Francis Odinaka Uzoho (born 28 October 1998) 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 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

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division ( el, Πρωτάθλημα Α΄ Κατηγορίας) is the top tier football league competition in Cyprus, run by the Cyprus Football Association. Since February 2016, it is sponsored by Cyta and is thus officially ...

club Omonia and the Nigeria national team.

Club career

Early Career and Deportivo La Coruña

Born in

Nwangele Nwangele is a Local Government Area of Imo State, Nigeria. The name was derived from the popular Nwangele river which marks the boundary between Amaigbo and Umuozu Isu. The river which is believed to have originated from Isiekenesi town passes thr ...

, Uzoho joined the Senegal branch of

Aspire Academy Aspire Academy ( ar, أكاديمية أسباير, Akādīmiyat 'Asbāyr) is a sports academy based in the Aspire Zone in Qatar, founded in 2004 with the goal to scout and help develop Qatari athletes, whilst also providing them with secondary ...

in 2013, aged 14; initially 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 ...

, he was converted into a goalkeeper after being deemed "too slow" at the age of 12. In 2016, after impressing on a tournament in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

, he joined

Deportivo de La Coruña Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña (), commonly known as Deportivo La Coruña (), Deportivo or simply Dépor, is a professional association football, football club based in the city of A Coruña, Galicia (Spain), Galicia, Spain. They currently p ...

's ''Juvenil'' squad. Age rules meant that Uzoho could only become available to sign a contract with ''Dépor'' in January 2017; shortly after signing his contract, he started to train with the first team. Promoted to the reserve team ahead of the 2017–18 season, he made his senior debut on 10 September by starting in a 3–0

Segunda División B Segunda División B ( en, Second Division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish Foot ...

home win against

Real Madrid Castilla Real Madrid Castilla Club de Fútbol is a Spanish football team that plays in Primera Federación – Group 1 for the 2022–23 season. It is Real Madrid's reserve team. They play their home games at the Alfredo Di Stéfano Stadium with a cap ...

. Uzoho made his first team – and

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 ...

– debut on 15 October 2017, starting in a 0–0 away draw against

SD Eibar Sociedad Deportiva Eibar (in eu, Eibar Kirol Elkartea) is a professional Spanish football club based in Eibar, Gipuzkoa, in the autonomous Basque Country. Founded on 30 November 1940, the team currently plays in the Segunda División, the s ...

. At the age of 18 years and 352 days, he became the youngest ever foreign goalkeeper to debut in La Liga, and the second-youngest player to appear in the league during the campaign at that point, only behind

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

Achraf Hakimi Achraf Hakimi Mouh ( ar, أشرف حكيمي موح; born 4 November 1998) is a professional footballer who plays for Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain and the Morocco national team. He mainly plays as a right-back. Known for his speed, runs and ...

. On 24 August 2018, Uzoho renewed his contract for three seasons and was immediately loaned to

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 ...

side

Elche CF Elche Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. ( ca-valencia, Elx Club de Futbol, S.A.D.) is a professional football based in Elche, Province of Alicante, in the Valencian Community. Founded in 1923, the club competes in La Liga, holding home matches at ''Estadi ...

for one year. In February 2019 he moved on loan to Cypriot club

Anorthosis Famagusta Anorthosis Famagusta ( el, Ανόρθωση Αμμοχώστου, translit=Anorthosi Ammochostou), commonly known as Anorthosis in English or Anorthosi in Greek, is a Cypriot football club, part of the Anorthosis Famagusta multi-sport club fou ...

, in the search for more first-team football in the run up to the

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 ...

. After making his debut for the club, concerns were raised about his health certificate. As a result, Anorthosis Famagusta were deducted 9 points, which they appealed. The club's deduction appeal was rejected, although Uzoho's appeal against his personal penalty of a one-match ban and €1,000 fine was successful. In July 2019 he returned on loan to Cyprus, this time with Omonia. He played a limited number of games, due to a serious injury he sustained while playing for his national team.

Permanent move to Cyprus

In July 2020, Uzoho moved permanently to

APOEL APOEL FC ( el, ΑΠΟΕΛ; short for Αθλητικός Ποδοσφαιρικός Όμιλος Ελλήνων Λευκωσίας, ''Athletikos Podosferikos Omilos Ellinon Lefkosias'', literally "Athletic Football Club of Greeks of Nicosia") ...

on a three year contract, but was released at the end of the season. On the deadline of the Summer transfer window, Uzoho joined Omonia on a three-year deal. On 13 October 2022, Uzoho received praise for his performance against

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wemb ...

in the

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

. Omonia lost 1–0 to a late goal, but Uzoho made 12 saves on the night. He was nominated for the Europa League ''Player of the Week'' and ''Save of the Day'' awards. In March 2023, Uzoho was named Nigerian Goalkeeper of the Year at the Nigeria Pitch Awards.

International career

FWC 2018 - Group D - NGA v ISL - Photo 42

Uzoho represented Nigeria under-17s at the

2013 FIFA U-17 World Cup The 2013 FIFA U-17 World Cup was the fifteenth tournament of the FIFA U-17 World Cup. The tournament was held in the United Arab Emirates between 17 October and 8 November. Nigeria won the tournament after defeating Mexico 3–0 in the final, cla ...

. Aged only 14, he was an immediate backup to Dele Alampasu. In October 2017 Uzoho received his first call-up to the Nigerian senior squad. He made his full international debut on 14 November, replacing Daniel Akpeyi in a 4–2 friendly win against

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

. He was named in Nigeria's 23-man squad 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. By that time he was considered Nigeria's first-choice goalkeeper. He withdrew from the national squad in November 2018 due to injury. He was a squad member at the

. Uzoho was in goal for Nigeria in the 3rd place match against Tunisia, which they won. In October 2019 he suffered a ligament injury in a friendly match against Brazil, and underwent surgery in November 2019. On 25 December 2021, he was shortlisted for the 2021 AFCON Nations Cup by caretaker coach Eguavoen as part of the 28-Man Nigeria squad. In his only appearance in the competition, Uzoho kept a clean sheet against Guinea-Bissau in the group stage. His team would later be eliminated in the round of 16. On 29 March 2022, Uzoho was in goal for Nigeria in a

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

qualifier against Ghana. He suffered criticism for his performance, as an error on his behalf led to a goal for Ghana, and ultimately cost his team entry to the World Cup. He tendered an apology, mentioning "I wanted to take my nation to Qatar but rather did the opposite". National teammates and ex-internationals, such as

Alex Iwobi Alexander Chuka Iwobi ( ; born 3 May 1996) is a Nigerian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for club Everton and the Nigeria national team. Iwobi began his career at Arsenal, making 149 appearances and scoring 15 goals, and wi ...

and

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 ...

, showed support for Uzoho.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Omonia *

Cypriot Cup The Cypriot Cup () is the main cup competition in Cypriot football, run by the Cyprus Football Association (CFA). It began in 1934, the same season with the Cypriot Championship. It is the second most important competition for Cypriot club team ...

: 2021–22,

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Uzoho, Francis 1998 births Living people Sportspeople from Imo State Nigerian footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Nigeria men's international footballers Nigeria men's youth international footballers 2018 FIFA World Cup players 2019 Africa Cup of Nations players 2021 Africa Cup of Nations players Aspire Academy (Senegal) players La Liga players Segunda División B players Deportivo Fabril players Deportivo de La Coruña players Elche CF players Cypriot First Division players Anorthosis Famagusta FC players AC Omonia players Nigerian expatriate footballers Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Qatar Expatriate footballers in Qatar Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate footballers in Spain Nigerian expatriates in Cyprus Expatriate footballers in Cyprus APOEL FC players