Maduka Okoye

Maduka Emilio Okoye (born 28 August 1999) is a German-born Nigerian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Sparta Rotterdam in the Eredivisie and the Nigeria national team.[1]

Maduka Okoye
Personal information
Full name Maduka Emilio Okoye
Date of birth (1999-08-28) 28 August 1999
Place of birth Düsseldorf, Germany
Height 1.97 m (6 ft 6 in)
Position(s) Goalkeeper
Club information
Current team
 Sparta Rotterdam
Youth career
2012–2017 Bayer Leverkusen
2017–2018 Fortuna Düsseldorf
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2017–2020 Fortuna Düsseldorf II 34 (0)
2020– Sparta Rotterdam 0 (0)
National team‡
2019– Nigeria 3 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 23 October 2020
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 14:07, 13 October 2019 (UTC)

Club career

Okoye was born in Düsseldorf to a Nigerian father and a German mother. He started his career in 2012 with Bayer Leverkusen, turning up for their Youth team. In 2017, he left Bayer Leverkusen for Fortuna Düsseldorf, where he played for their Youth team and the senior team, Fortuna Düsseldorf II. In 2018, he was fully promoted to Fortuna Düsseldorf II, a football team that plays in the Regionalliga West.[2]

Fortuna Düsseldorf II

In the summer of 2017, he left the youth team of Bayer Leverkusen, where he has played since 2012 to join the youth team of Fortuna Düsseldorf.

On 14 October 2017, he made his professional debut in the Regionalliga West for Fortuna Düsseldorf II in a game against Wuppertaler SV, replacing the injured Max Schijns on the 43rd minute of the game.[3] He finished the 2017/2018 season with just 5 appearances, conceding just 1 goal and keeping 4 clean sheets, while his club finished the season in the 15th position with 36 points after 34 games, narrowly escaping relegation to Oberliga.

In the 2018/2019 season, he became the club regular goalkeeper. On 13 April 2019, he played his last match of the season, against SV Rödinghausen, after being replaced in goal for the next matches by goalkeeper Jannick Theissen. He finished the season with 15 appearances, conceding 25 goals and keeping 3 clean sheets. This time, his club did better than the previous season, finishing the season in the 12th position with 42 points after 34 games.

On 24 August 2019, he played his first match of the 2019/2020 season in a 2–1 home win against Schalke 04 II.[4]

Sparta Rotterdam

In July 2020, Okoye signed for Eredivise side Sparta Rotterdam.

International career

On 30 November 2017, the coach of the Nigerian National Team, Gernot Rohr talked about his plans to invite Maduka to the Nigerian National Team before the 2018 World Cup, but the plans wasn't a success.[5]

On 20 February 2019, during an interview conducted by German based Nigerian sports journalist, Oma Akatugba, Maduka hinted that he's open to invitation by the Nigerian National Team, and ever willing to wear the green and white.[6]

On 22 February 2019, he was invited to the Nigerian U23 Team for the 2019 African U-23 Cup of Nations qualifier against Libya U-23 by Imama Amapakabo, the coach of the Nigeria U23 Team, but failed to make a debut, due to club engagement.[7]

On 9 May 2019, Maduka was again invited to the Nigerian U23 Team for the 2019 African U-23 Cup of Nations qualifier against Sudan U-23.[8] The football match was originally scheduled to take place between 3 and 11 June 2019, but was moved to September 2–10 2019 by CAF, the postponement was motivated by the closeness of the qualifying games to the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations which held from 21 June to 19 July 2019, in Egypt.[9]

On 26 July 2019, the coach of the Nigerian National Team, Gernot Rohr, hinted that he is shifting his focus to Maduka as he looks to solve the goalkeeping crisis that has rocked his team since Carl Ikeme quit due to illness.[10]

On 14 August 2019, Rohr invited Maduka for a friendly against Ukraine, that will be played on 10 September 2019 in Dnipro-Arena.[11]

On 13 October 2019, he made his international debut as a substitute in a friendly match against Brazil ending 1–1.[12]

References
  1. "Maduka Okoye". worldfootball.net. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
  2. "Germany - M. Okoye - Profile with news, career statistics and history". Soccerway. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
  3. "WSV now in third place". FuPa. 15 October 2017. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
  4. "Fortuna Düsseldorf II - FC Schalke 04 II 2:1 (Regionalliga West 2019/2020, 5. Round)". World Football. 24 August 2019. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
  5. "Super Eagles boss Rohr to invite German-born goalkeeper Maduka Okoye". Brila FM News. 30 November 2017. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
  6. "German-born goalkeeper Maduka Okoye says he wants to play for Nigeria". The Poise News. 21 February 2019. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
  7. "Nigeria U-23: Amapakabo opens contact with Fortuna Dusseldorf goalkeeper". The Vanguard News. 22 February 2019. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
  8. "AFCON U-23: Finally, Maduka Okoye gets Dream Team call-up". AOI Football News. 9 May 2019. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
  9. "CAF shifts Sudan-Nigeria U23 fixtures". The Vanguard News. 15 May 2019. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
  10. "Rohr banks on Okoye to solve Eagles' keeper crisis". The Punch News. 26 July 2019. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
  11. "Rohr invites two new players for Ukraine friendly". The Guardian Nigeria News. 14 August 2019. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
  12. "Uzoho stretchered off in agony after suffering injury against Brazil". Goal.com. 13 October 2019. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
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