Jores Okore

Tetchi Jores Charlemagne Ulrich Okore (Danish pronunciation: [oˈkʰoːɐ]; born 11 August 1992), known as Jores Okore, is a Danish professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for AaB in the Danish Superliga and the Denmark national team.

Jores Okore
Okore playing for Aston Villa
Personal information
Full name Tetchi Jores Charlemagne
Ulrich Okore[1]
Date of birth (1992-08-11) 11 August 1992
Place of birth Abidjan, Ivory Coast
Height 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)[2]
Position(s) Centre-back
Club information
Current team
 AaB
Number 5
Youth career
2000–2007 B.93
2007–2011 Nordsjælland
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2011–2013 Nordsjælland 65 (5)
2013–2016 Aston Villa 38 (1)
2016–2017 FC Copenhagen 5 (0)
2017– AaB 101 (5)
National team‡
2011–2014 Denmark U21 7 (0)
2011–2014 Denmark 8 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 15 November 2020
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 18 December 2018

Okore is considered a capable and aggressive defender, who is known for his pace and strength.[3]

Early life

Okore was born in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. He moved to Denmark with his family at the age of three, where he played football from the age of eight with B.93 in the Østerbro district of Copenhagen.[4] He moved to Nordsjælland in 2007, where he captained the youth side.[5]

Senior career

Nordsjælland

Having previously made a handful of appearances in Danish Cup games, including being part of the Nordsjælland Cup-winning team in 2010–11, Okore made his league debut against Horsens on 3 April 2011, coming on as a substitute for Michael Parkhurst.[6] Okore would continue to making first-team appearances in place of the injured Parkhurst for the remainder of the 2010–11 season, going on to make 11 league appearances and creating one assist.[3][7] Okore signed a new four-year contract with the Farum-based club in June 2011,[5] and was made an official member of the senior squad for the 2011–12 Superliga season by newly appointed head coach Kasper Hjulmand.

On 18 September 2011, Jores scored his first senior goal for Nordsjælland in a 2–0 league win over Brøndby. It was his only goal in that season.[8] In November 2011, he signed a new contract, extending his stay with the club to December 2016.[9] He was made vice-captain of Nordsjælland for the 2012–13 season.

Aston Villa

On 13 June 2013, Okore signed for English Premier League club Aston Villa on a four-year deal for a fee believed to be in the region of £4 million.[10] Nordsjælland confirmed via the club's official Twitter and Facebook accounts that he was their most expensive sale ever. He made his Premier League debut on 21 August 2013 at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea, replacing the injured Ciaran Clark a few minutes before half-time.[11] Okore made his first Premier League start on 24 August in Villa's home game against Liverpool. On 16 September 2013, Villa announced that Okore will be sidelined for the 2013–14 season after suffering a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament injury in his right knee in a game against Newcastle United on 14 September; the injury required season-ending surgery.[12]

On 24 November 2014, Okore made his return to the Villa first team in a 1–1 draw against Southampton at Villa Park, 14 months after his injury. He scored his first goal for Villa in a 2–1 defeat to Chelsea at Villa Park, nodding in a cross from Carles Gil.[13] On 9 April 2016, Okore refused to take a position as a substitute on the bench for Villa's game against AFC Bournemouth. Subsequently he told caretaker manager, Eric Black that he did not want to be considered for any further games in the 2015–16 season. He was removed from the first-team squad and ordered to train with the under-21 side.[14]

FC Copenhagen

On 27 August 2016, it was confirmed, that Okore had signed a four-year contract with Danish Superliga-club FC Copenhagen.[15] He made his Superliga debut for the club on 18 November 2016, when he came on as a substitute in the 89th minute instead of Rasmus Falk in a 1–2 victory over AaB.[16] In his sole season at the club, Okore made five Superliga appearance, in which he played full time in three of the matches.[17]

AaB

On 6 July 2017, it was announced that Okore moved to AaB from Copenhagen for a reported fee of DKK 4.2 million.[18] He signed a three-year contract keeping him at the club until 30 June 2020.[19]

International career

On 6 September 2011, Okore made his international youth debut for the Denmark under-21 team at the age of 19, participating in a UEFA Under-21 Championship Qualifier, winning 3–0 over Northern Ireland.

Okore playing for Denmark against Slovakia in 2012

Having made his debut two months earlier for the U21s, on 6 November 2011 Jores Okore was called up to the Danish senior team as a replacement for Simon Kjær, for a friendly against Sweden on 11 November 2011.[20] He made his senior debut in that match, coming on at the 62nd minute, replacing his club teammate Andreas Bjelland.[21] Okore was retained for the following international friendly against Finland, where he received his second cap and first start on 15 November 2011.

Okore was once again called up in December 2011 for Denmark's tour of Thailand in January.[22] On 24 May 2012, it was announced that Okore had been selected for Denmark's squad for UEFA Euro 2012 as well as the preceding friendly matches against Brazil and Australia.[23]

Career statistics

Club
As of 18 December 2018[24]
Club Season League Cup Continental Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Nordsjælland 2009–10 Danish Superliga 0010000010
2010–11 110300000140
2011–12 251302000301
2012–13 294005000344
Total 655707000795
Aston Villa 2013–14 Premier League 3010000040
2014–15 231300000261
2015–16 120200000140
2016–17 Championship 0010000010
Total 361700000431
FC Copenhagen 2016–17 Danish Superliga 5020100080
Aalborg 2017–18 Danish Superliga 222300050302
2018–19 180000000180
Career total 146819080501788

References
  1. "Barclays Premier League Squad Numbers 2013/14". Premier League. 16 August 2013. Archived from the original on 21 August 2013. Retrieved 16 August 2013.
  2. "Barclays Premier League Player Profile". web page. Premier League. 2014. Retrieved 30 October 2012.
  3. Larsen, Niels (8 April 2011). "Hvem f... er Jorés Okore?" (in Danish). Tipsbladet.dk. Retrieved 11 August 2011.
  4. Pedersen, Johnny Gudmand (15 November 2011). "FCNs Okore drømmer om Chelsea". Sporten.dk (in Danish). GoNews.dk. Archived from the original on 4 April 2012. Retrieved 17 November 2011.
  5. Helmin, Jesper (9 June 2011). "Lang FCN contract for Okore" (in Danish). Bold.dk. Retrieved 11 August 2011.
  6. Blond, Mikael (4 April 2011). "Superliga-debutant: Var lidt surrealistisk" (in Danish). Bold.dk. Retrieved 11 August 2011.
  7. "FCN: Målscorere" (in Danish). FCN.dk (F.C. Nordsjælland). Retrieved 11 August 2011.
  8. "Jores Okore". www.uefa.com. Retrieved 14 June 2013.
  9. Akbal, Ejder (4 November 2011). "Jores Okore forlænger med Nordsjælland" (in Danish). Bold.dk. Retrieved 6 November 2011.
  10. "Aston Villa sign Danish defender Jores Okore". itv.com. 13 June 2013. Archived from the original on 15 June 2013. Retrieved 13 June 2013.
  11. "Chelsea 2 Aston Villa 1: match report". The Telegraph. 22 August 2013. Retrieved 24 August 2013.
  12. "Jores Okore: Aston Villa defender injures cruciate ligament". BBC Sport. Retrieved 17 September 2013.
  13. "Aston Villa 1-2 Chelsea". BBC Sport. BBC Sport. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
  14. "Jores Okore refusing to play for Aston Villa - Eric Black". BBC Sport. Retrieved 23 April 2016.
  15. "Jores Okore skifter til F.C. København". fck.dk. FC Copenhagen. Retrieved 27 August 2016.
  16. "Superligakamp AaB-FC København, 18.11.2016". superstats.dk. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
  17. "Jores Okore, statistik for Superligaen 2016/2017". superstats.dk. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
  18. Abolhosseini, Farzam; Wikkelsø Davidsen, Mikkel (6 July 2017). "Officielt: AaB køber Jores Okore - her er prisen". B.T. (in Danish). Retrieved 3 January 2021.
  19. Andersen, Brian (6 July 2017). "Jores Okore er AaB-spiller". aabsport.dk (in Danish). AaB Fodbold. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
  20. Blond, Mikael (6 November 2011). "19-årig FCN-komet afløser Kjær" (in Danish). Bold.dk. Retrieved 6 November 2011.
  21. Houlind, Søren (11 October 2011). "Sommerfuglene ramte Okore" (in Danish). Bold.dk. Retrieved 11 October 2011.
  22. Helmin, Jesper (6 December 2011). "FCN-profiler jubler over udtagelse" (in Danish). Bold.dk. Retrieved 6 December 2011.
  23. Fink, Lars (24 May 2012). "Overraskelse: Okore skal til EM" (in Danish). TV2. Retrieved 24 May 2012.
  24. "Jores Okore". Soccerbase. Retrieved 26 May 2014.
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