Godwin Okpara (born 20 September 1972) 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 defender. He was part of the Nigeria national team squads that participated in the 1998 FIFA World Cup,

2000 Africa Cup of Nations The 2000 African Cup of Nations was the 22nd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the association football championship of Africa ( CAF). It was co-hosted by Ghana and Nigeria, who jointly replaced Zimbabwe as host. Just like in 1998, the field o ...

and the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 ( Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from ...

Career

Okpara was outstanding at the 1989 U-17 World Championship, and moved to Belgian club Beerschot. After some years of relative success playing for Eendracht Aalst, including winning the

Belgian Ebony Shoe The Ebony Shoe award (Dutch: ''Ebbenhouten schoen'', French: ''Soulier d'ébène'') is a football award in Belgium given annually to the best African or African origin player in the Belgian Pro League. The jury is composed of the coaches of leagu ...

, he moved to play in France for RC Strasbourg and

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain, Paris, Paris SG or simply PSG is a professional football club based in Paris, France. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. As Fr ...

. While at Strasbourg he won the Coupe de la Ligue in 1997, playing in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: * Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

. His second season with PSG was miserable, making him return to Belgium and

Standard Liège Royal Standard de Liège, commonly referred to as Standard Liège (; nl, Standard Luik ; german: Standard Lüttich ) or simply Standard in Belgium, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Liège. They are one of the most ...

. Okpara retired after the 2003–04 season.

Prison

In August 2005, Okpara was arrested by French police on charges of raping his 13-year-old adopted daughter. He was found guilty and imprisoned in June 2007 for thirteen years. His wife, Linda Okpara, was sentenced to 15 years in jail for torture of the same girl.

References

External links

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Nigerian Players
{{DEFAULTSORT:Okpara, Godwin 1972 births Living people Nigerian footballers Association football defenders Nigeria international footballers Nigeria youth international footballers Belgian First Division A players Belgian First Division B players Olympic footballers of Nigeria Footballers at the 2000 Summer Olympics 1998 FIFA World Cup players 2000 African Cup of Nations players K. Beerschot V.A.C. players S.C. Eendracht Aalst players Standard Liège players RC Strasbourg Alsace players Paris Saint-Germain F.C. players Ligue 1 players Nigerian expatriate footballers Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate footballers in France Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate footballers in Belgium Nigerian rapists Nigerian people imprisoned abroad Prisoners and detainees of France