Daniel Akpeyi (born 3 August 1986) is 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 currently plays as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

for South African club

Moroka Swallows F.C. Moroka Swallows Football Club (often known as simply Swallows or The Birds) is a South African professional football club based in Soweto in the city of Johannesburg in the Gauteng province. Founded in 1947, Swallows are one of the original two ...

Club career

Akpeyi began his career with

Gabros International F.C. FC Ifeanyi Ubah is a football club in Nigeria. It was founded following the acquisition of Gabros international Football Club by Sen. Patrick Ifeanyi Ubah. The Club was originally known as Iyayi Football Club of Benin City, before its acquisiti ...

and was promoted to the first team in 2005, but moved to Nasarawa United F.C. in January 2007. He was an undisputed starter for both clubs. Akpeyi joined

Heartland F.C. Heartland Football Club founded as Spartans F.C., later known as Iwuanyanwu Nationale from 1985 to 2006 is a Nigerian football club based in Owerri. The team play their home games at Dan Anyiam Stadium (but currently use the new Okigwe Stadium ...

for their 2010

CAF Champions League The CAF Champions League, known for sponsorship purposes as the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League and formerly the African Cup of Champions Clubs, is an annual football club competition organized by the Confederation of African Football and co ...

campaign, and was again first-choice. In February 2014, it was announced that he had left Heartland to join league rivals

Warri Wolves Warri Wolves FC (formerly called NPA FC) is a Nigerian football club formerly run by the Nigeria Port Authority. Prior to 2003 the club was based in Warri, Delta State, but moved to Lagos after promotion to the Nigerian Premier League in 2003. ...

, but a few days later, Heartland denied the move by an official statement, stating that they had no intention to sell their first choice goalkeeper. In the following month, however, the deal was confirmed again and Akpeyi joined Warri Wolves. In 2015, he signed a two-year deal with Chippa. In 2019, he signed with Kaizer Chiefs (nicknamed the Amakhosi). After speaking to Nigerian national team coach Gernot Rohr about Akpeyi’s qualities, Kaizer Chiefs coach

Ernst Middendorp Ernst Middendorp (born 28 October 1958) is a German association football coach who coaches South African Premier Soccer League club Maritzburg United. Education Middendorp was born in Freren. In 1984, he enrolled in the University of Bielefel ...

saw to it that the Amakhosi management signed the Chippa United goalkeeper. Akpeyi went on to keep nine clean sheets in the league for Chiefs in the 2019/20 season. This remains the most clean sheets kept by a Chiefs goalkeeper in a league season since

Itumeleng Khune Itumeleng Issac Khune (born 20 June 1987) is a South African professional soccer player who plays as goalkeeper for Kaizer Chiefs in the Premier Soccer League, and also the South African national team. He is the captain of both. Khune shot ...

kept 16 clean sheets in the 2017/18 league season. Akpeyi was also named Absa Premiership Player of the Month for September and October in 2019. After being without a club in 2022, he was fancied by Sekhukhune United but the deal failed to materialise.

Personal life

Akpeyi married his long time girl friend Emmanuella Ebert-Kalu in December 2016. In July 2018, they welcomed their first child, Prince Jason Akpeyi, who was born in Port Elizabeth. He is credited for founding the Daniel Akpeyi Children Empowerment Foundation (Dacef) the non profitable organization was founded in 2020. The foundation aim is to help develop Africa by helping the less privileged children get quality Education. Recently, the Dacef reached out to people in the locations of Gauteng, Johannesburg during the Covid19 worldwide lockdown.

International career

Akpeyi was a member of the

Nigeria national under-20 football team The Nigerian men's national under-20 football team represents Nigeria in men's international football also known as the Nigeria Under-20s or nicknamed the ''Flying Eagles.'' The Flying Eagles is the youth team for the national soccer in Nigeria. ...

2005 FIFA World Youth Championship The 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship was the 15th edition of the FIFA World Youth Championship. It took place in the Netherlands between 10 June and 2 July 2005. Venues Qualification The following 24 teams qualified for the 2005 FIFA Worl ...

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

and was in the 22-man squad before the Beijing

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

, but did not see action in either tournament. He was also called up to the 23-man squad for the

2014 African Nations Championship The 2014 African Nations Championship was the third African Nations Championship association football, football tournament. The 16 national teams featured players from the respective national championships. The tournament took place between 11 Ja ...

as a backup to

Chigozie Agbim Chigozie Agbim is a Nigerian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper. After a protracted transfer dispute, he joined Enugu Rangers from Warri Wolves F.C. in April 2013 for a fee of eight million naira (approx €39,300). He joined ...

. On 6 May 2014, Akpeyi was named in the 30-man provisional squad ahead of

2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

. He made his first full cap in 2015, called in for the friendly vs. South Africa as a replacement for an injured

Vincent Enyeama Vincent Enyeama (born 29 August 1982) is a Nigerian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Despite his below-average height for a goalkeeper, he is popularly regarded as one of the greatest African goalkeepers of all time a ...

. He saved a penalty and was lauded for his strong keeping in his Man of the Match performance. He was selected by Nigeria for their 35-man provisional squad for the 2016 Summer Olympics. In May 2018 he was named in Nigeria's preliminary 30-man

squad In military terminology, a squad is among the smallest of military organizations and is led by a non-commissioned officer. NATO and US doctrine define a squad as an organization "larger than a team, but smaller than a section." while US Army do ...

for the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national Association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awa ...

in Russia. Akpeyi was included in the team's final 23-man list to

2019 Africa Cup of Nations The 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (abbreviated as AFCON 2019 or CAN 2019), known as the Total 2019 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 32nd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial international men's football champion ...

. He kept clean sheets in the team's first two matches. In the final group match

Ikechukwu Ezenwa Ikechukwu Vincent Ezenwa (born 16 October 1988) is a Nigerian professional footballer who currently plays as a goalkeeper for Katsina United F.C. Club career Ezenwa began his football professional career with Ocean Boys before moved to Heartla ...

conceded twice in Nigeria's 2–0 defeat to

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

. Akpeyi returned to the starting line up in the round of 16 match against the indomitable lions of Cameroon where he conceded 2 goals in his teams 3 - 2 victory. He was also in goal in the team's Q. Final victory over South Africa and their 2 - 1 S. final lost to Algeria. Francis Uzoho was in goal for the third place match against Tunisia. On 29 January 2020, Akpeyi prolonged his agreement with the South African Premier Soccer League by signing a two-year contract that will retain him with the Amakhosi until June 2022. On 25 December 2021, he was selected by Nigeria interim coach Eguavoen as one of the 28-man squad final draft for the

2021 Africa Cup of Nations The 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (also referred to as AFCON 2021 or CAN 2021), known as the TotalEnergies 2021 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 33rd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial international men's foo ...

Career statistics

International

Honours

Club

* Nigerian FA Cup: Winner 2011, 2012

International

Summer Olympic Games The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...

: Bronze Medal, Brazil.

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

African Nations Cup The Africa Cup of Nations referred to as AFCON (french: Coupe d'Afrique des Nations, sometimes referred to as CAN, or TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons), and sometimes as African Cup of Nations, is the main internati ...

: Bronze Medal, Egypt. 2019 *FIFA U-20 World Cup: Silver Medal, Holland. 2005

References

External links

*
Olympia Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Akpeyi, Daniel 1986 births Living people Sportspeople from Nnewi Nigerian men's footballers Nigeria men's international footballers Nigeria men's under-20 international footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Nasarawa United F.C. players Ifeanyi Ubah F.C. players Heartland F.C. players Warri Wolves F.C. players Chippa United F.C. players Kaizer Chiefs F.C. players Moroka Swallows F.C. players Footballers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers for Nigeria Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for Nigeria Olympic medalists in football Nigerian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's soccer players in South Africa Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in South Africa Nigeria Professional Football League players 2018 FIFA World Cup players 2019 Africa Cup of Nations players 2021 Africa Cup of Nations players Nigeria men's A' international footballers 2014 African Nations Championship players