigeria 3 (0)
1992–1994 Nigeria 11 (0)
Teams managed
2002 BMCC Athletics
2003–2005 Deportivo Municipal
2005–2008 City Tech
2008 Churchill Brothers SC
2013– Abia Warriors
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 20 May 2007
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 18 July 2006

Career

Ezeugo has played professionally in five continents, including for Connecticut Wolves (A-League in the United States), East Bengal, Kolkata, India, Peru and Dhaka Mohammedan during a successful 15-year playing career. At his time in Dhaka Mohammedan teams from Germany showed interest in him but he stayed in Dhaka because of his immense popularity.

He starred for Mohammedan Sporting and East Bengal towards the end of the 1980s. He then moved to the Danish League with middle of the table club Lyngby BK and prospered so much that he made it to the Nigerian national team for the 1994 FIFA World Cup. He came to India for a short spell in 1997 to play a few matches for an Indian club, Mohun Bagan A.C.. Both Ezeugo and Sunil Chhetri have been stars for Indian clubs and are closely matched in talent.[2] His team improved from worst (5th place) in 1999 to first (CUNYAC Champions) in 2000, he went to Peru to play (Peruvian Professional League) in 2001.

International

He first played for Nigeria at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea.[3] Nicknamed "Emmy", he obtained 11 caps for the national team between 1992 and 1994, and was a member of the team that competed at the 1994 FIFA World Cup.[4]

Coaching career

Ezeugo holds a US Soccer Federation coaching license and a KNVB Netherlands international license. Ezeugo has an envious coaching record over the past seven years, as he successfully completed his transition from player to coach that included a stint as the head coach at CoT NYs Borough of Manhattan Community College in 2002. In 2003 coached than Deportivo Municipal, Lima for two seasons before coming back to the United States, on 15 August 2005 was named as the new men's soccer coach at New York City College of Technology,[5] here was between 2008.

Ezeuga spent summers 2004-2006 coaching at Camp Chateaugay, a summer camp located in New York's Adirondack Mountains for kids ages 7 to 15.

On 19 April 2008 turned back to India and signed a contract as head coach by his former club Churchill Brothers SC[6] on 5 September 2008 was released from his contract.[7]

He was then the chief coach of Heartland, a position he assumed less than a month ago.

On 31 October 2013, he was named the head coach of the newly promoted Nigeria Premier League team Abia Warriors.[8]

Private life

Emeka's brother Valentine Ezuego, a former footballer in India, recommended the former Nigerian World Cupper to Churchill Bros patron Churchill Alemao.

Conversion

In February, 2012 while he was coach of Mohammedan Sporting Club of Bangladesh he converted to Islam.[9]

References
  1. "From Chandigarh to FIFA World Cup, Nigerian Emeka Ezeugo traces his journey". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
  2. https://web.archive.org/web/20080803122629/http://www.newagebd.com/2005/jun/13/spt.html. Archived from the original on 3 August 2008. Retrieved 19 February 2009. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  3. "Emeka Ezeugo Bio, Stats, and Results | Olympics at". Sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 23 September 2013. Retrieved 15 November 2013.
  5. "CUNY Athletic Conference - Emeka Ezeugo Named Men's Soccer Coach at City Tech". Cunyathletics.com. Archived from the original on 28 July 2012. Retrieved 15 November 2013.
  6. "Sport / Football : Emeka is new coach". The Hindu. 19 April 2008. Retrieved 15 November 2013.
  7. "Churchill Brothers sack coach Emeka". Zeenews.com. Archived from the original on 10 February 2013. Retrieved 15 November 2013.
  8. Nigeria: Newly promoted Abia Warriors get new coach Archived 19 January 2016 at the Wayback Machine Starafrica.com 31 October 2013
  9. "New Age | Newspaper". Newagebd.com. 13 February 2012. Archived from the original on 10 January 2014. Retrieved 15 November 2013.
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