Skip to main content

Augustine ‘Jay-Jay’ Okocha



Perhaps one of Africa’s greatest footballers, without doubt the most entertaining footballer that Africa has ever produced, Jay-Jay is listed in football legend Pelé's FIFA 100 (a list of the greatest 125 living players of all time).

Born in Enugu, Okocha started his soccer career with hometown club, Enugu Rangers International In 1992 Okocha joined Eintracht Frankfurt where he linked up with many well-known players including Ghanaian international striker Tony Yeboah, German keeper Thomas Ernst and later Thomas Doll.

In 1996, Okocha joined Turkish giants Fenerbahçe following Eintracht Frankfurt's relegation to Bundesliga 2. While at Fenerbahçe he became a Turkish citizen.

In 1998 French side PSG splashed around $24 million on Okocha, making him the most expensive African player at the time.

Okocha joined Bolton Wanderers on a free transfer after leaving PSG in the summer of 2002. He quickly became a favourite with the Bolton fans, with the team printing shirts with the inscription "Jay-Jay - so good they named him twice".

As captain he led Bolton to their first cup final in nine years where they finished runners-up in the 2004 Football League Cup. Okocha also played in Qatar and for Hull City. JJ played 75 times for Nigeria.

Okocha is retired. He is married to Nkechi and they have two children Danielle and A-Jay. Okocha owns a bar in Lagos named Number 10.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

King Onyeama of Eke

The King of Agbaja, Onyeama n’Eke was the greatest king in northern Igboland. He was probably the greatest Igbo king in living memory. From his palace in Eke, Onyeama reigned over the entire Agbaja, from Oji River though Udi and Ezeagu to the present-day political capital of Igboland, Enugu, and even Nkanu and Ogui communities. Onyeama was born circa 1870s, the youngest of the ten children of Özö Omulu Onwusi, a polygamous titled man of means, and an only son of his mother – Chinazungwa Ijeonyeabo of nearby Ebe community. Brought up by his half-brother, Amadiezeoha Nwankwo-Onwusi, Onyeama worked hard and made his mark in business. He traveled to famous Aro-controlled trading centers including Abiriba, Arochukwu, Arondizuogu, Bende, Oguta, Uburu, etc. When British rule reached Eke in 1908, Onyeama was rich enough to buy his way into the Ozo title society and to marry a local beauty, Afia Nwirediagu, and later Gwachi Ebue. Onyema attended the British Empire Exhibition in May 1924 and was...

Ifeyinwa Aniebo

Ify Aniebo is currently a PhD student at the University of Oxford. She has a first degree in Medical Genetics from Queen Mary’s University, a MSc in Applied Bimolecular Technology from Nottingham University and has a scholarship from the Prince’s Trust. Ify has worked at TDL Genetics, Mediserve, the Cambridge Antibody Technology (Medimmune), Illumina Inc , the Sanger Institute, Cambridge and the Wellcome-Oxford-WHO unit in Thailand. She has presented her research at leading malaria research conferences around the world. Passionate about finding a cure to Malaria, her ambition is to discover a vaccine to the biggest killer disease in sub-Saharan Africa. At the recent 2010 edition of the Future Awards, Ifeyinwa was named the Scientist of the Year and Future Awards most prestigious award - Young Person of the Year. The Future Awards, described as Nigeria’s biggest youth event, is the flagship platform under The Future Project, which is an umbrella of youth development projects/programmes ...

Donatus Ibeakwadalam Nwoga

The late Donatus Nwoga was a Professor of African Literature and the Dean of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Donatus was the Secretary of the Planning and Management Committee of the former Eastern Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation (1970); member of the Board of the former East-Central State Broadcasting Corporation (1974-76); member of the former East-Central State Library Board (1975-76); and former member of Imo State Library Board (1977-79). Ibeakwadalam passed the Cambridge School Certificate Examination in Division One, with exemption from matriculation in 1950; he passed the General Certificate of Education Advanced Level Examinations in English Literature, Latin and Ancient History at a sitting, with exemption from Inter B.A. of the University of London In 1955; and in 1960, when he obtained his Bachelor's degree from the Queen's University of Belfast, he won in the same breath the highly coveted "High Graham Mitchell Bursary" for the...