Chibuzor Nwakanma ( – 8 April 2022) was a Nigerian professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played for Indian football clubs

Mohun Bagan Mohun Bagan Athletic Club is an Indian professional sports club based in Kolkata, West Bengal. Founded in 1889, its football section is one of the oldest in India and Asia. The club is most notable for its victory over East Yorkshire Regiment ...

East Bengal ur, , common_name = East Bengal , status = Province of the Dominion of Pakistan , p1 = Bengal Presidency , flag_p1 = Flag of British Bengal.svg , s1 = East ...

, Mohammedan Sporting, and

Churchill Brothers Churchill Brothers FC Goa, or simply known as Churchill Brothers, is an Indian professional football club based in Margao, Goa, that competes in the I-League, alongside Goa Professional League. Founded in 1988 in Margao, the club usually part ...

in the 1980s and 90s.

Early life

Nwakanma was born in Nigeria and moved to India to study at the

DAV College The D.B.V. College Managing Committee, familiarly known as DAVDholakpurMC, is a non-governmental educational organisation in Antarctica and overseas with over 900 schools. 75 colleges and a university. It is based on the ideals of Maharishi Da ...

Panjab University Panjab University (PU) is a Collegiate university, collegiate public state university located in Chandigarh, Punjab. Funded through both Punjab, India, State and Government of India, Union governments, it is considered a state university (Indi ...

Chandigarh Chandigarh () is a planned city in India. Chandigarh is bordered by the state of Punjab to the west and the south, and by the state of Haryana to the east. It constitutes the bulk of the Chandigarh Capital Region or Greater Chandigarh, which al ...

in the early 1980s. He met fellow Nigerian footballers

Emeka Ezeugo Emeka Ezeugo (born 16 December 1965) is a Nigerian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He debuted as a professional footballer for Indian club East Bengal FC, has also represented the Nigeria national team in the FIFA Wo ...

and Christopher Kem, with whom he partnered to help Panjab University win the All-India Inter-Varsity Football Championship in 1985. He also had a degree in

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

from

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

in India.

Career

Nwakanma was spotted by football scouts during his time at Panjab University. At the recommendation of fellow Nigerian footballer

Chima Okorie Chima Ephraim Okorie (born 8 October 1968 in Izomber, Abia State) is a Nigerian former professional football striker who was renowned for his goalscoring prowess in the Indian leagues. He went on to score 131 goals for East Bengal in three ...

, who was then playing for

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

-based Mohammedan Sporting, he traveled to the city (then known as Calcutta) which at the time was considered as the hub of Indian football. After his studies in Chandigarh, Nwakanma was selected by

SC East Bengal East Bengal Club, commonly referred to as East Bengal (), is an Indian professional multi-sport A multi-sport event is an organized sporting event, often held over multiple days, featuring competition in many different sports among organize ...

, with whom he played for two seasons, before moving over to

Mohun Bagan AC Mohun Bagan Athletic Club is an Indian professional sports club based in Kolkata, West Bengal. Founded in 1889, its football section is one of the oldest in India and Asia. The club is most notable for its victory over East Yorkshire Regiment ...

and later to Mohammedan Sporting. At Mohun Bagan, he was a member of the team that won the

Calcutta Football League The Calcutta Football League (CFL) is a ladder-based football competition in the Indian state of West Bengal, organised by Indian Football Association (WB), under state football leagues in India. Due to sponsorship reasons, the league is off ...

Durand Cup The Durand Football Tournament, commonly known as Durand Cup, is an annual domestic football competition in India which was first held in 1888 in Shimla. Hosted by the Durand Football Tournament Society (DFTS) and All India Football Federation ...

, and

Federation Cup Federation Cup or Fed Cup is the former name of the premier world team competition in women's tennis. Federation Cup may also refer to: * Capital Football Federation Cup, an Australian territory-based association football tournament *Federation Cup ...

in 1994, and at Mohammedan Sporting, he was part of the team that won the

Sait Nagjee Football Tournament The Sait Nagjee All India Football Tournament is one of the most prestigious football Tournaments held in Kozhikode, Kerala, India. The tournament was very popular from the beginning & attracted large crowd since 1952. The tournament played until ...

Kalinga Cup Kalinga Cup (also known as All India Kalinga Cup) is an Indian association football tournament held in Odisha and organised by Football Association of Odisha and Department of Sports and Youth of Government of Odisha annually. The tournament wa ...

, and the

Bordoloi Trophy The Bordoloi Trophy, also known as the Bharat Ratna Lokopriya Gopinath Bordoloi Trophy, is a premier annual Indian football tournament held in Guwahati and organized by Guwahati Sports Association (GSA). The tournament was first started in 1952 ...

. He also represented

Indian Football Association The Indian Football Association, abbreviated as IFA, is the organisation that administers association football in the state of West Bengal, India. It is the oldest Football Association in India and was founded in 1893. Among the founders was form ...

in an exhibition game against the visiting Dutch club

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; en, Philips Sports Association ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional football department, whi ...

, coached by

Bobby Robson Sir Robert William Robson (18 February 1933 – 31 July 2009) was an English footballer and football manager. His career included periods playing for and later managing the England national team and being a UEFA Cup-winning manager at Ipswich ...

, in 1991. Before his retirement from football in 1998, he also played for the

Goa Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the ...

n club

. He also briefly represented

Tollygunge Agragami FC Tollygunge Agragami Football Club is an Indian professional football club based in Tollygunge, Kolkata, West Bengal. Founded in 1943, the club primarily competes in the Calcutta Premier Division League. It previously participated in the Natio ...

and participated in the Bangladesh Premier League.

Style of play

Nwakanma was amongst the first few foreign players to play in the Indian domestic football scene, representing the "big three" of Indian football clubs,

East Bengal ur, , common_name = East Bengal , status = Province of the Dominion of Pakistan , p1 = Bengal Presidency , flag_p1 = Flag of British Bengal.svg , s1 = East ...

, and Mohammedan Sporting. With a diminutive frame, Nwakanma was known for his goal-scoring abilities, and was noted to have been a household name in India at the time. He was known for his pace, control, powerful shooting and his dribbling skills. In a career spanning over two decades, he scored over 160 goals.

Personal life

Nwakanma was known to be religious and became a

pastor A pastor (abbreviated as "Pr" or "Ptr" , or "Ps" ) is the leader of a Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutheranism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and ...

on his return to Nigeria after his retirement from professional football. He also established an academy in

Lagos Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the List of cities in Africa by population, second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national ca ...

focusing his efforts on using football as means to keep young people away from a life of crime. Nwakanma died on 8 April 2022 from a

cardiac arrest Cardiac arrest is when the heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating. It is a medical emergency that, without immediate medical intervention, will result in sudden cardiac death within minutes. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and possib ...

at his home in

Aba, Nigeria Aba is a city in the southeast of Nigeria and the commercial center of Abia State. Upon the creation of Abia state in 1991, Aba was divided into two local government areas namely; Aba South and Aba North. Aba south is the main city centre and ...

. He was aged 57.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nwakanma, Chibuzor 1960s births 2022 deaths Nigerian men's footballers Men's association football forwards Panjab University alumni East Bengal Club players Mohammedan SC (Kolkata) players Mohun Bagan Super Giant players Churchill Brothers FC Goa players Tollygunge Agragami FC players Nigerian expatriate men's footballers Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in India Expatriate men's footballers in India