Iké Dominique Ugbo (born 21 September 1998) is a professional

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

player who plays 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 ...

for club

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Caerdydd) is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1899 as R ...

, on loan from

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by Balkrishna Industries, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions ...

club

Troyes Troyes () is a commune and the capital of the department of Aube in the Grand Est region of north-central France. It is located on the Seine river about south-east of Paris. Troyes is situated within the Champagne wine region and is near to ...

. Born in England, he represents the Canada national team. Ugbo grew up in Canada and played youth soccer there before returning to England, where he played with the youth team of Chelsea. He had loan spells at

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

, Milton Keynes Dons,

Scunthorpe United Scunthorpe United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, England. The side currently competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The tea ...

Roda JC Sportvereniging Roda Juliana Combinatie Kerkrade (; Ripuarian: ), also known as Roda JC Kerkrade () or commonly Roda JC or Roda, is a Dutch professional football club based in Kerkrade, Netherlands. Roda JC Kerkrade plays in the Eerste Divisie. ...

and

Cercle Brugge Cercle Brugge Koninklijke Sportvereniging () is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges. Cercle have played in the Belgian Pro League since the 2003–04 season, having previously spent several years in the Belgian Second Divisio ...

, before signing for Genk in 2021. He represented England at under-17 and under-20 youth levels, before making his senior international debut for

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

in 2021.

Early life

Ugbo was born in

Lewisham Lewisham () is an area of southeast London, England, south of Charing Cross. It is the principal area of the London Borough of Lewisham, and was within the Historic counties of England, historic county of Kent until 1889. It is identified i ...

, Greater London, to Nigerian parents. He moved to Canada with his family when he was four or five. In Canada, he played youth soccer with Brampton East SC and

Woodbridge Strikers Woodbridge Strikers Soccer Club is a Canadian semi-professional soccer club based in Woodbridge, Ontario. The club was founded in 1976 as a youth soccer club and added its semi-professional club in League1 Ontario in 2014. The team plays home ga ...

, winning an international under-10 tournament at Disney in 2008 with the latter. Upon his return to the UK, he joined the Chelsea Academy at under-10 level. He won the UEFA Youth League with Chelsea in 2014–15 and 2015–16.

Club career

Chelsea

In 2015, he signed his first professional contract with Chelsea, but continued to play for the U17 through U23 sides. On 17 July 2017, Ugbo signed a season-long loan deal with

. On 5 August 2017, Ugbo made his debut off the bench against

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

which resulted in a 3–1 loss. He scored his first professional goal on 26 August against

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

. On 3 January 2018, Ugbo's loan spell with Barnsley was terminated, following a lack of game time. The next day, Ugbo joined League One club Milton Keynes Dons on loan for the remainder of the 2017–18 season. On 6 January 2018, Ugbo made his debut for the club, featuring in a 1–0 third round

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

away victory over Queens Park Rangers. He joined

on loan in August 2018, alongside Jak Alnwick. In August 2019, it was announced the striker would head to Holland to spend the season on loan at

in the Dutch second tier. On 18 August 2020, he went to Belgian club

on loan.

Genk

In August 2021, he signed a permanent deal with Belgian club Genk. He made his first competitive appearance on 29 August against

Anderlecht Anderlecht (, ) is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the south-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Forest, Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, and Saint-Gilles, as well as the ...

as a late substitute for

Paul Onuachu Ebere Paul Onuachu (born 28 May 1994) is a Nigerian professional footballer who plays as a forward for EFL Championship club Southampton and the Nigeria national team. Onuachu has won League titles in Denmark and Belgium, and while in the ...

and scored on his debut, netting the game-winner in a 1–0 victory.

Troyes

In January 2022, Ugbo joined

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

on loan. He made his debut for Troyes on 13 February, playing the full 90 in a 5–1 defeat to

Brest Brest may refer to: Places *Brest, Belarus **Brest Region **Brest Airport **Brest Fortress *Brest, Kyustendil Province, Bulgaria *Břest, Czech Republic *Brest, France **Arrondissement of Brest **Brest Bretagne Airport ** Château de Brest *Brest, ...

. In Ugbo's third game for Troyes against

Rennes Rennes (; br, Roazhon ; Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France at the confluence of the Ille and the Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine department ...

on 20 February, he scored his first goal. In August 2022 Troyes announced they had reached a deal with Genk over the permanent transfer of Ugbo, signing him on a four-year deal until 2026. In July 2023, Ugbo joined Championship club

on a season-long loan deal. The next month on 6 August, Ugbo made his debut for Cardiff against Leeds United and had a goal and an assist in an eventual 2-2 draw at

Elland Road Elland Road is a football stadium in Beeston, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, which has been the home of Premier League club Leeds United since the club's formation in 1919. The stadium is the 14th largest football stadium in England. The g ...

International career

Ugbo was eligible to represent England (through birth), Canada (through youth residency), and Nigeria (through his parents).

England

Ugbo has represented England at under-17 and under-20 level. In June 2017, Ugbo represented England U20 at the

2017 Toulon Tournament The 2017 Toulon Tournament (officially french: 45ème Festival International "Espoirs" – Tournoi Maurice Revello) was the 45th edition of the Toulon Tournament. The tournament was named after Maurice Revello, who started the tournament in 1967 a ...

, scoring the only goal in their 1–0 opening group stage match against

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

and converted a penalty kick in the shootout of the final against

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...

, helping his side win the title.

Canada

In September 2021, he announced that he had decided to change his international allegiance to

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 ...

. However, two months later on 4 November, he instead switched his international allegiance to

. The next day he was called up to the team for that month's 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification matches against

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

and

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. He made his international debut for Canada in the match against Costa Rica on 12 November, appearing as an 83rd minute substitute. In November 2022, Ugbo was named to Canada's squad for the

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup is an international association football, football tournament contested by the men's national teams of FIFA's member associations. The 22nd FIFA World Cup is taking place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022 ...

Career statistics

Club

International

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ugbo, Ike 1998 births Living people English sportspeople of Nigerian descent Black British sportsmen Canadian sportspeople of Nigerian descent English men's footballers Footballers from Lewisham Canadian men's soccer players Men's association football forwards Canada men's international soccer players England men's youth international footballers English Football League players Eerste Divisie players Belgian Pro League players Ligue 1 players Woodbridge Strikers players Chelsea F.C. players Barnsley F.C. players Milton Keynes Dons F.C. players Scunthorpe United F.C. players Roda JC Kerkrade players Cercle Brugge K.S.V. players K.R.C. Genk players ES Troyes AC players Cardiff City F.C. players English expatriate men's footballers English expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Canadian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands English expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Canadian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium English expatriate sportspeople in France Canadian expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate men's footballers in France 2022 FIFA World Cup players