Udoka Chima (born 1 February 2002) is a professional footballer who plays for Cavalry FC in the Canadian Premier League. Born in Italy and raised in England, he represents Nigeria at international level.

Early life

Chima was born in Italy to Nigerian parents and lived between the two countries until his family moved to England when he was six. He played grassroots football for a couple of years with Lace FC, a club based in Tottenham, North London. Afterwards, he sought to join an academy program: following trials with the academies of

Barnet Barnet may refer to: People *Barnet (surname) * Barnet (given name) Places United Kingdom *Chipping Barnet or High Barnet, commonly known as Barnet, one of three focal towns of the borough below. *East Barnet, a district of the borough below; an ...

, Coventry City, Norwich City, and Luton Town, in July 2018, he joined the youth system of Burnley. He was eventually released by Burnley at the end of the 2019-20 season. Following his release from Burnley, he had a trial with Serie A club Napoli in September 2020, along with reported interest from Atalanta and Genoa, as well as French club Dijon. He then had a trial with

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, ...

club Benfica from 29 April to 9 May 2021, with fellow Portuguese clubs Braga and Porto also interested in signing him. Following this, he received interest from

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

, before subsequently joined Coventry City on a trial in July 2021, playing in a pre-season match with the U23s against Leamington.

Club career

In August 2019, Chima was loaned by Burnley to Steeton, a club in the

North West Counties Football League The North West Counties Football League is a football league in the North West of England. Since 2019–20, the league has covered the Isle of Man, Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyside, Cumbria, northern Staffordshire, northern S ...

Division One South, until the end of September. In July 2021, he signed a two-year contract with Scottish Championship club Queen of the South. He made his debut on 31 July 2021, in a substitute appearance against

Partick Thistle Partick Thistle Football Club are a professional association football, football club from Glasgow, Scotland. Despite their name, the club are based at Firhill Stadium in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not played in Partick since 1908. ...

. In May 2022, he mutually terminated his contract with the club. On 2 September 2022, Chima joined

National League South The National League South, formerly Conference South, is one of the second divisions of the National League in England, immediately below the top division National League. Along with National League North, it is in the second level of the N ...

side Cheshunt. However, just ten days later, he made a permanent switch to Southern League Premier South side

Harrow Borough Harrow Borough Football Club is an English football club based in Harrow, London. They were founded in 1933 and compete in the . Harrow Borough's home ground is Earlsmead Stadium, which has a capacity of 3,070. Harrow Borough moved into Earlsme ...

. Soon after again, he moved to

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club

Kings Langley Kings Langley is a village, former Manorialism, manor and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Hertfordshire, England, north-west of Westminster in the historic centre of London and to the south of the Chiltern Hills. It now forms part o ...

on 30 September, scoring on his debut on 1 October, in a match against Bromsgrove Sporting. Afterwards, he spent some time training with Onside Football Institute in England, while looking for a new club. On 13 February 2023, Chima joined Canadian Premier League club Cavalry FC on a one-year contract, with a club option for another season.

International career

Chima has played for the Nigeria U19 team.

References

External links

*
Udoka Chima profile
at AFC Steeton {{DEFAULTSORT:Chima, Udoka Living people 2002 births Men's association football defenders Nigerian men's footballers Nigeria men's youth international footballers Italian men's footballers Italian people of Nigerian descent Italian emigrants to the United Kingdom Burnley F.C. players Steeton A.F.C. players Queen of the South F.C. players Cheshunt F.C. players Harrow Borough F.C. players Kings Langley F.C. players Cavalry FC players North West Counties Football League players Scottish Professional Football League players Southern Football League players Canadian Premier League players Place of birth missing (living people)