Justice Longs Christopher (24 December 1981 – 9 March 2022) was a Nigerian 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 le ...

who played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

Club career

Christopher played for several clubs, including

Katsina United Katsina United Football Club is a Nigerian football club based in the town of Katsina, Katsina State. History Founded in 1994, they were promoted to the Nigerian Premier League in 1997, placing 12th in their debut season but were disbanded after ...

, Sharks, Bendel Insurance,

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

(Belgium), Levski Sofia (Bulgaria),

Trelleborg Trelleborg () is a town in Skåne County, Sweden, with 43,359 inhabitants as of December 31, 2015. It is the southernmost town in Sweden located some west from the southernmost point of Sweden and the Scandinavian peninsula. It is one of the mo ...

(Sweden),

Alania Vladikavkaz FC Alania Vladikavkaz (russian: "Алания" (Владикавказ), os, Футболон клуб "Алани" (Дзæуджыхъæу)) is a Russian football team from Vladikavkaz. Founded in 1921, the club played in the Soviet Top League ...

in Russia and

Herfølge Boldklub Herfølge Boldklub is a Danish football club founded in 1921. It is based in Herfølge, a southern suburb of Køge in the eastern part of Zealand. In 2009, the club shared its licence, and merged its professional football with Køge BK to form ...

in Denmark. After the end of the season 2006–07 season he announced his retirement from football. On 21 October 2012, Christopher announced his comeback and signed for

Nasarawa United Nasarawa United Football Club is a soccer club based in Lafia, Nasarawa. They play in the Nigeria Premier League. History The team was founded in 2003 after the Nasarawa government took over Black Stars FC of Gombe. They joined the Nigerian Pr ...

International career

Christopher made a total of 11 appearances for the Nigeria national team and was a participant at the

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

, playing in all three games before the team's group stage elimination.

Personal life

Christopher died on 9 March 2022, at the age of 40, having collapsed at a hotel he owned in

Jos Jos is a city in the north central region of Nigeria. The city has a population of about 900,000 residents based on the 2006 census. Popularly called "J-Town", it is the administrative capital and largest city of Plateau State. During British ...

, Nigeria.

Career statistics

Club

International

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Christopher, Justice 1981 births 2022 deaths Footballers from Jos Nigerian men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Nigeria men's international footballers 2002 FIFA World Cup players 2002 African Cup of Nations players Belgian Pro League players Danish Superliga players First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Russian Premier League players Allsvenskan players Katsina United F.C. players Sharks F.C. players Bendel Insurance F.C. players Royal Antwerp F.C. players PFC Levski Sofia players Trelleborgs FF players FC Spartak Vladikavkaz players Herfølge Boldklub players Nasarawa United F.C. players Nigerian expatriate men's footballers Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Bulgaria Expatriate men's footballers in Bulgaria Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Russia Expatriate men's footballers in Russia Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark