Christopher Wreh (born 14 May 1975) is a retired Liberian 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 striker. He was a member of the Arsenal side which won the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

and

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

double during the 1997–98 season. At international level, he won 36 caps for Liberia, scoring 11 goals, and was in their squad for the

1996 Africa Cup of Nations The 1996 African Cup of Nations was the 20th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the football championship of Africa ( CAF). It was hosted by South Africa, who replaced original hosts Kenya. The field expanded for the first time to 16 teams, s ...

Club career

Wreh played domestically for

Invincible Eleven Union of Invincible Eleven & Majestic Sports Association Inc., also known as Invincible Eleven (I.E.), is a Liberian football club based in Monrovia. They are Liberia's oldest club. Their home stadium is the Antonette Tubman Stadium. I.E. is one ...

, before signing for

French Division 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 ...

club

AS Monaco Association Sportive de Monaco Football Club SA, commonly referred to as AS Monaco () or Monaco, is a professional football club based in Monaco that is member of French Football Federation (FFF) and competes in Ligue 1, the top tier of Frenc ...

as a youth. A center forward, Wreh played for Monaco as a substitute in the

1993–94 UEFA Champions League The 1993–94 UEFA Champions League was the 39th season of the UEFA Champions League, UEFA's premier club football tournament, and the second season with the UEFA Champions League logo (it was adopted in the group stage and semi-finals, the rest ...

semifinal. He had a spell on loan at

Guingamp Guingamp (; ) is a commune in the Côtes-d'Armor department in Brittany in northwestern France. With a population of 6,895 as of 2017, Guingamp is one of the smallest towns in Europe to have a top-tier professional football team: En Avant Gui ...

, finishing the season as the team's top scorer and playing in the

1997 Coupe de France Final The 1997 Coupe de France Final was a football match held at the Parc des Princes, Paris on 10 May 1997, that saw Nice defeat Guingamp in a penalty shoot out. After normal time and extra-time could not separate the two sides, the match was to b ...

, which they lost on penalties to

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard dialect, Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department in France. The Nice urban unit, agg ...

. Wreh signed for Arsenal in the summer of 1997 for £300,000, linking up with his former manager at Monaco, Arsène Wenger. Although fourth choice behind

Ian Wright Ian Edward Wright (born 3 November 1963) is an English television and radio personality and former professional footballer. He works as a pundit for BBC Sport and ITV Sport. Wright enjoyed success with London clubs Crystal Palace and Arsenal ...

, Dennis Bergkamp and

Nicolas Anelka Nicolas Sébastien Anelka (; born 14 March 1979) is a French professional football manager and retired player who played as a forward. As a player, he regularly featured in his country's national team, often scoring at crucial moments. Known f ...

, Wreh still played an important part in the Gunners'

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 * ...

-winning 1997–98 season. Wreh scored in 1–0

wins against Wimbledon and Bolton Wanderers in March, the fifth in a 5-0 win against Wimbledon, and netted the only goal of the Gunners'

semi-final win over

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

both in April. Wreh started in the

1998 FA Cup Final The 1998 FA Cup Final was a football match between Arsenal and Newcastle United on 16 May 1998 at the old Wembley Stadium, London. It was the final match of the 1997–98 FA Cup, the 117th season of the world's oldest football knockout competi ...

, and although he did not score, Arsenal beat Newcastle United 2–0. Despite scoring in the 1998 FA Charity Shield against Manchester United, Wreh's form dipped and after the arrival of

Thierry Henry Thierry Daniel Henry (born 17 August 1977) is a French professional football coach, pundit, and former player who is an assistant coach for the Belgium national team. Considered one of the best strikers of all time and one of the best player ...

and

Davor Šuker Davor Šuker (; born 1 January 1968) is a Croatian football administrator and former footballer who played as a striker. He served as president of the Croatian Football Federation from 2012 to 2021. He began his footballing career in his hometo ...

at the club in 1999 he was squeezed out altogether. He had brief loan spells with

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Sin ...

, for whom he scored once, against

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that in the 2022–23 season will compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system, following the victory in t ...

, and at

AEK Athens A.E.K ( el, AEK , formally Αθλητική Ένωσις Κωνσταντινουπόλεως; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople''), known as A.E.K, is a major Greek multi-sport club based in Nea Filadel ...

and

Den Bosch s-Hertogenbosch (), colloquially known as Den Bosch (), is a city and municipality in the Netherlands with a population of 157,486. It is the capital of the province of North Brabant and its fourth largest by population. The city is south of th ...

, but none of these were subsequently made permanent. He left Arsenal in 2000, having scored five times in 46 appearances. Wreh then became somewhat of a journeyman footballer. He initially signed for

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 ...

n side Al-Hilal, then returned to the UK in 2001 with brief stints at AFC Bournemouth and St Mirren, but fitness problems meant he rarely played; he then played non-league football for Bishop's Stortford although only one game due to repeated absenteeism and

United Counties League The United Counties League (also known after its sponsor as the ''Uhlsport United Counties League'') is an English football league covering Northamptonshire, Rutland and Bedfordshire and most of Leicestershire as well as parts of Buckinghamshi ...

club Buckingham Town. In 2007, he returned to football, signing for

Perseman Manokwari Perseman Manokwari is an Indonesian football club based in Manokwari. They play in the Liga 3. Their home stadium is Sanggeng Stadium. History Perseman Manokwari was established in 1950, is the oldest club from Papua, even standing earlier tha ...

of the Liga Indonesia Premier Division where he brought an end to his playing days.

International career

Wreh made his debut for Liberia in 1995, and went on to win 36 caps for his country, scoring 11 goals.

Coaching career

Wreh was appointed head coach of the Liberian under-20 team in late 2014. In September 2019 he became assistant coach to the senior national team.

Personal life

Wreh's son, Chris, is also a footballer and currently plays for

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They were founded i ...

in the English

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team ...

Honors

Guingamp * UEFA Intertoto Cup: 1996 *

Coupe de France The Coupe de France, formerly known as the Coupe Charles Simon, is the premier knockout cup competition in French football organized by the French Football Federation (FFF). It was first held in 1917 and is open to all amateur and profession ...

runner-up: 1996–97 Arsenal *

: 1997–98 *

: 1997–98 * FA Charity Shield:

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

References

External links