Sean Okoli

Sean Ugochukwu "Ugo" Okoli (born February 3, 1993) is an American professional soccer player who currently plays for Orange County SC in the USL Championship.

Sean Okoli
Okoli playing for FC Cincinnati in 2016
Personal information
Full name Sean Ugochukwu Okoli
Date of birth (1993-02-03) February 3, 1993
Place of birth Federal Way, Washington, United States
Height 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Position(s) Forward
Club information
Current team
 Orange County SC
Number 9
Youth career
2008–2010 Washington Premier FC
2010–2011 Seattle Sounders FC
College career
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2011–2013 Wake Forest Demon Deacons 61 (24)
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2012–2013 Seattle Sounders FC U-23 14 (6)
2014 Seattle Sounders FC 3 (0)
2014 → Orange County Blues (loan) 2 (0)
2015 New England Revolution 5 (0)
2016 FC Cincinnati 29 (16)
2017 New York City FC 16 (1)
2018 Landskrona BoIS 9 (1)
2018 Jerv 12 (1)
2019 Pinzgau Saalfelden 9 (3)
2020– Orange County SC 15 (7)
National team‡
2010 United States U18 6 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of October 5, 2020
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of April 14, 2014

Career

Early career

Born in Federal Way, Washington, Okoli was a part of the Seattle Sounders FC Academy before attending college at Wake Forest University in 2011.[1] While playing for the Demon Deacons Okoli earned All-ACC honors in all three seasons he attended the college and scored 24 goals with 9 assists during his time there.[1] While playing at Wake Forest, Okoli also played in the USL PDL with the Seattle Sounders FC U-23 side in 2012 and 2013.[2] He was also one of the first Academy players to play for the Seattle Sounders reserve side in the MLS Reserve League in 2011.[2]

Professional

In January 2014, Okoli, along with academy teammate Aaron Kovar, signed a professional contract with Seattle Sounders FC.[1] He made his debut for the Sounders on March 8 in the team's Major League Soccer opener against Sporting Kansas City at CenturyLink Field when he came on in the 86th minute for Lamar Neagle. He then contributed to the teams winning goal in the 93rd minute as they beat Sporting KC 1–0.[3]

In January 2015, the Sounders traded Okoli's rights to New England Revolution in order to trade up in the MLS SuperDraft and select Northwestern goal keeper Tyler Miller.[4][5]

After his release from New England, Okoli signed with United Soccer League side FC Cincinnati for the 2016 season.[6] Okoli led the USL in goals (16) for the 2016 season and was awarded the league's Golden Boot.[7] and Most Valuable Player award.[8]

After spending a season with FC Cincinnati, Okoli moved back to Major League Soccer, signing with New York City FC on December 5, 2016.[9] New York released Okoli at the end of the 2017 season.[10]

Okoli signed with FK Jerv from Norway in August 2018, but left the club again at the end of the year.[11]

In July 2019, Okoli joined Austrian Austrian Regionalliga West side Pinzgau Saalfelden.[12]

Okoli signed with Orange County SC on February 19, 2020.[13]

Personal life

Okoli is of Nigerian descent.[14]

Career statistics
As of 8 October 2017[15]
Club Season League Postseason U.S. Open Cup CONCACAF Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Seattle Sounders FC U-23 2012 USL PDL104———104
2013 USL PDL42———42
U-23 Total 146000000146
Seattle Sounders FC 2014 MLS30—110041
New England Revolution 2015 MLS 50———50
FC Cincinnati 2016 USL 29161010—3116
NYCFC 2017 MLS 1610010—171
Career total 67230021007124

Honors

Individual

  • USL League MVP: 2016
  • USL All-League Team: 2016

References
  1. Mayers, Josh. "Sounders sign homegrown players Aaron Kovar and Sean Okoli". Seattle Times. Retrieved March 8, 2014.
  2. "Sounders FC Signs Aaron Kovar and Sean Okoli". Seattle Sounders FC. March 8, 2014.
  3. "Seattle Sounders 1-0 Sporting Kansas City (March 8, 2014)". Major League Soccer. Retrieved March 8, 2014.
  4. "Sounders pick Roldan, Miller, Fisher in '15 Draft". Sounder At Heart.
  5. "News | MLSsoccer.com".
  6. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on March 5, 2016. Retrieved February 26, 2016.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. "USL Golden Boot – Sean Okoli, FC Cincinnati". Retrieved October 18, 2016.
  8. Corr, Charlie. "Okoli Shines in Limelight for FC Cincinnati". USL. Retrieved November 5, 2016.
  9. "NYCFC Sign USL MVP Sean Okoli". New York City FC. December 5, 2016. Retrieved December 5, 2016.
  10. "New York City FC Announce Roster Options for 2018 | New York City FC".
  11. Overganger i OBOS-ligaen vinter 2019, sportshjornet.com, 13 December 2018
  12. "Fußball im Pinzgau: FC Pinzgau Saalfelden: Der Kader und die Ziele". meinbezirk.at.
  13. "GOLDEN RETURN: Orange County Signs 2016 MVP Okoli". USLChampionship.com Staff. February 19, 2020. Retrieved February 19, 2020.
  14. "New England sign Nigerian Sean Okoli - Nigeria". African Football.
  15. Sean Okoli at Soccerway
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