William Nwadinobi "Willy" Okpara (born 7 May 1968) 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 ...
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 ...
. Having started his career with
ACB Lagos, he spent more than a decade with South African side
Orlando Pirates
Orlando Pirates Football Club (often known as "The Buccaneers") is a South African professional football club based in the Houghton suburb of the city of Johannesburg and plays in the top-tier system of Football in South Africa known as DStv ...
.
Career
Born in
Lagos
Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national capital of Nigeria until December 1991 fo ...
, Okpara played for
ACB Lagos from 1987 to 1989 before moving to South African side
Orlando Pirates
Orlando Pirates Football Club (often known as "The Buccaneers") is a South African professional football club based in the Houghton suburb of the city of Johannesburg and plays in the top-tier system of Football in South Africa known as DStv ...
. Okpara was the club's first choice goalkeeper from 1990 to 2002, losing his place to
Congolese goalkeeper
Michel Babale during 2002–03 season, then becoming an understudy to
Thabang Radebe and
Francis Chansa before retiring in 2005. He holds the record of Pirates' appearances with 375 matches, and is also the club's longest serving player. He was part of the
1995 CAF Champions League winning team.
International career
Okpara was
Nigeria under-20's first choice goalkeeper during
1987 FIFA World Youth Championship
The 1987 FIFA World Youth Championship took place in Chile from 10 to 25 October 1987. The 1987 championship was the 6th contested and won for the first time by Yugoslavia. Remarkably, in the course of the tournament the Yugoslavs defeated each of ...
, playing in all three matches as Nigeria failed to win during the group stage. He played for
Nigeria national futsal team
The Nigeria national futsal team represents Nigeria in international futsal competitions and is controlled by the Futsal Commission of the Nigeria Football Federation. Nigeria have played in one edition of the Africa Futsal Cup of Nations after ...
at
1992 FIFA Futsal World Championship as an outfield player, featuring in the 5–4 loss against
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...
when he was sent off.
He made his debut for the
Nigeria national team in 1996 and was selected for the
1998 FIFA World Cup squad.
Retirement
After his retirement, Okpara became a goalkeeping coach for Orlando Pirates.
Honours
*
Premier Soccer League
Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier.
A premier will normally be a head of governm ...
: 2000–01, 2002–03
*
National Soccer League: 1994
*
Nedbank Cup
The Nedbank Cup is the current name of South Africa's premier club soccer knockout tournament. While many formats have been used over the years, the tournament has always been based on the idea of giving lower league and amateur teams a chance t ...
: 1996
*
MTN 8: 1993, 1996, 2000
* Castle Challenge: 1992
*
CAF Champions League: 1995
*
CAF Super Cup: 1996
References
External links
*
Orlando Pirates player profile - William Okpara
{{DEFAULTSORT:Okpara, William
1968 births
Living people
Nigerian footballers
Association football goalkeepers
Nigeria international footballers
Nigeria under-20 international footballers
1998 FIFA World Cup players
ACB Lagos F.C. players
Orlando Pirates F.C. players
Nigerian expatriate footballers
Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in South Africa
Expatriate soccer players in South Africa
Association football goalkeeping coaches
Futsal goalkeepers