Prince Ikpe Ekong

Prince Ikpe Ekong (born 5 October 1978) is a Nigerian former footballer who last played for Swedish club Märsta IK as a midfielder.

Prince Ikpe Ekong
Personal information
Date of birth (1978-10-05) 5 October 1978
Place of birth Lagos, Nigeria
Height 1.79 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s) Midfielder
Number 14
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1995 Julius Berger
1995–2003 Reggiana 63 (1)
1995–1996 → Koper (loan) 16 (0)
1996–1998 → Tecos UAG (loan)
1998–1999 → AC Bellinzona (loan)
1999–2000 → UTA Arad (loan)
2003–2004 Shenyang Ginde 43 (1)
2005 Xiamen Lanshi 21 (5)
2006–2008 GAIS 46 (1)
2008–2011 Djurgårdens IF 53 (3)
2012–2013 Väsby United 23 (1)
2016– Märsta IK
National team‡
2001–2004 Nigeria 9 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 5 December 2012
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 28 April 2011

Career

After the 1994 World Cup a series of Nigerian players was brought to the European top leagues, and Ikpe Ekong was signed by Italian club Reggiana, then coached by Carlo Ancelotti.

Reggiana

Due to Italian rules regarding non-EU players, he could not play for the first team in Serie A, he ended up going on a loan to FC Koper from Slovenia,[1] when he returned to Italy he was loaned out again to Tecos UAG of Mexico, then AC Bellinzona from Switzerland and FCM UTA from Romania. It would not be until 2000 when Prince Ikpe Ekong returned to Italy to play for A.C. Reggiana. However Reggiana had fallen to Serie C2 where no non-EU players were allowed, and this led to Ikpe Ekong filing a lawsuit against the Italian FA, which he won, allowing him to play in Serie C2.

Allsvenskan

In 2003, he moved to China and Changsha Ginde and later Xiamen Lanshi. In 2006 four clubs where interested in signing him, French club CS Sedan, Maccabi Tel Aviv from Israel, Gençlerbirliğ from Turkey and GAIS from Sweden. He chose GAIS after he visited the club and then visited a local church where he heard God tell him to sign for GAIS. In 2008, he left GAIS to sign for Allsvenskan rivals Djurgårdens IF.[2][3] He was bought out of his contract with Djurgården in November 2011 after having played none of the games in the 2011 season.[4] Since 2016 Prince plays for Märsta IK in the fifth tier of the Swedish Football League system.[5]

Honours

Xiamen Lanshi

References
  1. Stats from Slovenia at PrvaLiga
  2. Olof Peronius. "Världens lirare" (in Swedish). Expressen.se. Archived from the original on 15 July 2008. Retrieved 6 July 2008.
  3. Mattias Balkander. "Fyra kontinenter – en Prince" (in Swedish). GP.se. Archived from the original on 19 February 2007. Retrieved 12 February 2007.
  4. Holmberg, Ludvig; Kristoffersson, Daniel (8 November 2011). "Prince lämnar Dif – vill stanna i Sverige". Expressen (in Swedish). Retrieved 9 November 2011.
  5. "Säsongspremiär med nya krafter". 12 April 2016. Retrieved 14 May 2018.
  6. "厦门主场完胜夺得中甲冠军--05中甲最终积分榜". sports.sohu.com. 22 October 2005. Retrieved 6 August 2019.
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