Daniel Owefin Amokachi (born 30 December 1972) is a

Nigerian Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was taken from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jour ...

football manager and former professional footballer and a member of the dubious goals panel for the Premier League. As a player he was a forward who notably played in 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 ...

for Everton and was part of their 1995

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 ...

winning team, he also played top flight football in both

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 ...

and

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

with extended spells at Club Brugge and Beşiktaş. Whilst with Brugge in 1992 he scored the club's first goal in the

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 competi ...

. He also had a brief spells with

Ranchers Bees Ranchers Bees FC is a Nigerian football club based in Kaduna. Their home stadium is Ranchers Bees Stadium, Kaduna Township Stadium. History 1980s Originally known as the DIC (Defense Industry Corp.) Bees, they were bought by Alhadji Muktar Moha ...

Colorado Rapids The Colorado Rapids are an American professional soccer club based in the Denver metropolitan area. The Rapids compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. Founded in 1995, as part of the Anschutz Corporation, lat ...

and Nasarawa United. He was capped 44 times by

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 ...

, scoring 13 goals. His spell in international football saw him win the African Cup of Nations in 1994 and a gold medal at the

1996 Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

. He was also present in his nations squads for World Cup 94 and

World Cup 98 The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the football world championship for men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. The country was chosen as the host nation by FIFA for the ...

. Upon retiring, Amokachi moved into coaching and has spent time as manager of Nasarawa United, Enyimba,

Ifeanyi Ubah Patrick Ifeanyi Ubah (born 3 September 1971), is a Nigerian Politician, entrepreneur and businessman currently serving as Senator representing Anambra South Senatorial District in the Nigerian senate. He is the CEO of Capital Oil (CCO), which ...

and JS Hercules. He has also spent two spells as assistant coach of Nigeria, as well as managing his nation in an interim basis from 2014 to 2015.

Club career

Amokachi, nicknamed "The Bull", was discovered while playing for Ranchers Bees by Nigerian national team coach

Clemens Westerhof Clemens Westerhof (born 3 May 1940) is a Dutch football manager, who has worked in various football positions on the African continent since 1989. He is most noted for his success with the Nigerian national team. Under Westerhof, the Super ...

, who brought the talented player to the 1990 African Nations Cup, and soon Amokachi moved to play for Club Brugge in

. He competed in the new format of the Champions League, and became the first player to score in the competition, after his goal secured a 1–0 win in the opening match in the group stage against

CSKA Moscow CSKA Moscow (russian: ЦСКА Москва) is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. It was created in 1911 in the Russian Empire on base of OLLS (Skiing Society, founded 1901). Later, during the Soviet era, it was a central piece of the big So ...

. Performing well in Belgium and at the 1994 World Cup, Everton became interested in Amokachi and their manager Mike Walker signed him for a fee of £3 million ($4.7 million). He went on to win the

with Everton in 1995, scoring two goals in the semi-final against

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The team has playe ...

after 'substituting himself' into the match while

Paul Rideout Paul Rideout (born 14 August 1964) is an English former professional footballer and youth team coach of Major League Soccer side Sporting Kansas City. As a player, he was a striker from 1980 until 2002, notably in the Premier League with Ever ...

was receiving treatment (the manager

Joe Royle Joseph Royle (born 8 April 1949) is an English football manager and former footballer. In his playing career as a striker, he debuted for Everton at the age of 16 and went on to play for Manchester City, Bristol City, Norwich City, and the ...

had only instructed him to warm up in preparation for possibly coming on). He appeared in the final only briefly, late on, again as a substitute but is remembered fondly for his beret-wearing celebrations afterwards. He remained at Everton until the end of the 1995–96 season, when he was transferred to Beşiktaş of

for a fee of £1.75 million. He had failed to make the impact at

Goodison Park Goodison Park is a association football, football stadium in the Walton, Liverpool, Walton area of Liverpool, England. It has been the home stadium of Premier League club Everton F.C. since its completion in 1892. Located in a residential area ...

that many fans had been hoping for, and had been unable to win a regular place in the first team, as Rideout and Duncan Ferguson were firmly established as Everton's two strikers at that stage. He did, however, stand in for Ferguson while he spent six weeks in prison during the autumn of 1995 for an offence committed in

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 ...

18 months earlier. After leaving Beşiktaş in 1999, his playing career more or less ended. He signed with 1860 Munich, but the contract was cancelled after he failed a medical test. In turn he was rejected by

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ado ...

for the same reason. Amokachi trained with French second division side US Créteil, but the deal was hampered by injuries. American

MLS Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

team

signed him in 2002, but seeing he was not fit enough they released him before a single match was played. He went to play in the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia ( The Middle East). It is located at t ...

, but was denied again due to his medical condition.

International career

He played many international matches for

, and was part of the team that participated in the

1994 FIFA World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States ...

and 1998 FIFA World Cup and won the 1994 African Nations Cup. He also helped win the Olympic gold medal in 1996, scoring in the gold medal game itself against Argentina. Amokachi sustained an injury just ahead of the 1998 FIFA World Cup, played one match at the tournament, but struggled with knee problems thereafter.

Managerial career

Amokachi managed Nigerian club Nasarawa United and later Enyimba Aba. In April 2007, he quit his role as assistant coach of the Nigeria national team. On 10 April 2008, Amokachi was re-appointed to Nigeria's national team, the Super Eagles, as assistant coach to Shuaibu Amodu, and then as assistant to

Stephen Keshi Stephen Okechukwu Keshi (23 January 1962 – 7 June 2016) was a Nigerian football player and manager. During his playing career, Keshi played as a defender and earned 60 caps for the Nigeria national team, making him the nation's second-most ...

. In 2015, Amokachi managed

, resigning after five weeks in the post. In January 2016, he was named as manager of JS Hercules. 4 February 2020, Amokachi was named as Nigeria’s football ambassador by the President, Major General

Muhammadu Buhari Muhammadu Buhari (born 17 December 1942) is a Nigerian politician and current president of Nigeria since 2015. Buhari is a retired Nigerian Army major general who served as the country's military head of state from 31 December 1983 to 27 A ...

(retd).

Career statistics

International goals

:''Scores and results list Nigeria's goal tally first.''

Honours

Everton *

: 1994–95 * FA Charity Shield:

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

Beşiktaş *

Turkish Cup The Turkish Cup ( Turkish: ''Türkiye Kupası'') is a football cup competition in Turkish football, run by the Turkish Football Federation since 1962. During a brief sponsorship period with Fortis, its sponsored name was ''Fortis Türkiye Kupas� ...

: *

Turkish Super Cup The Turkish Super Cup ( Turkish: ''TFF Süper Kupa''), as it is currently known, is the annual super cup football match contested between the previous season's Süper Lig champions and the Turkish Cup winners in Turkey. It was originally known ...

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 ...

Nigeria * African Cup of Nations:

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a vari ...

: Gold Medal 1996 Individual * Beşiktaş's Super League 2000th goal. * International Honorary Award of Sportsmen of Turkey: 2015 *

African Footballer of the Year African or Africans may refer to: * Anything from or pertaining to the continent of Africa: ** People who are native to Africa, descendants of natives of Africa, or individuals who trace their ancestry to indigenous inhabitants of Africa *** Ethn ...

Third: 1994 ''(

France Football ''France Football'' is a French weekly magazine containing football news from all over the world. It is considered to be one of the most reputable sports publications in Europe, mostly because of its photographic reports, in-depth and exclusi ...

)'', 1995, 1996 *

First Goal: 1992 * Belgian Ebony Shoes Award: 1992,1994 *

IFFHS The International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) is an organisation that chronicles the history and records of association football. It was founded in 1984 by Alfredo Pöge in Leipzig. The IFFHS was based in Abu Dhabi for so ...

20th-century best player in Africa: 18th place * West African Club Championship 'The best young footballer' award: 1989 * Pro League 'Most successful foreign player' award: 1992 *Beşiktaş J.K. Squads of Century (Bronze Team)

Personal life

Amokachi is married to a Tunisian woman and has twin sons named Kalim and Nazim, both of whom are currently in the Besiktas youth academy. He also has a daughter named Raya.

References

External links

*
Daniel Amokachi BJK Profile

*
Eurosport Profile

Premier Lig Profile

Everton FC Profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Amokachi, Daniel 1972 births Living people Association football forwards Nigerian footballers Nigerian expatriate footballers Club Brugge KV players Everton F.C. players Beşiktaş J.K. footballers Süper Lig players Premier League players Belgian First Division A players Expatriate footballers in Turkey Expatriate footballers in Belgium Expatriate footballers in England Nigeria international footballers Olympic footballers of Nigeria Olympic gold medalists for Nigeria Footballers at the 1996 Summer Olympics 1994 FIFA World Cup players 1995 King Fahd Cup players Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey 1998 FIFA World Cup players 1990 African Cup of Nations players Nasarawa United F.C. players Enyimba F.C. managers Africa Cup of Nations-winning players 1994 African Cup of Nations players Olympic medalists in football Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Nigerian football managers FA Cup Final players JS Hercules managers Sportspeople from Kaduna Nigeria Football Federation