Efangwu Goziem Ekoku (born 8 June 1967) is a former

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 ...

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 ...

, and sports commentator. As a player, he was a striker 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 Foo ...

for

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...

and

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

and in

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

for

Grasshoppers Grasshoppers are a group of insects belonging to the suborder Caelifera. They are among what is possibly the most ancient living group of chewing herbivorous insects, dating back to the early Triassic around 250 million years ago. Grasshop ...

. He also played in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

for

AFC Bournemouth AFC Bournemouth () is a professional association football club based in Kings Park, Boscombe, a suburb of Bournemouth, Dorset, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest division of English club football. Formed in 1899 as B ...

and

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot of ...

, as well as in the

League of Ireland The League of Ireland ( ga, Sraith na hÉireann), together with the Football Association of Ireland, is one of the two main governing bodies responsible for organising association football in the Republic of Ireland. The term was originally us ...

with Dublin City and in non-league with

Sutton United Sutton United Football Club is a professional football club in Sutton, South London, England, who play in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They play home games at Gander Green Lane in Sutton about 11 miles so ...

. He was capped six 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 ...

and featured in

World Cup 94 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 ...

Playing career

Ekoku began his career at non-league level, but made the move into league football in the summer of 1990 when he signed for

, who had just been relegated to the Third Division. His start in the

was unspectacular, as he managed just 20 games and three goals during the 1990–91 season for a Cherries side who finished mid table. He did better in 1991–92, scoring 11 goals in 28 league games. He managed seven goals from 14 games in 1992–93 before a £500,000 move to Norwich City on 26 March 1993 took him to the Premier League. He arrived at Carrow Road when Norwich were in the thick of the title race under the management of Mike Walker. Ekoku scored three goals in ten games in what was left of that exciting campaign, and although Norwich were beaten to the title by

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

, Ekoku and his teammates had achieved a third-place finish and qualified for the UEFA Cup. He scored Norwich's first ever goal in European competition, against

Vitesse Arnhem Vitesse may refer to: * Vitesse Models, a diecast model car company * Vitesse (band), Dutch rock band * Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse, a car * Rover 216 Vitesse, a car * Rover 3500 Vitesse, a car * Rover 800 Vitesse, a car * Triumph Vites ...

in the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

on 15 September 1993, and famously helped them eliminate German club

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which pla ...

in the next round. Just ten days later he scored four goals as Norwich beat Everton 5–1 at

Goodison Park Goodison Park is a football stadium in the 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 2 miles (3 km) north of Liverpool ...

, becoming the first player to score more than three goals in a Premier League game. He managed a total of 27 league games that season, scoring 12 goals in the league (and 14 times in all competitions), although a slump in league form after manager Mike Walker departed to Everton in January saw the Canaries finish 12th in the league that season. He remained at Carrow Road until 14 October 1994, when a £1 million fee took him to Wimbledon to replace long-serving

John Fashanu John Fashanu (, born 18 September 1962) is an English television presenter and former professional footballer. In his former career, he was a centre-forward from 1978 until 1995, most notably in an eight-year spell at Wimbledon in which he w ...

as strike partner to

Dean Holdsworth Dean Christopher Holdsworth (born 8 November 1968) is an English former professional football player and manager. As a striker he scored 193 goals in 610 league games over a 22-year career. Despite playing for 16 clubs in 19 spells the majority ...

. Ekoku had played six times for the Canaries in 1994-95, but didn't score a goal and was faced with competition for a regular place in the Carrow Road attack from new signing

Mike Sheron Michael Nigel Sheron (born 11 January 1972) is an English football coach and former professional footballer who is under-23's head coach at Blackburn Rovers. As a player, he was a striker who notably played in the Premier League for Manchest ...

. He was the club's top scorer in the league that season with nine goals as they finished ninth in the league and maintained their reputation as one of the hardest Premier League teams to beat, although they struggled to score many goals and rarely hit more than two in a match that campaign. He managed seven goals in the 1995–96 season and had a particularly exciting campaign in 1996–97, when Wimbledon finished eighth and were semi-finalists in both of the domestic cups. He was also their top scorer with 11 league goals. However, his first team chances were restricted over the next two seasons, and after nearly a year on the transfer list - and a number of clubs expressing interest in signing him - he moved to Switzerland in a £500,000 move to

on 27 August 1999. He had first requested to leave the club a year earlier, when he had declared his interest in joining a bigger Premier League club, and was subject of interest from the likes of Everton,

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

and

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

, with fees as high as £4 million being quoted. His first season in Switzerland was very successful, as he scored 16 goals in 21 games, although he failed to pick up any silverware. He played a further seven games and scored three goals before returning to England on a free transfer to Sheffield Wednesday on 20 October 2000. He arrived at Hillsborough just months after the Owls had been relegated from the Premier League and were battling against a second successive relegation. His seven goals from 32 Division One games helped secure survival by some margin as the Owls finished 17th, and they narrowly avoided the drop once again the following year, with Ekoku playing his part by scoring a further seven league goals. However, he did not feature in the disastrous 2002–03 campaign, where the Owls were relegated to Division Two. Having been out of the first team picture for a whole year, he was given a free transfer and signed for Division Two strugglers Brentford in March 2003, but failed to win a call into the squad before his release at the end of the season. He finished his career in Ireland with Dublin City before finally retiring in 2004. In 2012, Ekoku was inducted into the Norwich City Hall of Fame.

Media career

Ekoku currently works as a commentator for

Premier League Productions Premier League Productions is an IMG produced company with studio shows and commentators for worldwide viewers of Premier League association football. English-language broadcast team The company has a group of UK based commentators, pundits, and pr ...

, which produces the world feed commentaries. He was picked to be a match analyst for 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 ...

, working for

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

. In 2013, he appeared as a pundit for the BBC's coverage of the FIFA Confederations Cup. Ekoku currently is a weekly guest on Football Dynamics on Bloomberg Africa. Ekoku returned to

for the

2014 World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting righ ...

as a match analyst. Ekoku currently works with

BT Sport BT Sport is a group of broadcasting of sports events, pay television sports channels in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery Sports#Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe properties, Warner Bros. Dis ...

for their coverage of Champions League,

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

Ligue 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 ...

, and the

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 ...

. He also worked for ESPN during the

UEFA Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2020) or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe ...

tournament, commentating alongside

Derek Rae Derek Rae (born 1967) is a Scottish association football commentator and presenter who currently works for ESPN and ABC in the United States for the English-language coverages of Bundesliga, DFB Pokal, and La Liga and Deutsche Fußball Liga for ...

Coaching career

Ekoku has obtained all of his FA and

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

coaching badges.

Personal life

Ekoku's brother Abi is a former British discus champion and also played professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

for the club then known as London Crusaders. Another brother, Nko, had a successful career in non-league football with Harrow Borough,

, and Worthing FC. Ekoku is a regular at

AFC Wimbledon AFC Wimbledon is an English professional Association football, football club, based in London Borough of Merton, Merton, London, that plays in the EFL League Two, after being relegated from the EFL League One following the 2021–22 EFL Leagu ...

, which is the

phoenix club The Phoenix Building and Cincinnati Club are two historic buildings in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. The membership of these two clubs was chiefly Jewish. Located at 812 Race Street, the Phoenix Building was constructed in 1893, desi ...

of the original Wimbledon for which he played. "An Evening with Efan Ekoku"

Honours

; Nigeria :

Africa Cup of Nations The Africa Cup of Nations referred to as AFCON (french: Coupe d'Afrique des Nations, sometimes referred to as CAN, or TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons), and sometimes as African Cup of Nations, is the main internati ...

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 Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

; Individual :

Norwich City F.C. Hall of Fame The Norwich City F.C. Hall of Fame honours Norwich City F.C. players, coaches, managers, directors and executives who have "made the greatest contribution to the club in its long history both on and off the pitch." During the club's centenary se ...

2012 Inductee

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ekoku, Efan 1967 births Living people People educated at Liverpool College People from Cheetham Hill Footballers from Manchester Citizens of Nigeria through descent English footballers English expatriate footballers Nigerian footballers Nigeria international footballers English sportspeople of Nigerian descent Sutton United F.C. players AFC Bournemouth players Norwich City F.C. players Wimbledon F.C. players Grasshopper Club Zürich players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players Brentford F.C. players Dublin City F.C. players English Football League players Premier League players League of Ireland players Expatriate footballers in Switzerland Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Expatriate association footballers in the Republic of Ireland Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Ireland Africa Cup of Nations-winning players 1994 African Cup of Nations players 1994 FIFA World Cup players 1995 King Fahd Cup players Black British sportspeople Association football forwards Swiss Super League players