Benedict Akwuegbu (born 3 November 1974) is a retired

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 ...

n football striker. He played for

Nigerian national football team The Nigeria national football team represents Nigeria in men's international football. Governed by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), they are three-time Africa Cup of Nations winners, with their most recent title in 2013. In April 1994, ...

and was a

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial football world championship for men's national teams organized by FIFA. It was held from 31 May to 30 June 2002 at sites in South Korea an ...

participant.

Club career

Early career

Akwuegbu started his career at the age of 15 in Nigeria before moving to French outfit

RC Lens Racing Club de Lens (, commonly referred to as RC Lens or simply Lens) is a French professional football club based in the northern city of Lens in the Pas-de-Calais department. Its nickname, ''les sang et or'' (''the blood and gold''), co ...

at the age of 17. Then he spent five years in

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

with KRC Harelbeke,

KSV Waregem Koninklijke Sportvereniging Waregem was a Belgian football club that existed between 1925 and 2001. It played three spells at the highest level in the Belgian football league system each separated by a single season at the second level: from ...

, KVK Tienen.

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n side

Grazer AK Grazer AK, founded 18 August 1902 as Grazer Athletiksport Klub (in Austria the abbreviation GAK is more common), is an Austrian sports club, from the city of Graz in the federal state of Styria (''Steiermark''). The football section used to be on ...

signed him after the 1998 season.

Grazer AK

Grazer AK won the Austrian Cup and Austrian Supercup in 2000 and 2002 and the league title in 2004 with his good performance. He won the Best Foreign Player and nicknamed "Austrian Bomber" by the press. He played in 20 European games as he scored 12 including some remarkable goals. He attracted several

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

clubs like

Hamburger SV Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its football section. Though the current HSV was founded in June 1919 from a merger of three ...

and

1. FC Kaiserslautern 1. Fußball-Club Kaiserslautern e. V., also known as 1. FCK, FCK (), FC Kaiserslautern () or colloquially Lautern (), is a German sports club based in Kaiserslautern, Rhineland-Palatinate. In addition to football, the club also operates in sev ...

. However Grazer AK refused the offer from Kaiserslautern.

Qingdao Jonoon

In April 2007, Akwuegbu was signed by Qingdao Jonoon. He scored his first goal for Qingdao on 13 May 2007, an 84-minute equalizer in a 3–2 loss away at Shanghai Schenhua. Qingdao Janoon boss, Yin Tiesheng spoke very high about him and his performance in the media, Akwuegbu became one of the most consistent players in the Qingdao squad. He was a vital part in Qingdao attack throughout the campaign and notched six goals in 20 games. Akwuegbu had an excellent season and was favorite of Qingdao Janoon fans.

Basingstoke Town

Akwuegbu then joined

Basingstoke Town Basingstoke Town Football Club is a football club based in Basingstoke, Hampshire, England. The club are currently members of the and play at the Winklebury Sports Complex. Their motto, 'Vestigia Nulla Retrorsum', means 'Never a step backward' ...

in the Conference South. He scored his first goal for the Dragons against Dorchester Town on 5 April 2010. He was released at the end of the season.

International career

Akwuegbu was selected to U-16 World Cup Final squad in

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxon Valdez oil tanker runs ...

hosted by

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

. However, he never had the chance to play as sitting on the bench in all four matches without substitution. Nigeria was beaten by eventual winner Saudi Arabia at the quarter-final stage. He also played for the U-20 national side. In 2000, his success in Austria made him joining the Africa Cup of Nations tournament which he played his first international game against

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

. With his progress in the team he was involved in the 2002 World Cup Qualifier and scoring two goals in the process, His performance made him selected to the 2002 World Cup Final squad. He played the only World Cup game 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 ...

Honours

;Grazer AK * Austrian Football Bundesliga: 2003–04; runner-up 2002–03 * Austrian Cup: 2000, 2002 * Austrian Supercup': 2000, 2002 ;International * Africa Cup of Nations: Runner-up:

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

References

External links