Kevin Onyekachi Amuneke (born 10 May 1986) 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 currently play 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 ...

. He has previously spent most of his professional career in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, mainly in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

and Sweden.

Club career

Amuneke was born in

Eziobodo Eziobodo is an ancient kingdom located in today's Owerri-West local government, Owerri - Imo State Nigeria. Eziobodo is an Igbo language, igbo-speaking community with a population of over 15,000 locals. Eziobodo is also known as Alueze or Alu-eze ...

. After starting out at

S.L. Benfica Sport Lisboa e Benfica (), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional association football, football club based in Lisbon, Portugal, that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football league system, Portuguese footba ...

and

FC Porto Futebol Clube do Porto, MHIH, OM (), commonly known as FC Porto or simply Porto, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Porto. It is best known for the professional football team playing in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portu ...

, representing only the youth teams in the first case and the youths and the reserves in the second, he began his professional career in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

with

Landskrona BoIS Landskrona Boll och Idrottsällskap ( en, Landskrona Ball and Sports Society, locally referred to as BoIS) is a Swedish professional football club located in Landskrona, Scania, which currently plays in Superettan, the second league tier of fo ...

(where he played alongside brother

Kingsley Kingsley may refer to: People * Kingsley (given name) * Kingsley (surname) Places Australia * Kingsley, Western Australia Canada * Rural Municipality of Kingsley No. 124, Saskatchewan England * Kingsley, Cheshire * Kingsley, Hampshire *Kingsley ...

) and, after two years, returned to Portugal, appearing for Vitória F.C. in the

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal, ...

. On 21 May 2007, after cancelling out his contract unilaterally, Amuneke agreed to join

PFC CSKA Sofia CSKA Sofia ( bg, ЦСКА София) is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia and currently competing in the country's premier football competition, the First League. ''CSKA'' is an abbreviation for ''Central Sport ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

for about

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists o ...

400,000. However, he returned to Sweden in December of the same year to play for

IFK Norrköping Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna Norrköping, more commonly known as IFK Norrköping or simply Norrköping, is a Swedish professional football club based in Norrköping. The club is affiliated to Östergötlands Fotbollförbund and play their ...

in the top level – the transfer fee was this time reported as €300,000. After a brief stint in

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

with

FC Politehnica Timișoara Fotbal Club Politehnica Timișoara (), commonly known as Politehnica Timișoara or simply Poli Timișoara, was a Romanian football club from Timișoara, Timiș County, established in 1921 and dissolved in 2012. During its existence, the team won ...

, Amuneke moved back to Portugal, signing with

Madeira ) , anthem = ( en, "Anthem of the Autonomous Region of Madeira") , song_type = Regional anthem , image_map=EU-Portugal_with_Madeira_circled.svg , map_alt=Location of Madeira , map_caption=Location of Madeira , subdivision_type=Sovereign st ...

C.D. Nacional Clube Desportivo Nacional, commonly known as Nacional and sometimes Nacional da Madeira (), is a Portuguese football club based in Funchal, on the island of Madeira. Founded on 8 December 1910, it currently plays in the Liga Portugal 2, Portug ...

in early July 2009. Not having been used at all during the first part of the 2010–11 season, he was released by the club, resuming his career with

Östers IF Östers Idrottsförening, commonly known as Östers IF or simply Öster, is a Swedish sports club located in Växjö, specializing in Association football, football, and playing in the second tier of Swedish football, Superettan. The club has ...

in the

Superettan Superettan (; meaning the super first (division)) is an association football league and the second highest league in the league system of Swedish men's football. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with Al ...

. Amuneke rarely settled in the following years, representing in quick succession

Trelleborgs FF Trelleborgs Fotbollsförening, more commonly known as Trelleborgs FF or simply Trelleborg, is a Swedish football club located in Trelleborg. Formed 6 December 1926, the club plays in Superettan, the second tier in the Swedish Football system. T ...

(Sweden),

C.D. Tondela Clube Desportivo de Tondela () is a Portuguese professional football club that plays in Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football. They are based in the town of Tondela, located in Viseu District, and play in the Estádio João Cardoso ...

(Portugal),

FK Sloboda Užice Fudbalski klub Sloboda Užice () is a Serbian professional football club from Užice. They are currently playing in the Serbian First League, the second tier of Serbian football. History Early years (1920s and 1930s) The club was founded throu ...

(Serbia) and

IS Halmia IS Halmia is a football club, located in Halmstad, Sweden. Background IS Halmia was founded on 16 June 16, 1907 and currently plays in Division 2 Västra Götaland. In early years, the club also played bandy. The first ever bandy game betwe ...

(Sweden). On 21 December 2016, after a stint at Ballynure Old Boys of the

Ballymena & Provincial Football League The Ballymena and Provincial Football League is a regional football league in Northern Ireland. The league has a Premier Division with intermediate status and three junior divisions: Junior Divisions 1, 2 and 3. History The league was formed a ...

, he moved to the

NIFL Premiership The NIFL Premiership, known as the Danske Bank Premiership for sponsorship purposes, and colloquially as the Irish League or Irish Premiership, is a professional association football league which operates as the highest division of the Northe ...

having agreed to a short-term deal at Linfield.

International career

Amuneke won two caps for

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 ...

, both during the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...

qualifiers, featuring against

Rwanda Rwanda (; rw, u Rwanda ), officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of Central Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator ...

and

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

in June 2005.

Personal life

Amuneke's older brothers,

Emmanuel Immanuel ( he, עִמָּנוּאֵל, 'Īmmānū'ēl, meaning, "God is with us"; also romanized: , ; and or in Koine Greek of the New Testament) is a Hebrew name that appears in the Book of Isaiah (7:14) as a sign that God will protect the H ...

and

, were also footballers. The former, a winger, played amongst others for

Sporting Clube de Portugal Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP, often known abroad as Sporting Lisbon , is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Lisbon. It is best known for the professional fo ...

and

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Founded ...

, and was also a Nigerian international.

Honours

;CSKA Sofia *

Bulgarian First League The First Professional Football League ( bg, Първа професионална футболна лига, Parva Profesionalna Futbolna Liga), also known as the Bulgarian First League or Parva Liga, currently known as the efbet League for spon ...

: 2007–08 ;Linfield * Northern Ireland League: 2016–17 *

Irish Cup The Irish Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly referred to as the Irish Cup (currently known as the Samuel Gelston's Whiskey Irish Cup for sponsorship purposes) is the primary football knock-out cup competition in Northern Ireland. Ina ...

: 2016–17

References

External links

NigerianPlayers profile
* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Amuneke, Kevin 1986 births Living people Nigerian footballers Association football forwards Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players FC Porto B players Vitória F.C. players C.D. Nacional players C.D. Tondela players Allsvenskan players Superettan players Landskrona BoIS players IFK Norrköping players Östers IF players Trelleborgs FF players Liga I players FC Politehnica Timișoara players First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players PFC CSKA Sofia players Serbian SuperLiga players FK Sloboda Užice players NIFL Premiership players Linfield F.C. players Nigeria international footballers Nigerian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Portugal Expatriate footballers in Sweden Expatriate footballers in Bulgaria Expatriate footballers in Romania Expatriate footballers in Serbia Expatriate association footballers in Northern Ireland Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Romania Portadown F.C. players