Vincent Enyeama (born 29 August 1982) is a Nigerian former 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 played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

. Despite his below-average height for a goalkeeper, he is popularly regarded as one of the greatest African goalkeepers of all time and of his era. During his senior career, which spanned nearly 20 years, Enyeama played for Ibom Stars,

Enyimba Aba is a city in the southeast of Nigeria and the commercial center of Abia State. Upon the creation of Abia state in 1991, Aba was divided into two local government areas namely; Aba South and Aba North. Aba south is the main city centre and ...

Iwuanyanwu Nationale 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 ...

, Bnei Yehuda,

Hapoel Tel Aviv Hapoel Tel Aviv ( he, הפועל תל אביב) is a sports club in Israel, founded in the 1920s, and part of the Hapoel association. It runs several sports clubs and teams in Tel Aviv which have competed in a variety of sports over the years, suc ...

Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Pref ...

and

Maccabi Tel Aviv Maccabi Tel Aviv ( he, מכבי תל אביב) is one of the largest sports clubs in Israel, and a part of the Maccabi association. Many sports clubs and teams in Tel Aviv are in association with Maccabi and compete in a variety of sports, such ...

. He was also a member of the Nigeria national team from 2002 until October 2015, serving as its captain from 2013 until his retirement from international football in 2015. With 101 caps, he was Nigeria's most capped player until November 2021 when he was surpassed by

Ahmed Musa Ahmed Musa (born 14 October 1992) is a Nigerian professional footballer who plays as a forward and left winger for Turkish Süper Lig club Sivasspor and the Nigeria national team. Musa became the first Nigerian to score more than once in a F ...

Club career

Enyimba International

During his spell with

Enyimba International F.C. Enyimba Football Club or simply known as Enyimba, is a Nigerian football club based in the city of Aba which plays in the Nigerian Professional Football League. Their name means ''People's Elephant'' in Igbo language and is also the nickname us ...

, he won the

CAF Champions League The CAF Champions League, known for sponsorship purposes as the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League and formerly the African Cup of Champions Clubs, is an annual football club competition organized by the Confederation of African Football and co ...

twice, with one noteworthy distinction: He was always substituted before penalty shootouts. "I don't know why I was substituted before penalties, but it worked," he said in an interview in 2006. "In Israel I stopped many penalties and now everyone knows that I can handle penalties."

Bnei Yehuda

After three seasons with

and one with

(now known as Heartland F.C.), Enyeama moved to small Israeli club

Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv F.C. ( he, מועדון כדורגל בני יהודה תל אביב, ''Moadon Kaduregel Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv''), commonly referred to as Bnei Yehuda (), is an Israeli football club from the Hatikva Quarter of the city of Tel ...

. In his first season, the team qualified for the final of the

Israel State Cup The Israel State Cup ( he, גביע המדינה, ''Gvia HaMedina''), is a knockout cup competition in Israeli football, run by the Israel Football Association (IFA). The State Cup was first held in 1928 as the People's Cup. Because it involve ...

and, having finished fourth in the

Israeli Premier League The Israeli Premier League ( he, ליגת העל, ''Ligat Ha`Al'', ), is a professional association football league which operates as the highest division of the Israeli Football League – the state's league of Israel. The league is contested b ...

, for the 2006

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 ...

competition as well.

Hapoel Tel Aviv

Enyeama signed for

in 2007. Hapoel endured a poor season in 2007/2008, but Enyeama helped the team avoid relegation and reach the state cup final. During the 2008–09 season, Enyeama became Hapoel's penalty kicker, won the "Player of The Year" award, and just missed out on leading Hapoel to the league title. In the 2009–10 season, Hapoel won the league and cup

double A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * Th ...

, with Enyeama featuring prominently. He scored a goal in the Cup Final, but missed a penalty in the last fixture of the year, which Hapoel eventually won by scoring in the 92nd minute, thereby capturing the league title. On 18 August 2010, he scored his first goal of the 2010–11 season with a penalty against Red Bull Salzburg in the Champions League qualifiers. Enyeama played well on the Champions League Group Stage, especially against Lyon and Schalke 04. Hapoel also won the Israeli cup again.

Lille

In June 2011 Enyeama moved to French side

for an undisclosed fee on a three-year contract. He made his debut on 18 October 2011 against

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Football in Italy, Italian professional Association football, football ...

in the 2012

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 ...

group stage, where Inter managed a 1–0 victory. In August 2012 Enyeama agreed a one-year loan deal with Maccabi Tel Aviv and was presented to the media by Maccabi's Sports Director

Jordi Cruyff Johan Jordi Cruijff (anglicised to Cruyff; born 9 February 1974) is a Association football, football coach and former player. He is the son of former player and manager Johan Cruyff. As a footballer, Cruyff played from 1992 through to 2010, in ...

on 8 August 2012. He appeared in 27

fixtures and Maccabi went on to win the championship title. During the

2013–14 Ligue 1 The 2013–14 Ligue 1 was the 76th season since its establishment. The season began on 9 August 2013 and ended on 17 May 2014. Paris Saint-Germain were the defending champions. As in the previous years, Adidas provided the official ball for all ...

season, club manager

René Girard René Noël Théophile Girard (; ; 25 December 1923 – 4 November 2015) was a French polymath, historian, literary critic, and philosopher of social science whose work belongs to the tradition of philosophical anthropology. Girard was the aut ...

picked Enyeama as his first-choice goalkeeper ahead of

Steeve Elana Steeve Elana (born 11 July 1980) is a professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for FC Martigues and the Martinique national football team. He previously played for Lille OSC in the French Ligue 1. He became first choice goalkeeper for ...

, who had previously been the first-choice goalkeeper under

Rudi Garcia Rudi José Garcia (; ; born 20 February 1964) is a French professional football manager and former player who is the manager of Saudi Professional League club Al Nassr. Early life Rudi Garcia's father, José, was a Spanish expatriate who played ...

. With the help of his two centre-backs,

Marko Baša Marko Baša ( sr-Cyrl, Марко Баша, ; born 29 December 1982) is a Montenegrin retired professional footballer who played as a centre back. Club career Lille On 23 June 2011, Baša returned to France after three years in Russia with Lo ...

and

Simon Kjær Simon Thorup Kjær (born 26 March 1989) is a Danish professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for club AC Milan and captains the Denmark national team. He was named 2007 Danish under-19 talent of the year and 2009 Danish Talent of t ...

, Enyeama kept 11 consecutive clean sheets in

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

matches during the first half of the season. On 8 December 2013, Enyeama finally conceded a goal after playing 1,062 minutes of

football in an away match against

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...

, during which he was beaten by Landry N'Guémo's deflected strike in the 27th minute. He thus came within 114 minutes of equalling

Gaëtan Huard Gaëtan Huard (born 12 January 1962) is a French former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Football career Born in Montargis, Loiret, Huard played 357 Ligue 1 matches for RC Lens, FC Girondins de Bordeaux and Olympique de Mar ...

's Ligue 1 goalkeeping record, set in 1993, of playing 1,176 minutes without conceding a goal. In the 2017–18 season Enyeama did not make a league appearance having been left out of the first team due to "a disagreement between the player and the club's management". He joined the first team's pre-season training in July 2018. He was released by mutual consent on 31 August 2018. In January 2019 he said he was keen to play again, and in July 2019 he went on trial with French club

Dijon Dijon (, , ) (dated) * it, Digione * la, Diviō or * lmo, Digion is the prefecture of the Côte-d'Or department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in northeastern France. the commune had a population of 156,920. The earlies ...

. Despite not being offered a contract by Dijon he expressed gratitude to the club. While at the start of the 2019–20 season Enyeama stated that he hoped to find a new club and continue playing, he finally retired after the end of the campaign.

International career

After making his debut for the

Nigeria national football team The Nigeria national football team represents Nigeria in men's international Association football, football. Governed by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), they are three-time Africa Cup of Nations winners, with their most recent title in ...

against

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

in May 2002, Enyeama was selected for the

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

as a cover for

Ike Shorunmu Ike Ibrahim Shorunmu (born 16 October 1967) is a former Nigerian football goalkeeper. Career Shorunmu was born in Lagos. After a few years in Nigeria he moved to play in Switzerland, and made his mark there. He was bought by Turkish club B ...

. He made his competitive debut in that tournament, keeping a clean sheet against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in the third group match. Since the retirement of Shorunmu, he has been the first-choice goalkeeper for the national team, helping the Super Eagles to third-place finishes in the

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

Africa Cup of Nations The Africa Cup of Nations referred to as AFCON (french: Coupe d'Afrique des Nations, sometimes referred to as CAN, or TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons), and sometimes as African Cup of Nations, is the main internati ...

tournaments, and captaining the team to victory of in 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 ...

edition. He has also participated in the

and

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

s, and the

2013 FIFA Confederations Cup The 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup was the ninth FIFA Confederations Cup, which was held in Brazil from 15 to 30 June 2013 as a prelude to the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The most recent winners of the six continental championships appeared in the tourna ...

. In the 2006 Africa Cup of Nations, Enyeama stopped three kicks in the quarter-final

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pen ...

against

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

, but could not prevent a loss to

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...

in the semi-final. In the 2010 tournament, he was again Nigeria's shootout hero at the quarter-final stage, saving from

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most cent ...

's Thomas Nyrienda and scoring the winning kick himself. Enyeama made his second FIFA World Cup appearance in the 2010 tournament in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. He was named man of the match in Nigeria's first game of the tournament, a defiant display that restricted

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 ...

to a 1–0 win. Enyeama, who was playing his 56th international for the Super Eagles, made six fine saves against the two-time world champions, four of them from

Lionel Messi Lionel Andrés Messi (; born 24 June 1987), also known as Leo Messi, is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Paris Saint-Germain and captains the Argentina national team. Widely regarded as one of the ...

. Argentine coach

Diego Maradona Diego Armando Maradona (; 30 October 196025 November 2020) was an Argentine professional football player and manager. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, he was one of the two joint winners of the FI ...

praised him as the reason Messi was not able to score a goal. Enyeama was also awarded man of the match in the team's next fixture, a 2–1 loss to

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

, but was at fault for

Vasilis Torosidis Vasilis Torosidis (Greek: Βασίλης Τοροσίδης, born 10 June 1985) is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a right-back. Club career Skoda Xanthi Torosidis made his senior debut for Skoda Xanthi on 19 April 2003 at ...

' winning goal. At the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations, Enyeama deputised for regular captain

Joseph Yobo Joseph Michael Yobo (born 6 September 1980) is a Nigerian former professional footballer who played as a centre back. He was the captain of the Nigerian national team until his international football retirement in June 2014, and was Nigeria's r ...

, who stayed on the bench for most of the competition. On 10 February, Enyeama led Nigeria to its third continental victory, keeping a clean sheet in a 1–0 defeat of

Burkina Faso Burkina Faso (, ; , ff, 𞤄𞤵𞤪𞤳𞤭𞤲𞤢 𞤊𞤢𞤧𞤮, italic=no) is a landlocked country in West Africa with an area of , bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the ...

in the

2013 Africa Cup of Nations Final The 2013 Africa Cup of Nations Final was a football match that took place on 10 February 2013 to determine the winner of the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations, the football championship of Africa organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). ...

. He was named to the team of the tournament as first choice goalkeeper, conceding only four goals in six matches. In June 2014, Enyeama was named in Nigeria's squad for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. In the Super Eagles' first fixture, he kept the second FIFA World Cup clean sheet of his career as Nigeria drew 0–0 with

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

. He subsequently recorded a second consecutive shutout in the fixture against

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...

, a 1–0 win which gave Nigeria its first win at the tournament since the 1998 edition. He conceded three goals in the last match of the first round against Argentina, a game which ended in a 3–2 defeat for Nigeria, placing them second in the group and thus qualifying them for the second round for the first time in 16 years. On 26 March 2015, Enyeama won his 100th cap for Nigeria in a 1–0 loss to

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...

. He retired from international football on 8 October 2015.

Personal life

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

from Ika Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, Enyeama is married and a father of three. In 2004, he was involved in a car accident in

Uyo Uyo is the capital city of Akwa Ibom in South South Nigeria. Ibibio is the language spoken in Uyo. It became the capital on September 23, 1987 when Akwa Ibom was created from the former Cross River State. According to the 2006 Nigerian Cens ...

Akwa Ibom State Akwa Ibom State is a state in the South-South geopolitical zone of Nigeria, bordered on the east by Cross River State, on the west by Rivers State and Abia State, and on the south by the Atlantic Ocean. The state takes its name from the Qua Iboe ...

southern Nigeria, in which two motorcycle passengers were killed. The driver of the car in which Enyeama was travelling was left in critical condition. Despite the severity of the accident, Enyeama suffered only bruises after the car somersaulted twice as it swerved to avoid the motorbike.

Honours

Enyimba International *

Nigerian Premier League The Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) is the highest level of the Nigerian football league system, for the Nigerian club-football championships. The Nigerian league has suffered, like many others, from the financial impact and dwindl ...

: 2001, 2002, 2003 *

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

Hapoel Tel-Aviv *

: 2009–10 *

: 2009–10,

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

Maccabi Tel-Aviv *

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

Nigeria *

Individual *

Player of the Year: 2003, 2004 * Footballer of the Year in Israel: 2009 *

UNFP Player of the Month The UNFP Player of the Month trophy is an award that recognises the best Ligue 1 player each month of the season. The winner is chosen by a combination of an online public vote, which contributes to 50% of the final tally, and the players of each ...

: October 2013, November 2013 *

Prix Marc-Vivien Foé The Prix Marc-Vivien Foé is an award in an honour to the late Marc-Vivien Foé Marc-Vivien Foé (1 May 1975 – 26 June 2003) was a Cameroonian professional footballer, who played as a defensive midfielder for both club and country. Having ini ...

: 2014 * Goalkeeper of the year

Nigeria Pitch Awards The Nigeria Pitch Awards are awards presented to Nigerian former and present sports people, administrators and journalists in recognition of their positive contributions to sports in Nigeria. Initiated by Matchmakers Consult International Limited ...

: 2013, 2014 * King of the pitch

: 2014 * Goal Nigeria Player of the Year: 2014 * IFFHS CAF Men's Team of the Decade 2011–2020

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Enyeama, Vincent 1982 births Living people Nigerian Christians Sportspeople from Kaduna Nigerian footballers Association football goalkeepers Nigeria international footballers Africa Cup of Nations-winning players 2002 FIFA World Cup players 2004 African Cup of Nations players 2006 Africa Cup of Nations players 2008 Africa Cup of Nations players 2010 Africa Cup of Nations players 2010 FIFA World Cup players 2013 Africa Cup of Nations players 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup players 2014 FIFA World Cup players Israeli Premier League players Ligue 1 players Enyimba F.C. players Heartland F.C. players Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv F.C. players Hapoel Tel Aviv F.C. players Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C. players Lille OSC players FIFA Century Club Nigerian expatriate footballers Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Israel Expatriate footballers in Israel Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate footballers in France Israeli Footballer of the Year recipients