Victor Chukwuekezie Igbonefo (born 10 October 1985) is a professional

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

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for and

captains Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

Liga 1 club

Persib Bandung Persatuan Sepakbola Indonesia Bandung ( 'Indonesian Football Association of Bandung'), commonly referred to as Persib Bandung, or simply Persib, is a professional football club based in Bandung, West Java, which competes in Liga 1, the top ...

. Born in Nigeria, he represents the Indonesia national team.

Club career

Early career

Igbonefo started his career by joining Nigerdock Soccer Academy in

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 2003, He signed his first professional contract for

Lagos Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the List of cities in Africa by population, second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national ca ...

based club, First Bank. He made 18 league appearances with the club before leaving in 2004.

Persipura Jayapura

In 2005, Igbonefo signed for

Indonesian league The Indonesian League in badminton is a team competition established in 2007 and held in Indonesia. The total prize will be around US$98,000. History This league has been conceptualized since 2003, but until four years later it had not become re ...

giant,

Persipura Jayapura Persatuan Sepakbola Indonesia Jayapura, or Persipura, is an Indonesian football club based in Jayapura, Papua. The club was founded in 1963 and currently competes in the Liga 2. Persipura used to always use the Mandala Stadium as their hom ...

. On his first season with the club, he won the 2005 Indonesian League, after defeating

Persija Jakarta Persatuan Sepakbola Indonesia Jakarta ( 'Indonesian Football Association of Jakarta'; abbreviated as Persija), is an Indonesian professional football club based in the Indonesian capital city of Jakarta. Persija Jakarta is one of the most suc ...

3–2 in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

. Igbonefo became a key player for Persipura in their campaign to win the

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

in 2008–09 and 2010–11 respectively, he also formed a solid partnership in the heart of defence with Bio Paulin. On 7 October 2009, Igbonefo helped Persipura to win the 2009 Indonesian Community Shield after defeating

Sriwijaya Srivijaya ( id, Sriwijaya) was a Buddhist thalassocratic empire based on the island of Sumatra (in modern-day Indonesia), which influenced much of Southeast Asia. Srivijaya was an important centre for the expansion of Buddhism from the 7th t ...

3–1 at

Andi Mattalatta Stadium Andi Mattalatta Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium in Makassar, South Sulawesi, Indonesia. It was used mostly for football matches. The stadium held 15,000 people and was the home stadium of PSM Makassar. This stadium was the center of the even ...

Pelita Jaya

On 12 October 2011, it was announced that Igbonefo has joined

Pelita Jaya Madura United Football Club is an Indonesian professional football club. The club is based in Pamekasan, Madura, East Java. They currently play in the Liga 1. Established on 10 January 2016, Madura United FC is one of few professional clubs ...

, two-days after he was

naturalized Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the in ...

Indonesian Indonesian is anything of, from, or related to Indonesia, an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. It may refer to: * Indonesians, citizens of Indonesia ** Native Indonesians, diverse groups of local inhabitants of the archipelago ** Indonesian ...

citizen. He only stayed a season, making 31 appearances and scoring 5 goals. On 6 August 2012, Igbonefo was loaned out to

Thai Premier League The Thai League 1 ( th, ไทยลีก 1), often referred to as T1, is the top level of the Thai football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with Thai League 2. Seasons run from August ...

club Chiangrai United. He was loaned with teammate

Greg Nwokolo Gregory Junior Nwokolo (born 3 January 1986) is a professional footballer who last played as a forward for Madura United. Born in Nigeria, he represented Indonesia at international level. Club career Greg began his career in Asia with Tampi ...

until October 2012. During his short loan spell, Igbonefo made 12 appearances and scoring a goal.

Arema Cronus

During the

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

season, Igbonefo helped

Arema Cronus Arema Football Club is an Indonesian professional football club based in Malang, East Java. The club competes in the Liga 1, the top flight of Indonesian Football. They are considered one of the best and most successful football clubs in ...

finish as

runners-up. On 25 February 2014, Igbonefo scored his first goal for Arema Cronus, in a 1–1 draw against

Selangor Selangor (; ), also known by its Arabic language, Arabic honorific Darul Ehsan, or "Abode of Sincerity", is one of the 13 Malaysian states. It is on the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia and is bordered by Perak to the north, Pahang to the east ...

in the

2014 AFC Cup The 2014 AFC Cup was the 11th edition of the AFC Cup, a association football, football competition organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for clubs from "developing countries" in Asia. Kuwait SC, Al-Kuwait were the two-time defendin ...

group stage A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concent ...

match tie. On 28 July 2015, Igbonefo returned to

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

, by signing a loan deal for Osotspa Samut Prakan, he was given the number 30 shirt. He was signed by the team, to strengthen them in the second half of the 2015 season.

Navy

On 2 January 2016, It was announced that Igbonefo has joined

Thai League 1 The Thai League 1 ( th, ไทยลีก 1), often referred to as T1, is the top level of the Thai football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with Thai League 2. Seasons run from August ...

club,

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

. On 20 July 2016, He scored an equaliser in the 90th-minute to help Navy hold BEC Tero Sasana 1-1. In his only

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

with the club, Igbonefo recorded 29 appearances and scored 2 goals, with his team finishing 14th in the

International career

The

Football Association of Indonesia The Football Association of Indonesia ( id, Persatuan Sepakbola Seluruh Indonesia; 'All-Indonesian Football Association'; abbreviated as PSSI) is the governing body of Football soccer, football in Indonesia. It was founded on 19 April 1930, fif ...

(PSSI) announced that Igbonefo has been officially naturalised on 10 October 2011. He made his debut for the

Indonesia national football team The Indonesia national football team ( id, Tim nasional sepak bola Indonesia) represents Indonesia in international association football. It was the first Asian team to participate in the FIFA World Cup, particularly in the 1938 edition as Dut ...

in the

2015 AFC Asian Cup qualification The 2015 AFC Asian Cup qualification was a qualification process organized by the AFC to determine the participating teams for the 2015 AFC Asian Cup. The 2015 AFC Asian Cup, hosted by Australia, featured 16 teams. In the initial scheme, ten p ...

campaign against

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

on 23 March 2013.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Persipura Jayapura *

Liga Indonesia The Indonesian football league system is a series of league system for association football clubs in Indonesia. Since 1994, Liga Indonesia is the league competition featuring association football clubs, as a result of two existing top-flight footba ...

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

Indonesia Super League Liga 1 ( en, League 1), also known as BRI Liga 1 for sponsorship reasons with Bank Rakyat Indonesia, is the men's top professional football division of the Indonesian football league system. Administered by the PT Liga Indonesia Baru (), Liga 1 i ...

: 2008–09, 2010–11 *

Indonesian Community Shield The Indonesian Community Shield was a pre-season football competition held the week before the season begins in Indonesia every year. It was contested by the winners of the Indonesia Super League/Indonesian Premier League and Piala Indonesia in th ...

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

Arema Cronus *East Java Governor Cup: 2013 *Menpora Cup: 2013 *

Indonesian Inter Island Cup The Indonesian Inter Island Cup (IIC; id, Piala Antar Pulau) was a national level football tournament held in Indonesia and organized by PSSI as a pre-season tournament during the Indonesia Super League season break. The tournament involved bes ...

: 2014–15 Indonesia *

AFF Championship The ASEAN Football Federation Championship (less formally the AFF Championship or AFF Cup), currently known as the AFF Mitsubishi Electric Cup for sponsorship reason, is the primary association football tournament organized by the ASEAN Football ...

runner-up:

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

Individual * Menpora Cup Best Eleven:

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Igbonefo, Victor 1986 births Living people Footballers from Enugu Indonesian footballers Indonesia international footballers Nigerian footballers Igbo sportspeople Nigerian emigrants to Indonesia Indonesian people of Nigerian descent Naturalised citizens of Indonesia Indonesian Super League-winning players Indonesian Premier Division players Liga 1 (Indonesia) players Victor Igbonefo Persipura Jayapura players Pelita Jaya FC players Arema F.C. players Victor Igbonefo Victor Igbonefo Victor Igbonefo Victor Igbonefo Persib Bandung players Victor Igbonefo Nigerian expatriate footballers Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Indonesia Expatriate footballers in Indonesia Indonesian expatriate footballers Indonesian expatriate sportspeople in Thailand Expatriate footballers in Thailand Footballers at the 2014 Asian Games Association football defenders Asian Games competitors for Indonesia