Kenneth Josiah Omeruo (born 17 October 1993) is 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, rugb ...

who plays as a defender and the

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

for

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commercially known as LaLiga SmartBank for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spanish football league system. Administrated by the L ...

club

Leganés Leganés () is a city in the Community of Madrid, Spain. Considered part of the Madrid metropolitan area, it is located about 11 km southwest of the centre of Madrid. , it has a population of 188,425, making it the region's fifth most popul ...

and the Nigeria national team. Omeruo signed for Chelsea from

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 ...

in January 2012 and upon signing went on loan to Dutch top-flight side

ADO Den Haag Alles Door Oefening Den Haag (), commonly known by the abbreviated name ADO Den Haag (), is a Dutch association football club from the city of The Hague. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, following relegatio ...

. Then only 19, he impressed enough in the

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is ...

to earn a call up to the Nigerian national team. Now a regular international, Omeruo has represented Nigeria at the

2013 Africa Cup of Nations The 2013 Africa Cup of Nations, also known as the Orange Africa Cup of Nations South Africa 2013 for sponsorship reasons, held from 19 January to 10 February 2013, was the 29th Africa Cup of Nations, the football championship of Africa organized ...

and the

2013 Confederations Cup The 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup was the ninth FIFA Confederations Cup, which was held in Brazil from 15 to 30 June 2013 as a prelude to the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The most recent winners of the six continental championships appeared in the tourna ...

in Brazil. Omeruo cemented a place in the starting line-up at the Africa Cup of Nations as it turned into a wonderful tournament for the Super Eagles and they emerged from the tournament victorious. In 2019 he scored his first goal in the Africa Cup of Nations against Guinea. He was a key part of the Super Eagles team that won the bronze medal in 2019.

Club career

Early career

Omeruo had spells at Sunshine Stars and

Anderlecht Anderlecht (, ) is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the south-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Forest, Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, and Saint-Gilles, as well as the ...

as a trialist before he was signed from the Anderlecht academy by

Chelsea

In January 2012, Chelsea signed Omeruo from Liège and immediately loaned him out to

club

. In May 2014 Nigeria World Cup-bound Omeruo agreed a new three-year contract with

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

Loan to ADO Den Haag

Omeruo joined

on an 18-month loan deal which kept him at the club until the end of the 2012–13 season. On 3 March 2012, Omeruo made his debut for ADO Den Haag against SC Heerenveen which ended in a 0–0 draw. On 19 April 2012, in a game against

FC Groningen Football Club Groningen () is a Dutch professional association football club based in Groningen, province of Groningen. Founded on 16 June 1971 as the successor of GVAV, the team compete in the Eredivisie, the highest tier of Dutch football. G ...

Omeruo scored his first goal for ADO Den Haag. On 28 April 2012, Omeruo scored against

VVV-Venlo VVV-Venlo (, ''VVV'' stands for ''Venlose Voetbal Vereniging'' meaning "Venlo Football Club") is a Dutch football club from Venlo, a city on the border with Germany. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, followi ...

in the 19th minute. He is the only player in the Dutch league ever to score a goal, an own goal and receive a red card in one match.

Loan to Middlesbrough

On 7 January 2014, Omeruo joined

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the ...

on loan until the end of the 2013–14 season. On 1 February 2014, Omeruo made his debut for Middlesbrough in a 0–0 draw against

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team compete in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club play their home games at ...

. On 8 April 2014, Omeruo was sent off in the 82nd minute after picking up a second yellow. Although Boro had to finish the game with 9-men (

Ben Gibson Benjamin James Gibson (born 15 January 1993) is an English professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for club Norwich City. Having graduated from Middlesbrough's Academy, Gibson enjoyed loan spells with Plymouth Argyle, York City an ...

was also sent off late in the game), they still managed to earn a 3–1 win victory against

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

. He rejoined Middlesbrough for the 2014–15 season, making his first appearance against

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...

in a 2-0 win.

Loan to Kasımpaşa

On 21 July 2015, Omeruo joined Kasımpaşa on a season-long loan with an option to purchase the player at the end of the spell. On 16 August 2015, Omeruo made his debut for Kasımpaşa in a match against

Gaziantepspor Gaziantepspor was a Turkish football club located in the city of Gaziantep. Formed in 1969 and dissolved in 2020, Gaziantepspor were nicknamed the ''Şahinler'' (The Falcons). The club colours were black and red, and they played their home matche ...

, the match ended in a 3–0 victory for Kasımpaşa. Five days later, Omeruo made his home debut against

İstanbul Başakşehir F.K. İstanbul Başakşehir Futbol Kulübü () is a Turkish professional football club based in the Başakşehir district of Istanbul. The club is better known simply as İstanbul Başakşehir or, due to sponsorship, Medipol Başakşehir (). The club ...

which ended in a 1–0 victory for Kasımpaşa. Omeruo had an up and down season, suffering from a couple injuries, however started whenever he was fit. Although the loan deal had an option to buy, Kasımpaşa decided to pass on the option due to a lack of funds, which led to Omeruo returning to Chelsea for pre-season.

Loan to Alanyaspor

On 31 August 2016, Omeruo signed a one-year contract extension until 2019, before leaving on loan again. He joined

Alanyaspor Alanyaspor Kulübü is a Turkish professional football club located in the city of Alanya in Antalya Province. Formed in 1948, the club colours are orange and green. Home matches are played at Kırbıyık Holding Stadium. The most recent club ma ...

on a season-long loan. He was given the number 44. On 10 September 2016, Omeruo made his debut in a 0–0 draw against Gençlerbirliği. On 25 February 2017, Omeruo scored his first goal for Alanyaspor in their 4–1 home victory over

Adanaspor Adanaspor is a Turkish professional football club based in Adana, currently performing at the TFF First League. The club is founded in 1954 by the middle-class merchants and artisans in response to the alienation within city's then most popular c ...

, netting in the hosts' second in the 37th minute. In May 2017, Omeruo said he might have to leave Chelsea in order to play regular first-team football.

Return to Kasımpaşa

On 25 August 2017, after signing a new three-year deal at Chelsea, Omeruo returned to Kasımpaşa on a season-long loan.

Leganés

On 15 August 2018, Omeruo joined

CD Leganés Club Deportivo Leganés, S.A.D. is a football club based in Leganés, Community of Madrid, Spain, that currently competes in Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish league system. It was founded on 23 June 1928. It holds home games a ...

on a season-long loan. In October 2018 he stated that he was enjoying playing in Spain, and in March 2019 he said he wanted to sign for Leganés permanently. On 13 August 2019, Omeruo returned to Leganés, this time on a permanent deal, ending his seven year spell at Chelsea.

International career

Omeruo played for the Nigerian Under-20 team that reached the quarter-finals at the

2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the 18th FIFA U-20 World Cup. Colombia hosted the tournament between 29 July and 20 August 2011, with matches being played in eight cities. The tournament was won by Brazil who claimed their fifth title. At a FIFA ...

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the ...

. On 9 January 2013, at the age of 19 he played for the senior team for the first time in a goalless draw against

Cape Verde , national_anthem = () , official_languages = Portuguese , national_languages = Cape Verdean Creole , capital = Praia , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , demonym ...

. He then went on to play in all of Nigeria's matches at the

as Nigeria went on to win the competition for the third time. Later that year he was selected for Nigeria's squad at the

2013 FIFA Confederations Cup The 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup was the ninth FIFA Confederations Cup, which was held in Brazil from 15 to 30 June 2013 as a prelude to the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The most recent winners of the six continental championships appeared in the tour ...

and played in all of the three group games as Nigeria finished third in their group. Omeuro was named in Nigeria's final squad for the

2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for list of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from ...

and started in all four games as Nigeria finished second in their group and were eliminated by France at the Round of 16. He was selected by Nigeria for their 35-man provisional squad for the 2016 Summer Olympics, but did not make the final 18- man squad. In May 2018 he was named in Nigeria's preliminary 30 man

squad In military terminology, a squad is among the smallest of military organizations and is led by a non-commissioned officer. NATO and US doctrine define a squad as an organization "larger than a team, but smaller than a section." while US Army d ...

for the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded the hosting righ ...

in Russia.

Playing style

Omeruo has been described as a "tall, rangy but strong centre-back" and a "level-headed and determined youngster".

Personal life

His younger brother Lucky Omeruo is also a footballer, who currently plays for CD Leganés B. as a striker and for the

Nigeria national under-20 football team The Nigerian men's national under-20 football team represents Nigeria in men's international football also known as the Nigeria Under-20s or nicknamed the ''Flying Eagles.'' The Flying Eagles is the youth team for the national soccer in Nigeria. ...

. Omeruo and his wife Chioma have welcomed their first child in London, a girl named Chairein.

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

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 internat ...

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

*Africa Cup of Nations third place:

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Omeruo, Kenneth 1993 births Living people Nigerian footballers Nigeria under-20 international footballers Nigeria international footballers Association football defenders Chelsea F.C. players Middlesbrough F.C. players ADO Den Haag players Kasımpaşa S.K. footballers Alanyaspor footballers CD Leganés players Eredivisie players English Football League players Süper Lig players La Liga players Nigerian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Expatriate footballers in Turkey Expatriate footballers in Spain 2013 Africa Cup of Nations players 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup players 2014 FIFA World Cup players Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in England Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Africa Cup of Nations-winning players Sportspeople from Abia State 2018 FIFA World Cup players 2019 Africa Cup of Nations players 2021 Africa Cup of Nations players