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Daniel Amokachi

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Daniel Amokachi
Personal information
Full name Daniel Ray Owefin Amokachi
Date of birth (1972-12-30) 30 December 1972 (age 51)
Place of birth Kaduna, Nigeria
Height 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Position(s) Forward
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1989–1990 Ranchers Bees ? (?)
1990–1994 Club Brugge 81 (35)
1994–1996 Everton 43 (10)
1996–1999 Beşiktaş 77 (19)
2002 Colorado Rapids 0 (0)
2005 Nasarawa United ? (?)
Total 201 (64)
International career
1990–1999 Nigeria 44 (13)
Managerial career
2006 Nasarawa United
2007 Nigeria (Assistant coach)
2008 Enyimba
2008–2014 Nigeria (Assistant coach)
2014–2015 Nigeria (interim)
2015 Ifeanyi Ubah
2016–2017 JS Hercules
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Daniel Owefin Amokachi (born 30 December 1972) is a Nigerian football manager and former professional footballer and a member of the dubious goals panel for the Premier League.

As a player he was a forward who notably played in the Premier League for Everton and was part of their 1995 FA Cup winning team, he also played top flight football in both Belgium and Turkey with extended spells at Club Brugge and Beşiktaş. Whilst with Brugge in 1992 he scored the club's first goal in the UEFA Champions League. He also had a brief spells with Ranchers Bees, Colorado Rapids and Nasarawa United. He was capped 44 times by Nigeria, scoring 13 goals. His spell in international football saw him win the African Cup of Nations in 1994 and a gold medal at the 1996 Olympics. He was also present in his nations squads for World Cup 94 and World Cup 98.

Upon retiring, Amokachi moved into coaching and has spent time as manager of Nasarawa United, Enyimba, Ifeanyi Ubah and JS Hercules. He has also spent two spells as assistant coach of Nigeria, as well as managing his nation in an interim basis from 2014 to 2015.

Club career

Amokachi, nicknamed "The Bull",[1] was discovered while playing for Ranchers Bees by Nigerian national team coach Clemens Westerhof, who brought the talented player to the 1990 African Nations Cup, and soon Amokachi moved to play for Club Brugge in Belgium.[1] He competed in the new format of the Champions League, and became the first player to score in the competition, after his goal secured a 1–0 win in the opening match in the group stage against CSKA Moscow. Performing well in Belgium and at the 1994 World Cup,[1] Everton became interested in Amokachi and their manager Mike Walker signed him for a fee of £3 million ($4.7 million).[2][3]

He went on to win the FA Cup with Everton in 1995, scoring two goals in the semi-final against Tottenham Hotspur[1] after 'substituting himself' into the match while Paul Rideout was receiving treatment (the manager Joe Royle had only instructed him to warm up in preparation for possibly coming on).[4][5][3][2] He appeared in the final only briefly, late on, again as a substitute but is remembered fondly for his beret-wearing celebrations afterwards.[2][3]

He remained at Everton until the end of the 1995–96 season, when he was transferred to Beşiktaş of Turkey for a fee of £1.75 million. He had failed to make the impact at Goodison Park that many fans had been hoping for,[2] and had been unable to win a regular place in the first team, as Rideout and Duncan Ferguson were firmly established as Everton's two strikers at that stage. He did, however, stand in for Ferguson while he spent six weeks in prison during the autumn of 1995 for an offence committed in Scotland 18 months earlier.

After leaving Beşiktaş in 1999, his playing career more or less ended. He signed with 1860 Munich, but the contract was cancelled after he failed a medical test. In turn he was rejected by Tranmere Rovers for the same reason.[1] Amokachi trained with French second division side US Créteil,[1] but the deal was hampered by injuries. American MLS team Colorado Rapids signed him in 2002, but seeing he was not fit enough they released him before a single match was played. He went to play in the United Arab Emirates, but was denied again due to his medical condition.

International career

Olympic medal record
Representing  Nigeria
Men's Football
Gold medal – first place 1996 Atlanta Team Competition

He played many international matches for Nigeria, and was part of the team that participated in the 1994 FIFA World Cup and 1998 FIFA World Cup[3] and won the 1994 African Nations Cup. He also helped win the Olympic gold medal in 1996, scoring in the gold medal game itself against Argentina.[1]

Amokachi sustained an injury just ahead of the 1998 FIFA World Cup, played one match at the tournament, but struggled with knee problems thereafter.[2]

Managerial career

Amokachi managed Nigerian club Nasarawa United and later Enyimba Aba. In April 2007, he quit his role as assistant coach of the Nigeria national team. On 10 April 2008, Amokachi was re-appointed to Nigeria's national team, the Super Eagles, as assistant coach to Shuaibu Amodu, and then as assistant to Stephen Keshi.

In 2015, Amokachi managed Ifeanyi Ubah, resigning after five weeks in the post.[6] In January 2016, he was named as manager of JS Hercules.[7] 4 February 2020, Amokachi was named as Nigeria’s football ambassador by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd).[8]

Career statistics

[9]

Club performance League
Season Club League Apps Goals
Belgium League
1990–91 Brugge First Division 3 0
1991–92 26 12
1992–93 23 9
1993–94 28 14
1994–95 1 0
England League
1994–95 Everton Premier League 18 4
1995–96 25 6
Turkey League
1996–97 Beşiktaş First League 30 7
1997–98 27 8
1998–99 20 4
Country Belgium 81 35
England 43 10
Turkey 77 19
Total 201 64
Nigeria national team
Year Apps Goals
1990 7 1
1991 4 1
1992 1 1
1993 4 2
1994 12 2
1995 5 2
1996 1 2
1997 5 2
1998 4 0
1999 1 0
Total 44 13

International goals

Scores and results list Nigeria's goal tally first.[10]

Honours

Everton

Beşiktaş

Nigeria

Individual

Personal life

Amokachi is married to a Tunisian woman and has twin sons named Kalim and Nazim, both of whom are currently in the Besiktas youth academy. He also has a daughter named Raya.[22]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g "Amokachi just wants a club". BBC Sport. 30 March 2001. Retrieved 23 March 2010.
  2. ^ a b c d e Aanu Adeoye (7 November 2017). "An ode to Daniel Amokachi, Everton cult hero and the best sub never made". Planet Football. Retrieved 20 January 2019.
  3. ^ a b c d Adam Bate (24 July 2017). "Daniel Amokachi interview: Former Everton man happy to come home". Sky Sports. Retrieved 20 January 2019.
  4. ^ "Daniel Amokachi". Everton F.C. 30 March 2001. Retrieved 20 January 2019.
  5. ^ "The strangest substitution ever?". BBC Sport. 19 April 2018. Retrieved 20 January 2019.
  6. ^ "Daniel Amokachi quits as FC IfeanyiUbah coach after five weeks". BBC Sport. 17 September 2015. Retrieved 25 September 2016.
  7. ^ "Daniel Amokachi appointed JS Hercules manager | Goal.com". www.goal.com. Retrieved 14 May 2018.
  8. ^ "Buhari names Amokachi football ambassador". www.msn.com. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
  9. ^ Daniel Amokachi at National-Football-Teams.com
  10. ^ Daniel Owefin Amokachi - Goals in International Matches Archived 3 August 2014 at the Wayback Machine.
  11. ^ "CumhurBaşkanlığı Kupası (Profesyonel Takım) (Final)". tff.org. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
  12. ^ Milliyet. "Protesto çağrısı". Archived from the original on 12 December 2015. Retrieved 12 September 2015.
  13. ^ AA. "Beşiktaş 3000. golü bekliyor". Retrieved 12 September 2015.
  14. ^ Sporx (22 December 2015). "Türkiye Spor Adamları Ödülleri sahiplerini buldu - Futbol". Sporx.com (in Turkish). Retrieved 14 May 2018.
  15. ^ "Yılın Menajeri Özkan Doğan". Haberler.com (in Turkish). Retrieved 14 May 2018.
  16. ^ "2015'te de Yılın Spor Gazetesi". Retrieved 14 May 2018.
  17. ^ uefa.com (13 September 2013). "UEFA Champions League - News – UEFA.com". UEFA.com. Retrieved 14 May 2018.
  18. ^ Dove, Ed. "The 50 Greatest African Players of All Time". Bleacher Report. Retrieved 14 May 2018.
  19. ^ "IFFHS' Century Elections". www.rsssf.com. Retrieved 14 May 2018.
  20. ^ a b "Bahs-i Diğer: Uzun şortun mucidi: Daniel Amokachi".
  21. ^ "Beşiktaş J.K. Squads of Century (Golden Team)".
  22. ^ "Nigeria And Tunisia In Tug Of War Over International Future Of Amokachi Twins". owngoalnigeria.com. 17 December 2016. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
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