Innocent Nkasiobi Emeghara (born 27 May 1989) is a retired Swiss professional footballer who played most commonly as a striker.

Club career

Born in

Lagos Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national capital of Nigeria until December 1991 fo ...

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 ...

, his mother moved to Switzerland when Emeghara was 11, and joined with them two years later. He started playing football as a means to "cope with the language barrier and cold temperatures". He began his senior career with

FC Zürich Fussballclub Zürich, commonly abbreviated to FC Zürich or simply FCZ, is a Swiss football club based in Zürich. The club was founded in 1896 and has won the Swiss Super League 13 times and the Swiss Cup 10 times. The most recent titles a ...

's reserves aged only 17, going on to represent

FC Winterthur FC Winterthur is a Swiss football club based in Winterthur, Canton of Zürich. They play in the Swiss Super League, the first tier of Swiss football, and appeared regularly in the Nationalliga A during the 20th century. Their home is the Stadi ...

and Grasshopper Club Zürich; on 20 August 2011, whilst at the service of the latter, he scored a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

in a 4–3 away win against Servette FC, which meant he led the Super League's scoring charts at five in only six games. On 31 August 2011, Emeghara was sold to

FC Lorient Football Club Lorient Bretagne Sud (; commonly referred to FC Lorient or simply Lorient) is a French association football club based in Lorient Lorient (; ) is a town ('' commune'') and seaport in the Morbihan department of Brittany in we ...

in France. He made his debut in Ligue 1 on 10 September, coming on as a substitute for Mathias Autret in a 1–1 draw at FC Sochaux-Montbéliard and netting the equalizer two minutes from time. He scored four more league goals until the end of his first season, adding two in the Coupe de la Ligue. In January 2013, Emeghara moved teams and countries again, joining Italian side A.C. Siena. He scored four goals in as many matches to kickstart his

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...

career, including a brace in a 3–0 home success over S.S. Lazio on 18 February; his team, however, finally suffered relegation after ranking second from bottom. For the 2013–2014 campaign, Emeghara continued in Italy's top flight, being loaned to

A.S. Livorno Calcio Unione Sportiva Livorno 1915 (formerly A.S. Livorno Calcio, commonly known as Livorno), is a semi-professional Italian football club based in Livorno, Tuscany. They compete in Serie D, the top tier of semi-professional Italian football after t ...

. On 31 March 2014, he contributed with one goal to help the hosts come from behind to tie it 2–2 with

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Inter is ...

. In July 2014, Emeghara became a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

after Siena went into liquidation. On 11 October he signed a three-year contract with Azerbaijan Premier League side

FK Qarabağ FK or fk may refer to: In arts and entertainment: * Flyer Killer, fictional automated robots in the ''Terminator'' film franchise. * Fox Kids, a former American children's television programming block. * Funky Kong, a video game character. Place ...

, but left on 5 January of the following year and began training with Winterthur, before going on trial with

HSV Hamburg Handball Sport Verein Hamburg is a handball club from Germany, located in Hamburg. Currently, Handball Hamburg competes in the Handball-Bundesliga. The full name in German is ''Handball Sport Verein Hamburg e.V.'' but the club has traditionally ...

the following week. Late into January 2015, Emeghara joined the San Jose Earthquakes. He made his debut in the Major League Soccer on 8 March, playing one minute in a 0–1 away loss against

FC Dallas FC Dallas is an American professional soccer club based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The club competes as a member of the Western Conference in Major League Soccer (MLS). The franchise began play in 1996 as a charter club of the le ...

. On 24 July 2018, Emeghara returned to Qarabağ on a two-year deal from

Ermis Aradippou FC Ermis Aradippou () is a Cypriot professional football club based in Aradippou, a settlement on the outskirts of the city of Larnaca. The club was formed in 1958, and currently plays in the Cypriot Second Division. Ermis' greatest success came ...

, but was released early from his contract by mutual consent on 13 May 2019. In October 2020, after he trained already three weeks with the club, Emeghara signed a two-year contract at his home-based club

, where he launched his career back in 2010. His contract with Winterthur was terminated by the club in July 2021. He consequently retired from professional football.

International career

Emeghara opted to represent Switzerland internationally, and he made his debut on 4 June 2011 by playing one minute in a 2–2 draw in

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 ...

for the

UEFA Euro 2012 The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2012 or simply Euro 2012, was the 14th UEFA European Championship, European Championship for List of men's national association football teams#UEFA (Europe), men's ...

qualifiers. In that same year, he helped the under-21 team finish second at the 2011 UEFA European Championship, scoring in the 2–0 group stage win against

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

. He represented the country at the 2012 Summer Olympics, netting in the 1–2 group phase defeat by

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

Career statistics

Club

International

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Emeghara, Innocent 1989 births Living people Nigerian emigrants to Switzerland Footballers from Lagos Swiss men's footballers Men's association football forwards Swiss Super League players Swiss Challenge League players FC Zürich players FC Winterthur players Grasshopper Club Zürich players FC Lorient players ACR Siena 1904 players US Livorno 1915 players Qarabağ FK players San Jose Earthquakes players Ermis Aradippou FC players Fatih Karagümrük S.K. footballers Ligue 1 players Serie A players Azerbaijan Premier League players Major League Soccer players Designated Players (MLS) Cypriot First Division players Süper Lig players Switzerland men's under-21 international footballers Switzerland men's international footballers Footballers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers for Switzerland Swiss expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in France Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Azerbaijan Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Swiss expatriate sportspeople in France Swiss expatriate sportspeople in Italy Swiss expatriate sportspeople in Azerbaijan Swiss expatriate sportspeople in the United States Swiss expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Swiss expatriate sportspeople in Turkey