Emeka Friday Eze (born 26 September 1996) is a Nigerian

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 plays as a striker for Turkish club

İstanbulspor İstanbulspor is a Turkish football and sports club founded by Istanbul High School students in 1926. In 2004–05 they were relegated from the Turkish Süper Lig (Super League) to TFF 1. Lig. For many decades it was the fourth most famous and ...

on loan from

Eyüpspor Eyüpspor is a Turkish professional football club that is located in the Eyüp district of Istanbul. The team colours are lavender and yellow. Their home ground is Eyüp Stadium, which has a capacity of 2,500. History Eyüpspor played in the Ista ...

Playing career

Early career

After playing for a minor club in

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

, Eze arrived in

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

in 2013, where he started off playing for a local football academy in

Mbanga ::For an African prince, see Prince Mbanga. Mbanga is a town in western Cameroon. Transport The city is a junction station on the western network of Camrail. Farming Mbanga is a small town in the Littoral Region of Cameroon. There are ar ...

. He then joined Oxygène de Mfou, a second division regional club in the Centre region, in 2014. Despite not playing the whole of first season he managed eleven goals and close to thirty the next season, earning him titles for the best player and top scorer in the league respectively.

Aigle Royal Menoua

Following the two successful seasons with Oxygène, Eze was offered a contract by

MTN Elite One The Championnat du Cameroun de football (also known as MTN Elite One since 2007 for sponsorship reasons) is the top division of association football in Cameroon, governed by the Cameroonian Football Federation since its establishment in 1961. ...

(''Ligue 1'') club

Aigle Royal Menoua Aigle Royal de la Menoua is a Cameroonian football club based in Dschang Dschang is a city located in the West (Ouest) Province of Cameroon, with an estimated population of 87,000 (est) in 2001, growing dramatically from 21,705 recorded in 19 ...

. He ended the 2016 season with nine goals and was among the 25 nominees for the league's best player award.

RoPS

In 2017, Eze was headed to Cameroonian champion

UMS de Loum Union des Mouvements Sportifs de Loum (known simply as UMS de Loum) is a Cameroonian professional football club based in Loum. They are a member of the Cameroonian Football Federation and Elite One, the topflight football league of Cameroon. C ...

, but set his sights to Europe instead. After trying out for Estonian

Paide Linnameeskond Paide Linnameeskond is a professional football club based in Paide, Estonia that competes in the Meistriliiga, the top flight of Estonian football. The club's home ground is Paide linnastaadion. Founded in 2004, the club has played in the Meistr ...

, he ended up playing for

RoPS Rops may refer to: People * Daniel-Rops (1901–1965), French writer and historian * Félicien Rops (1833–1898), Belgian artist Places * Rops (peak), a mountain in Kosovo Sports * Rovaniemen Palloseura (RoPS), a Finnish football club Tech ...

Rovaniemi Rovaniemi ( , ; sme, Roavvenjárga ; smn, Ruávinjargâ; sms, Ruäʹvnjargg) is a city and municipality of Finland. It is the administrative capital and commercial centre of Finland's northernmost province, Lapland, and its southern part Per� ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

. He scored a goal in his first appearance with RoPS in a friendly match against

IFK Luleå IFK Luleå is a Swedish football club formed in 1900, located in Luleå. The club merged with Luleå FF and played under the name Luleå FF/IFK from 1986 to 1989. History IFK Luleå was originally founded in the year 1900, but went dormant aft ...

. Having made his

Veikkausliiga Veikkausliiga (; sv, Tipsligan) is the premier division of Finnish football, the highest tier of the Finnish football league structure, comprising the top 12 clubs of the country. Its main sponsor is the Finnish national betting agency Veikkau ...

debut on 22 April 2017, Eze's first goal came a week later in his second game, against PS Kemi.

İstanbulspor

On 11 January 2023, Eke was loaned by

References

External links

* 1996 births Sportspeople from Lagos Living people Nigerian footballers Association football forwards Aigle Royal Menoua players Rovaniemen Palloseura players SK Sturm Graz players Adanaspor footballers Ankara Keçiörengücü S.K. footballers Eyüpspor footballers İstanbulspor footballers Veikkausliiga players Austrian Football Bundesliga players TFF First League players Süper Lig players Nigerian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Cameroon Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Cameroon Expatriate footballers in Finland Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Finland Expatriate footballers in Austria Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Austria Expatriate footballers in Turkey Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey {{Nigeria-footy-forward-stub