Stefano Chuka Okaka (; born 9 August 1989) is an Italian

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 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

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), officially known as Spor Toto Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional league for association football clubs. It is the top-flight of the Turkish football league system and is run by the ...

club Istanbul Basaksehir. He began his career at

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: Places Australia * Roma, Queensland, a town ** Roma Airport ** Roma Courthouse ** Electoral district of Roma, defunct ** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council *Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...

, debuting shortly after his 16th birthday and being loaned to several other teams for the duration of his contract. He totalled over 125

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

games for that club,

Bari Bari ( , ; nap, label= Barese, Bare ; lat, Barium) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia region, on the Adriatic Sea, southern Italy. It is the second most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy a ...

Parma Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmigiano-Reggiano, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 ...

Sampdoria Unione Calcio Sampdoria, commonly referred to as Sampdoria (), is an Italian professional football club based in Genoa. The club was formed in 1946 from the merger of two existing sports clubs whose roots can be traced back to the 1890s, ...

and Udinese. Abroad, he played 47

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

matches for

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

and

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

, and had a season in Belgium with

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 ...

Club career

Roma

Born in

Castiglione del Lago Castiglione del Lago is a town in the province of Perugia of Umbria (central Italy), on the southwest corner of Lake Trasimeno. Orvieto is south, Chiusi is to the south west, Arezzo is to the north west, Cortona is to the north and Perugi ...

Umbria it, Umbro (man) it, Umbra (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , ...

, Italy to Nigerian parents who later obtained Italian citizenship, Okaka joined the

youth system in 2004. He was part of the team that won the U-20 national title in 2005 and scored goals against Juventus in the semi-final and Atalanta in the final. On 29 September 2005, at the age of he made his debut with the first team in the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

, playing against

Aris Aris or ARIS may refer to: People * Aris (surname) Given name * Aris Alexandrou, Greek writer * Aris Brimanis, ice hockey player * Aris Christofellis, Greek male soprano * Aris Gavelas, Greek sprinter * Aris Howard, Former President of the Jamai ...

. He thus became the youngest footballer to debut in an international competition for an Italian team. Okaka scored his first goal for Roma in a

Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...

match against Napoli on 8 December, with a powerful run from midfield and a precise shot to the left of the goalkeeper, making him the youngest goalscorer in the competition at the age of . He made his

debut with the club later that month, on 18 December, at the age of 16 years and 125 days, in a 1–1 away draw against

. Okaka scored his first

goal on 17 September 2006, concluding a 3–1 win over

Siena Siena ( , ; lat, Sena Iulia) is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena. The city is historically linked to commercial and banking activities, having been a major banking center until the 13th and 14th centuri ...

, just 38 days after his 17th birthday, after coming on as a substitute for Francesco Totti. He made his debut in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

ten days later, in a 2–1 away loss to

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

, aged . Okaka was subsequently loaned 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

Modena Modena (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language#Dialects, Modenese, Mòdna ; ett, Mutna; la, Mutina) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern I ...

for the 2007–08 season in order to gain some first team experience. He scored seven times in 33 appearances. After returning to Roma, he signed a new contract which lasted until 30 June 2012. As a part of it, he earned a gross annual salary of €600,000 in the first two seasons, which then increased to €700,000 and €900,000. He also spent a six-month loan period at

Brescia Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and ''comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Iseo. ...

in Serie B from January to June 2009, where he scored two goals in 16 appearances. On 6 August 2009, substitute Okaka scored his first goal with Roma in a continental competition, the final goal in a 7–1 win away to

Gent Gent is a shortened form of the word gentleman. It may also refer to: * Ghent (Dutch: Gent), a Belgian city ** K.A.A. Gent, a football club from Ghent ** K.R.C. Gent, a football club from Ghent ** Gent RFC, a rugby club in Ghent ** .gent, a ...

in the second leg of the

2009–10 UEFA Europa League The 2009–10 UEFA Europa League was the first season of the UEFA Europa League, Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA. The competition was previously known as the UEFA Cup, which had been in existence for 38 years. Spain ...

third qualifying round (10–2 aggregate). He scored again in the Europa League in Roma's 2–0 win over CSKA Sofia and in Roma's 2–1 win over Fulham. His last goal with Roma was an 88th-minute winner against Siena. On 1 February 2010, he joined Fulham on loan until the end of the season. He made his debut in the 1–0 win over

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 3 February, and scored his first goal for the club eleven days later in a 5th 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 ...

tie at home to Notts County. He scored his first league goal for the club against

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, ...

on 4 April, in a 2–1 win at

Craven Cottage Craven Cottage is a football ground in Fulham, West London, England, which has been the home of Fulham F.C. since 1896.According to the club'official website The ground's capacity is 22,384; the record attendance is 49,335, for a game against M ...

. He was cup-tied for Fulham's run to the

2010 UEFA Europa League Final The 2010 UEFA Europa League Final was the final match of the 2009–10 UEFA Europa League, the first season of the revamped European football competition formerly known as the UEFA Cup. Played at the Volksparkstadion in Hamburg, Germany, on 12 May ...

. In January 2011 Okaka moved to

on loan. There, he scored his first goal against

Lecce Lecce ( ); el, label=Griko, Luppìu, script=Latn; la, Lupiae; grc, Λουπίαι, translit=Loupíai), group=pron is a historic city of 95,766 inhabitants (2015) in southern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Lecce, the province ...

for 1–0 win. In this game he and Kamil Glik marking their debuts for Bari. He scored one further goal for Bari that season. Okaka sustained an injury in round 30 and missed the rest of the season. In August 2011, Okaka was attacked by Roma fans after a training session for allegedly not wishing to sign autographs.

Parma

After failing to make a single appearance for Roma in the first half of the season, on 22 January 2012, Okaka joined

on loan until the end of the season. He scored his first goal on 7 March, the opener in a 2–2 against Fiorentina. Okaka signed a permanent deal with Parma on 20 August 2012. The following day he was loaned to the newly promoted

club Spezia where he made 38 appearances, scoring seven goals and assisting six more. After his loan spell, he returned to Parma for the 2013–14 season, making only two Serie A matches as a substitute.

Sampdoria

On 31 January 2014, Okaka was transferred to the fellow Serie A outfit

on a permanent deal, with

Nicola Pozzi Nicola Pozzi (born 30 June 1986) is an Italian professional footballer who currently plays as a striker for San Donato. Club career Milan Signed by A.C. Milan from then-Serie C1 side Cesena in January 2004, he was successively loaned to Napo ...

moving the opposite direction. He made a good start to his Sampdoria career, scoring five times in 13 appearances in the 2013–14 season. He scored his first goal of the 2014–15 season on 14 September 2014, a solo effort, in the 2–0 victory against

Torino Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. T ...

on 14 September 2014. On 10 June 2015, the owner and president of Sampdoria Massimo Ferrero told the Italian media that Okaka would be leaving the club.

Anderlecht

On 28 July 2015, Okaka joined Belgian side

from Sampdoria for a reported fee of €3 million.

Watford / Udinese

On 29 August 2016, Okaka joined

from Anderlecht on a five-year contract. He scored his first two goals on 10 December, against Everton in a 3–2 win. In his second season, after the departure of compatriot manager

Walter Mazzarri Walter Mazzarri (; born 1 October 1961) is an Italian former footballer and head coach, most recently in charge of Serie A club Cagliari. After a 14-year playing career with Italian clubs including Reggiana and Empoli, Mazzarri coached several ...

, he was more used as a substitute; his one goal came on opening day, opening a 3–3 draw with

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

at Vicarage Road. On 8 January 2019, Okaka was loaned to Udinese for the rest of the Serie A season, having played just 47 minutes for Watford all season across three substitute appearances. Both clubs were owned by

Giampaolo Pozzo Giampaolo Pozzo (born 25 May 1941) is an Italian businessman, currently the owner of Udinese Calcio in Italy. His son Gino is the owner of Watford FC in England. Pozzo sold the family business, tool maker Freud, to Robert Bosch in 2008. Udinese ...

. He scored six goals in 16 games as the ''Bianconeri'' avoided relegation, including braces in consecutive wins over

Frosinone Frosinone (, local dialect: ) is a town and ''comune'' in Lazio, central Italy, the administrative seat of the province of Frosinone. It is located about south-east of Rome close to the Rome-Naples A1 Motorway. The city is the main city of the Va ...

and SPAL in May. Okaka's move to Udinese was made permanent on 2 September 2019, on a three-year contract.

International career

After gaining Italian citizenship in 2007, Okaka was selected for the Italian Under-19 side. He made his debut for the Italy U-20 team in 2008, scoring two goals. On 17 November 2009, he made his debut with the Italy U-21 squad in a match against

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

. In April 2014, Okaka revealed he was in talks with 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 ...

about the possibility of him switching allegiance to his parents' country and play with the Nigeria national football team already at the

2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

. However, Okaka was included in the Italy squad for their friendly against

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

on 18 November 2014 by manager

Antonio Conte Antonio Conte (; born 31 July 1969) is an Italian professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur. Playing as a midfielder, Conte began his career at local club Lecce and later b ...

. He made his debut as a substitute, replacing

Sebastian Giovinco Sebastian Giovinco (; born 26 January 1987) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a forward. A quick and creative player on the ball, Giovinco was a versatile forward capable of playing in multiple offensive positions. Gio ...

in the second half, and scored the only goal of the match in the victory at Sampdoria's home ground, the

Stadio Luigi Ferraris The Stadio comunale Luigi Ferraris, also known as the Marassi from the name of the neighbourhood where it is located, is a multi-use stadium in Genoa, Italy. The home of Genoa C.F.C. and U.C. Sampdoria football clubs, it opened in 1911 and is ...

Personal life

Okaka's twin sister, Stefania Okaka, is also a professional sportsperson. A volleyball player, she plays for

Béziers Volley Béziers (; oc, Besièrs) is a subprefecture of the Hérault department in the Occitanie region of Southern France. Every August Béziers hosts the famous ''Feria de Béziers'', which is centred on bullfighting. A million visitors are attract ...

of the French first division and the

Italian national team The Italy national football team ( it, Nazionale di calcio dell'Italia) has represented Italy in international football since its first match in 1910. The national team is controlled by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC), the governing bo ...

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Italy's goal tally first.''

References

External links

* * *
AIC Profile

FIGC Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Okaka, Stefano 1989 births Living people People from Castiglione del Lago Sportspeople from the Province of Perugia Footballers from Umbria Italian footballers Association football forwards S.S.C. Bari players A.S. Roma players Modena F.C. players Brescia Calcio players A.S. Cittadella players Fulham F.C. players Parma Calcio 1913 players Spezia Calcio players U.C. Sampdoria players R.S.C. Anderlecht players Watford F.C. players Udinese Calcio players İstanbul Başakşehir F.K. players Serie A players Serie B players Premier League players Belgian Pro League players Süper Lig players Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Belgium Expatriate footballers in Turkey Italian expatriate sportspeople in England Italian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Italian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Italian expatriate footballers Italy youth international footballers Italy under-21 international footballers Italy international footballers Italian people of Nigerian descent Italian twins Twin sportspeople Naturalised citizens of Italy