King Paul Akpan Udoh (born 5 September 1997) is an Italian

association 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 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

Gubbio Gubbio () is an Italian town and ''comune'' in the far northeastern part of the Italian province of Perugia (Umbria). It is located on the lowest slope of Mt. Ingino, a small mountain of the Apennines. History The city's origins are very ancient. ...

on loan from

Cesena Cesena (; rgn, Cisêna) is a city and ''comune'' in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, served by Autostrada A14, and located near the Apennine Mountains, about from the Adriatic Sea. The total population is 97,137. History Cesena was o ...

Club career

Having started his career with Reggiana, Udoh moved to Juventus in 2011, and was immediately loaned back for a year. After progressing through the youth ranks of Juventus, Udoh secured a loan move to

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie Balkrishna Industries, BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 ...

side Virtus Lanciano in 2016, with an option to buy at the end of the season. Failing to impress, he was returned to Juve, and then loaned to Lega Pro side Pontedera later the same year. On 14 July 2019, he signed with Pianese. On 13 September 2020 he joined

Olbia Olbia (, ; sc, Terranoa; sdn, Tarranoa) is a city and commune of 60,346 inhabitants (May 2018) in the Italian insular province of Sassari in northeastern Sardinia, Italy, in the historical region of Gallura. Called ''Olbia'' in the Roman age, ...

on a 2-year contract. On 26 August 2022, Udoh signed a three-year deal with

. On 1 August 2023, he was loaned to

, with an option to buy.

Coronavirus infection

On 27 February 2020, Udoh became the first professional footballer to be infected by the virus in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. According to the publications Udoh was put under quarantine after showing symptoms of the virus.

Personal life

Born in Italy, Udoh is of Nigerian descent. On 27 February 2020, Udoh became the first professional footballer to be diagnosed with the

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Udoh, King 1997 births Living people Footballers from Reggio Emilia Italian people of Nigerian descent Italian men's footballers Men's association football forwards Serie C players Serie D players AC Reggiana 1919 players Juventus FC players SS Virtus Lanciano 1924 players US Città di Pontedera players Fermana FC players Alma Juventus Fano 1906 players ASD Viareggio Calcio players US Pianese players Olbia Calcio 1905 players Cesena FC players AS Gubbio 1910 players