Warren Kanu (born January 1, 1983 in

Freetown Freetown is the capital and largest city of Sierra Leone. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean and is located in the Western Area of the country. Freetown is Sierra Leone's major urban, economic, financial, cultural, educational and p ...

) is a

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra ...

an association football, football player, currently without a club.

Career

Professional

Kanu began his career with the

Mighty Blackpool Mighty Blackpool is a Sierra Leonean Association football, football club based in the capital Freetown. They play in the Sierra Leone National Premier League, the top football league in the country. Blackpool represents the West End of Freetown ...

team in his native Sierra Leone, before moving to the Birinci Lig in

Northern Cyprus Northern Cyprus ( tr, Kuzey Kıbrıs), officially the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC; tr, Kuzey Kıbrıs Türk Cumhuriyeti, ''KKTC''), is a ''de facto'' state that comprises the northeastern portion of the Geography of Cyprus, isl ...

in 2006 to play for

Bostancı Bostancı is a neighbourhood of Kadıköy, located on the Anatolian side of Istanbul, Turkey, on the shore of the Sea of Marmara. As the easternmost neighbourhood of the Kadıköy district; it borders Suadiye and Kozyatağı (also neighbourhood ...

, and then Küçük Kaymaklı. He was voted Midfielder of the Year in 2006-07. Kanu joined the

Cleveland City Stars The Cleveland City Stars were an American professional soccer team based in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. Founded in 2006, the team played in the USL First Division (USL-1), the second tier of the American Soccer Pyramid in 2009. The club fo ...

of the

USL First Division The USL First Division (usually referred to as USL-1) was a professional men's soccer league in the United States and Canada from 2005 to 2010. During its existence, it formed the second tier of soccer in the United States soccer league system b ...

in 2009.

Arrest and deportation incident

On January 23, 2002, Kanu was one of three Sierra Leonean home based footballers (the others were

Mohamed Kamara Mohamed Kamara (born 16 November 1987), widely known as Medo, is a Sierra Leonean professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Midfielder#Defensive midfielder, defensive midfielder for IF Gnistan, Gnistan and Sierra Leone nation ...

and Abdulai Kalouga Conteh) arrested by immigration officials in

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

when they flew to that country from

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

to find a professional football club. The three footballers were

deported Deportation is the expulsion of a person or group of people from a place or country. The term ''expulsion'' is often used as a synonym for deportation, though expulsion is more often used in the context of international law, while deportation ...

after being held by the Cyprus police for several days. They left Sierra Leone to have professional football trials with a Russian football club, through the help of former Cameroon goalkeeper and former African footballer of the year,

Thomas N'kono Thomas N'Kono (born 20 July 1956) is a Cameroonian former professional footballer. One of the greatest goalkeepers from the continent of Africa, he was mainly associated with Espanyol, whom he represented for almost a decade playing more than 30 ...

. But Kanu and the three others failed to impress, and were headed back to

when they received a called from a Cypriot national named Appolous who claimed he could find them a club. Unfortunately on their arrival in Cyprus Appolous did not meet them, and instead they were met by immigration officers in Cyprus.

International

Kanu played in all seven games for the Sierra Leone National Team during the

2010 FIFA World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

Qualifiers. He played 90 minutes in Sierra Leone's victory over South Africa in

Personal

Kanu enjoys watching the

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

. His favorite movie is

Full Metal Jacket ''Full Metal Jacket'' is a 1987 war drama film directed and produced by Stanley Kubrick, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Michael Herr and Gustav Hasford. The film is based on Hasford's 1979 novel ''The Short-Timers'' and stars Matthew M ...

; his favorite musician is

Bob Marley Robert Nesta Marley (6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981; baptised in 1980 as Berhane Selassie) was a Jamaican singer, musician, and songwriter. Considered one of the pioneers of reggae, his musical career was marked by fusing elements o ...

. He wants to be a soccer agent when his player days are over.

References

External links

Cleveland City Stars bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kanu, Warren 1983 births Living people Cleveland City Stars players Sierra Leonean men's footballers Sierra Leonean expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Northern Cyprus USL First Division players Sierra Leonean expatriate sportspeople in the United States Men's association football midfielders Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Footballers from Freetown