Festus Agu (born 13 March 1975) is a Nigerian former 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 as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

Football career

Beginnings

Agu was born in

Enugu Enugu ( ; ) is the capital city of Enugu State in Nigeria. It is located in southeastern part of Nigeria. The city had a population of 820,000 according to the 2022 Nigerian census. The name ''Enugu'' is derived from the two Igbo words ''Énú ...

, and began his career in his country with Nitel Vasco Dagama FC Enugu, African Continental Bank FC Lagos, Bendel United,

Enugu Rangers Rangers International Football Club, commonly known as Enugu Rangers, is a Nigerian professional association football team. They are based in Enugu and play their home games at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium. Enugu Rangers are one of the three olde ...

and

Bendel Insurance FC Bendel Insurance Football Club, also known as Insurance of Benin Football Club or simply Bendel Insurance, is a football club based in Benin City, Nigeria. The club plays in the Nigeria Professional football league. They were originally known ...

. During his development years, he was considered to be the most promising footballer in the nation. At the age of 19, Agu moved abroad joining

Club Bolívar Club Bolívar () is a Bolivian professional football club that currently plays in the Bolivian Primera División. Founded in 1925 in honor of Venezuelan military leader Simón Bolívar, it is the most successful and popular club in the history of ...

in Bolivia, having no impact whatsoever in one season.

Spain

Agu ventured to Spain in 1995, joining

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

side

SD Compostela Sociedad Deportiva Compostela is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Santiago de Compostela, in the autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia. They play home matches at ''Estadio Multiusos de San Lázaro'', and ...

. The club's chairman José María Caneda described him as "...a mix between

Ronaldo Ronaldo is a Portuguese given name equivalent to the English Ronald. It became a common name in all Portuguese-speaking countries, being also prevalent in Italy and Spanish-speaking countries. People Notable people known as Ronaldo include: As ...

and Bent Christensen" (the latter a player in the team). During his stint, he shared teams with countryman Christopher Ohen but played only eight times in the season, going scoreless in the process. In the following campaign, Agu was loaned to Galician neighbours

CD Ourense Club Deportivo Ourense, S.A.D. was a Spanish football team based in Ourense, in the autonomous community of Galicia. Founded in 1952 after the dissolution of old UD Orensana, it played in Segunda División B – Group 1, holding home games at ...

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commercially known as LaLiga SmartBank for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spanish football league system. Administrated by the Lig ...

, where he met exactly the same individual fate.

Germany

Agu played the following eight years in Germany, starting with

FSV Optik Rathenow FSV Optik Rathenow is a German association football club who compete in the Oberliga. The club is situated in the city of Rathenow, near Berlin, and play their home games at the Vogelgesang. In 1994, the club earned three promotions in quick s ...

in the

NOFV-Oberliga The NOFV- Oberliga is a division at step 5 of the German football league system. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, it became the successor of the DDR-Oberliga, and functions today as a 5th division in the former territory of East Germany and the ...

. In his only season he scored a career-high 14 league goals, and his performances resulted in a move to

SC Fortuna Köln SC Fortuna Köln is a German association football club based in the city of Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia. History The club was formed as on 21 February 1948 through the merger of three local sides: Victoria Köln 1911 (one of two clubs to ...

in the

2. Bundesliga The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...

. In the following campaign, after failing to find the net, he signed with fellow league side

FC Gütersloh FC may refer to: Businesses, organisations, and schools * Fergusson College, a science and arts college in Pune, India * Finncomm Airlines (IATA code) * FranklinCovey company, NYSE stock symbol FC * Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force in Pakis ...

; his spell would be short-lived, however, due to the club temporarily dissolving because of debt. In 2000, Agu joined

1. FC Schweinfurt 05 1. Fussball-Club Schweinfurt 1905, Verein für Leibesübungen e.V., called 1. FC Schweinfurt 05, Schweinfurt 05, or simply FC 05, is a German association football club established in Schweinfurt (Bavaria) in 1905. It has sections for netball, f ...

in the Regionalliga Süd, scoring 11 goals in his first year as the club promoted to the second level. He was not re-signed however, and subsequently stayed in the category to play for

VfR Aalen Verein für Rasenspiele 1921 Aalen e.V., known simply as VfR Aalen, is a German football club based in Aalen, Baden-Württemberg. The football team is part of a larger sports club which also offers its members gymnastics, table tennis, and cheer ...

, netting 14 times as the

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...

team finished in fourth place, three points shy of promotion. In the summer of 2002, Agu returned to the second division signing for

SV Wacker Burghausen SV Wacker Burghausen is a Football in Germany, German football club based in Burghausen, Altötting, Burghausen, Bavaria and is part of one of the nation's largest sports clubs with some 6,000 members participating in two dozen different sports. ...

. However, he failed to replicate his previous goalscoring record and was ultimately released at the end of the season. Afterwards, he played with

FC St. Pauli Fußball-Club St Pauli von 1910 e.V., commonly known as simply FC St Pauli (), is a German professional football club based in the St. Pauli district of Hamburg, that competes in the 2. Bundesliga. The football department is part of a larger sp ...

in the

Regionalliga Nord The Regionalliga Nord ( en, Regional League North) is the fourth tier of the German football league system in the states of Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein, Bremen and Hamburg. It is one of five leagues at this level, together with the Regional ...

, scoring six goals in his first year but only two in the following.

Retirement

At the age of 30, Agu retired following series of injuries and relocated to the United Kingdom to start a new career in law. Agu is now a qualified and practicing solicitor in England and Wales].

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Agu, Festus 1975 births Living people Footballers from Enugu Nigerian footballers Association football forwards Nigeria Professional Football League players Bolivian Primera División players La Liga players Segunda División players 2. Bundesliga players NITEL Vasco Da Gama F.C. players ACB Lagos F.C. players Bendel United F.C. players Bendel Insurance F.C. players Club Bolívar players SD Compostela footballers CD Ourense footballers FSV Optik Rathenow players SC Fortuna Köln players FC Gütersloh 2000 players 1. FC Schweinfurt 05 players VfR Aalen players SV Wacker Burghausen players FC St. Pauli players Nigerian expatriate footballers Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Bolivia Expatriate footballers in Bolivia Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate footballers in Spain Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate footballers in Germany