John Chukwudi Utaka (born 8 January 1982) is a Nigerian former

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 ...

who played as a striker and is currently a youth coach at

Montpellier HSC Montpellier Hérault Sport Club (), commonly referred to as Montpellier HSC or simply Montpellier, is a French professional football club based in the city of Montpellier in Occitanie. The original club was founded in 1919, while the current ...

. He is the older brother of fellow professional footballer

Peter Utaka Peter Maduabuchi Utaka (born 12 February 1984) is a Nigerian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Ventforet Kofu. He is the younger brother of fellow professional footballer John Utaka. Club career Early career Born in Enugu, Ni ...

. Utaka has played for several clubs across three continents, first for

Arab Contractors The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

, subsequently

Ismaily Ismaily Sporting Club ( ar, نادي الإسماعيلي الرياضي) is an Egyptian professional football club, established on 20 March 1921 as El Nahda Sporting Club ( ar, جمعية نهضة الشباب المصري ) ( Egyptian pronunci ...

of Egypt, and then spending a season playing for

Al-Sadd Al Sadd Sports Club ( ar, نادي السد الرياضي, lit=Dam Sports Club) is a Qatari sports club based in the Al Sadd district of the city of Doha. It is best known for its association football team, which competes in the ...

of Qatar, before joining

RC Lens Racing Club de Lens (, commonly referred to as RC Lens or simply Lens) is a French professional football club based in the northern city of Lens in the Pas-de-Calais department. Its nickname, ''les sang et or'' (''the blood and gold''), co ...

and later

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 ...

in France. He has represented

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 ...

at two

World Cups 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 ...

and three Africa Cup of Nations since his debut in 2002. During his career he has mainly been utilised as a pacy winger making him a very effective element in a team's counter-attacking style of play. He is the founder of the John Utaka Football Academy minna.

Club career

Utaka was born in Enugu, Nigeria. He first moved to Egypt in 1998, joining

and subsequently

. While with Ismaily, Utaka earned cult status with the local fans. They used to chant "Oh Oh Oh Utaka, Oh Oh Oh Utaka" during the matches. He played alongside the likes of

Mohammed Barakat Mohammed Adel Barakat (born March 3, 1967) is an American field hockey player. He competed in the men's tournament at the 1984 Summer Olympics. Los Angeles-born Palestinian Olympic runner Hanna Barakat is Jennifer Stoller's and his daughter. ...

Islam El-Shater Islam Mahmoud Mohamed El-Sayed El-Shater ( arz, اسلام محمود محمد السيد الشاطر) (born November 16, 1976) is a retired Egyptian footballer. Honours ;Ismaily * Egyptian Premier League: 2001–02 * Egypt Cup: 2000 ;Zamalek ...

, and captain

Mohamed Salah Abo Greisha Mohamed Salah Ibrahim Abo Gresha ( ar, محمد صلاح أبو جريشه; born 11 January 1970) is an Egyptian former footballer who played as a striker. He is one of the most popular players to play for Egyptian club Ismaily. He won 4 titles ...

under the guidance of

Mohsen Saleh Mohsen Saleh ( ar, محسن صالح) (born 22 June 1949) is an Egyptian Football Analyst and a former football player and manager. He was recently appointed as Head of Football Planning Committee at Al Ahly club. Football career As a midfie ...

, later appointed coach of

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

. He joined

of Qatar in 2001 for a fee of $1 million. This was then a record transfer fee in Qatar. where he spent one season. In 2002, he joined French club

whom he left in 2005 for

. Utaka struggled to make an impact at the start of his Rennes stint. However, he took advantage of the absence of fellow striker

Alexander Frei Alexander Frei or Alex Frei (born 15 July 1979) is a Swiss professional football coach and a former player who played as a forward. He is currently the manager of Basel. He began his career at Basel, going on to various other clubs in Switzerla ...

through injury to make his breakthrough. In February 2006, he scored two consecutive

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

s, against

Lens A lens is a transmissive optical device which focuses or disperses a light beam by means of refraction. A simple lens consists of a single piece of transparent material, while a compound lens consists of several simple lenses (''elements''), ...

and

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

, and as a result received the

L'Équipe ''L'Équipe'' (, French for "the team") is a French nationwide daily newspaper devoted to sport, owned by Éditions Philippe Amaury. The paper is noted for coverage of association football, rugby football, rugby, motorsport, and cycle sport, ...

's player of the month award. In July 2017, he signed with fourth-tier side

CS Sedan Club Sportif Sedan Ardennes, commonly referred to as CS Sedan or simply Sedan (), is a French association football club based in Sedan. The club was formed in 1919 and plays its home matches at the Stade Louis Dugauguez located within the ci ...

Portsmouth

Utaka joined

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

on a four-year deal in July 2007, for a fee of around £7 million. He scored his first goal on 11 August 2007 in a game against newly promoted

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 188 ...

. Some sources claim he became the club's record signing. On 17 May 2008, Portsmouth won the

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 ...

with a 1–0 victory over Cardiff City. Utaka provided the cross for the winning goal which was scored by

Nwankwo Kanu Nwankwo Kanu (born 1 August 1976) is a Nigerian former professional footballer who played as a forward. He was a member of the Nigeria national team, and played for Nigerian team Iwuanyanwu Nationale, Dutch side Ajax, Inter Milan of Italy, ...

. He went on to have a poor 2008–09 season but on 27 June 2009 he confirmed he would be staying at the club for at least another season. The salary being paid to Utaka became a talking point in light of Portsmouth's financial issues, with news agencies reporting an alleged £80,000 per week salary for Utaka as a reflection of their financial mismanagement. Utaka hit out at these reports, claiming that he earned only a third of that figure. On 23 January 2010, he scored both goals in Portsmouth's 2–1 win over Sunderland in the FA Cup 4th Round.

Montpellier

On 29 January 2011, Utaka signed for French first division side

Montpellier Montpellier (, , ; oc, Montpelhièr ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of ...

, agreeing a -year deal for an undisclosed fee. He made his debut for the new club on 26 February coming on as a 70th-minute substitute for

Olivier Giroud Olivier Jonathan Giroud (born 30 September 1986) is a French professional footballer who plays as a striker for club AC Milan and the France national team. Regarded for his work-rate, strength, acrobatic strikes, shot power, consistent goal-s ...

in a 0–0 draw with

Sochaux Sochaux () is a commune in the Doubs department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in eastern France. Geography Sochaux lies east of Montbéliard, and southeast of Paris. Population Inhabitants are known as ''Sochaliens''. Economy S ...

. Utaka scored his first goal of the new Ligue 1 season, and his first for the club, against Ajaccio on 21 September 2011, and also provided an assist as Montpellier defeated Ajaccio 3–1 in Corsica. On 19 February 2012, Montpellier travelled to the

Parc des Princes Parc des Princes () is an all-seater stadium, all-seater Association football, football stadium in Paris, France, in the south-west of the French capital, inside the 16th arrondissement of Paris, 16th arrondissement, near the Stade Jean-Bouin ...

to face league leaders PSG; he headed in an 81st-minute goal from a Giroud cross but a late tap in from

Guillaume Hoarau Guillaume Hoarau (born 5 March 1984) is a French former professional footballer who played as a forward. Club career Early career Hoarau started his football career at JS Saint-Pierroise in his native Réunion. In 1995, Le Havre AC scouts co ...

levelled the game at 2–2 and earned the sides a share of the points. Montpellier played host to

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...

six days later and he headed home the only goal of the game in the 80th minute to keep up the pressure on league leaders PSG. On 20 May 2012, in a game marred by stoppages for crowd violence, Utaka scored a brace, his sixth and seventh league goals of the campaign, to secure a 2–1 victory over

Auxerre Auxerre ( , ) is the capital of the Yonne department and the fourth-largest city in Burgundy. Auxerre's population today is about 35,000; the urban area (''aire d'attraction'') comprises roughly 113,000 inhabitants. Residents of Auxerre are r ...

and win the

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 ...

title for Montpellier over PSG, for the first time in the club's history.

Sivasspor

On 1 August 2013, Utaka joined the Turkish club

Sivasspor Sivasspor Kulübü, known as Demir Grup Sivasspor due to sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish sports club based in Sivas. The primary department of the club is men's football. Formed in 1967, its football department competes in Süper Lig, as of 201 ...

on a two-year contract.

International career

Utaka played for

until 2014 and was a participant at the 2002 World Cup. He started four of Nigeria's six games in the 2006 African Cup of Nations, in which

finished in third place. He was also part of the

squad that participated in the 2010 World Cup.

Honours

Ismaily SC *

Egypt Cup The Egypt Cup (also known as Egyptian FA Cup, formerly King Farouk Cup) is the main knockout football cup competition in Egypt. List of finals The following table provides a summary of seasons: Notes: * The Winner and Runner-up of 1960–61 Eg ...

: 1999–2000 Al Sadd SC * Arab Club Champions Cup: 2001 Portsmouth *

: 2007–08 Montpellier *

: 2011–12 Nigeria * Africa Cup of Nations third place: 2004 Individual *

Egyptian League The Egyptian Premier League ( ar, الدوري المصري الممتاز), also known as WE Egyptian Premier League (WE EPL) after the addition of title sponsor WE, is a professional association football league in Egypt and the top level of th ...

top scorer: 1999–2000

References

External links

* * * *
Profile
at L'Équipe

– Stade Rennais

– Racing Club de Lens {{DEFAULTSORT:Utaka, John 1982 births Living people Association football forwards Nigerian footballers Nigeria international footballers Nigerian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in France Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Turkey Al Mokawloon Al Arab SC players Ismaily SC players RC Lens players Stade Rennais F.C. players Portsmouth F.C. players Al Sadd SC players Montpellier HSC players Sivasspor footballers Ligue 1 players Premier League players English Football League players Rangers International F.C. players Nogoom FC players Aswan SC players Expatriate footballers in Qatar 2002 FIFA World Cup players 2004 African Cup of Nations players 2006 Africa Cup of Nations players 2008 Africa Cup of Nations players 2010 FIFA World Cup players Expatriate footballers in Egypt Qatar Stars League players Süper Lig players Footballers from Enugu FA Cup Final players