Samson Siasia (born 14 August 1967) is a Nigerian former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

striker and the former head coach of the Nigeria national team from 2010 to October 2011. He was reappointed in 2016. On 16 August 2019,

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

banned Siasia from all football activities for life (later reduced to five years), following a match-fixing investigation. The adjudicatory chamber of FIFA’s independent

Ethics Committee An ethics committee is a body responsible for ensuring that medical experimentation and human subject research are carried out in an ethical manner in accordance with national and international law. Specific regions An ethics committee in the E ...

alleged that the former Nigerian coach is guilty of "bribes in relation to the manipulation of matches in violation of the FIFA Code of Ethics".

Playing career

Club

At club level, Siasia most notably played for French team

FC Nantes Football Club de Nantes (; Gallo: ''Naunnt''), commonly referred to as FC Nantes or simply Nantes (), is a French professional football club based in Nantes in Pays de la Loire. The club was founded on 21 April 1943, during World War II, a ...

where he became league champion in 1994–95. He also played for Australian club

Perth Glory Perth Glory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Perth, Western Australia. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues. Founded in 19 ...

with fellow Nigerian

Peter Anosike Peter Ikechukwu Anosike (born 24 December 1976) is a Nigerian former professional footballer who played as a forward. Club career Anosike started his career with Belgian top flight side AA Gent, where he made two league appearances without sc ...

, as well as in Belgium, Portugal, Saudi Arabia and Israel.

International

He played 51 international matches 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 ...

, in which he scored thirteen goals, and was part of the team that participated in the

1994 FIFA World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States ...

and won the 1994 African Nations Cup. He was also a member of the Nigerian team that won bronze at

1992 African Nations Cup The 1992 African Cup of Nations was the 18th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the football championship of Africa ( CAF). It was hosted by Senegal. The field expanded to twelve teams, split into four groups of three; the top two teams in ea ...

in Senegal. He participated in the national team over a period of 11 years and was recognized in Nigeria as the third leading scorer for the national team.

Honours

In November 2009, the main field at the

Yenagoa Township Stadium Samson Siasia Sports Stadium is a multi-use stadium located in the Yenagoa metropolis, Nigeria. It is currently used mostly for football matches and it is the home stadium of both Ocean Boys FC and the Bayelsa United. The stadium has a capacity o ...

was named in his honor.

Coaching career

In 2005, Samson Siasia coached the under 20 team (''Flying Eagles''), taking them to the finals of both the 2005 Under-20 World Cup and the U-20

African Youth Championship The U-20 Africa Cup of Nations also called TotalEnergies U-20 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsoring reason (previously known as the African Youth Championship or the African U-20 Championship) is the main international youth football competition ...

. He won the African Youth Championship and advanced all the way to the world final – before losing to

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 ...

2–1. He also assisted

Augustine Eguavoen Augustine Owen Eguavoen (born 19 August 1965) is a Nigerian football manager and former player who thrice served as manager of the Nigeria national team. Playing career Club During his varied career Eguavoen began his career with ACB Lagos in ...

in coaching the national team. Samson Siasia was appointed national U-23 coach in January 2007. In 2008, he coached the Nigerian Under-23 Olympic squad to the final against Argentina. In a superbly played series of matches, Nigeria's team earned the Olympic Silver Medals. Earlier in 2008, the U-23 team won the inaugural Intercontinental Cup in Malaysia. This team was composed entirely of domestic Nigerian players and won the Cup against many teams headed for the 2008 Summer Olympics. In addition to his position as head coach of the Under 23 Olympic Eagles, he developed a youth academy in the capital city

Abuja Abuja () is the capital and eighth most populous city of Nigeria. Situated at the centre of the country within the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), it is a planned city built mainly in the 1980s based on a master plan by International Plann ...

, called SiaOne Soccer Academy. On 17 March 2009, he was reappointed as the head coach of the under-20 team after the finished a disappointing 3rd in the

2009 African Youth Championship The 2009 African Youth Championship is a football tournament for under 20 players. It was held in Rwanda from 18 January until 1 February 2009. It also served as qualification for the 2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup. Qualification Preliminary round ...

. He received a six-month contract to coach

Heartland F.C. Heartland Football Club founded as Spartans F.C., later known as Iwuanyanwu Nationale from 1985 to 2006 is a Nigerian football club based in Owerri. The team play their home games at Dan Anyiam Stadium (but currently use the new Okigwe Stadium ...

in July 2010. On 4 November 2010, he was named as the national team coach to succeed Swedish

Lars Lagerbäck Lars Edvin "Lasse" Lagerbäck (; born 16 July 1948) is a Swedish football manager and former player, who is the technical director of the Iceland national football team. Lagerbäck has managed a number of national teams prior to his current pos ...

. He was fired on 28 October 2011 for failing to take the

team to the

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African Nations Cup in

Gabon Gabon (; ; snq, Ngabu), officially the Gabonese Republic (french: République gabonaise), is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. Located on the equator, it is bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north ...

Equatorial Guinea Equatorial Guinea ( es, Guinea Ecuatorial; french: Guinée équatoriale; pt, Guiné Equatorial), officially the Republic of Equatorial Guinea ( es, link=no, República de Guinea Ecuatorial, french: link=no, République de Guinée équatoria ...

. Siasia was one of the five foreign managers auctioned in February 2012 for the new Bengal Premier League Soccer. His former national teammate, Jay-Jay Okocha, was bought by the same club from the five icon players up for auction. On 26 February 2016, he was named by the

Nigeria Football Federation The Nigeria Football Federation (known as Nigeria Football Association until 2008) is Nigeria's football governing body. It was formally launched in 1945 and formed the first Nigerian national football team in 1949. It joined CAF in 1959 and FIF ...

(NFF) as the Chief Coach of the Nigeria national team, the Super Eagles, to be assisted by Salisu Yusuf,

Emmanuel Amunike Emmanuel Amunike (born 25 December 1970) is a Nigerian professional football manager and former professional football player who played as a winger. and is currently the assistant coach of Nigeria national team. Playing career He played for ...

and

Alloysius Agu Alloysius Uzoma Agu (born 12 July 1967 in Lagos) is a Nigerian former professional association football, footballer who played as a goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. Their number one choice in the early nineties, he played 28 inte ...

after the resignation of

Sunday Oliseh Sunday Ogochukwu Oliseh (born 14 September 1974) is a Nigerian football manager and former player. In his active playing career he played as a defensive midfielder. Physical yet technically gifted, he played for top European clubs including Aja ...

from the position.Sunday Oliseh quits as Nigeria coach over contract violations
Oluwashina Okeleji, BBC, 26 February 2016 He returned to the U-23 post in 2015 and led Nigeria to the Rio Olympics. In February 2017 he was one of a number of managers on the shortlist for the vacant Rwanda national team manager role. In April 2018 he was one of 77 applicants for the vacant Cameroon national team job. In August 2019 he was handed a lifetime ban by FIFA related to

match fixing In organized sports, match fixing is the act of playing or officiating a match with the intention of achieving a pre-determined result, violating the rules of the game and often the law. There are many reasons why match fixing might take place, ...

. He said he would appeal but was in no rush to do so. In June 2021, Siasia's appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport earned him a reduction of the suspension to five years and the cancellation of the additional fine of 50,000 Swiss francs ($54,000).

References

External links

Official Web Site of Samson Siasia at SiaOne.com
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Siasia, Samson 1967 births Living people Sportspeople from Lagos Nigerian footballers Nigeria under-20 international footballers Nigeria international footballers Nigerian expatriate footballers Africa Cup of Nations-winning players 1992 African Cup of Nations players 1994 African Cup of Nations players 1994 FIFA World Cup players 1995 King Fahd Cup players Footballers at the 1988 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers of Nigeria Nigerian football managers K.S.C. Lokeren Oost-Vlaanderen players FC Nantes players Al Hilal SFC players Perth Glory FC players Hapoel Tzafririm Holon F.C. players Belgian First Division A players El-Kanemi Warriors F.C. players Ligue 1 players Liga Leumit players Primeira Liga players Expatriate footballers in Belgium Expatriate footballers in France Expatriate footballers in Portugal Expatriate footballers in Saudi Arabia Expatriate soccer players in Australia Expatriate footballers in Israel National Soccer League (Australia) players Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Australia Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in France Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Israel Association football forwards Saudi Professional League players Olympic silver medalists for Nigeria Bendel United F.C. players Match fixers Sportspeople banned for life