Chidiebere Chijioke Nwakali (born 26 December 1996) 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, rugby ...

who currently plays for Saudi club

Tuwaiq Jabal Tuwaiq ( ar, جَبَل طُوَيْق, Tuwaiq Mountain) is a narrow escarpment that cuts through the plateau of Najd in central Arabia, running approximately from the southern border of Al-Qasim in the north, to the northern edge of the ...

Club career

On 20 January 2014, Nwakali signed a four-year deal with

Manchester City 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 Salford to the west. The two ...

from Shuttle Sports Academy, after impressing with Nigeria under-17s in

2013 FIFA U-17 World Cup The 2013 FIFA U-17 World Cup was the fifteenth tournament of the FIFA U-17 World Cup. The tournament was held in the United Arab Emirates between 17 October and 8 November. Nigeria won the tournament after defeating Mexico 3–0 in the final, cla ...

. He was also a part of the first team's pre-season tour to USA in July. On 31 January 2015, Nwakali was loaned to

Málaga CF Málaga Club de Fútbol (, ''Málaga Football Club''), or simply Málaga, is a football club based in Málaga, Andalusia, Spain, that competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish league system. They won the UEFA Intert ...

until June 2017, being assigned to the reserves in

Tercera División Tercera División ( en, Third Division) was the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system. Founded in 1929, it was below the ''Primera División'' (also known as La Liga), the ''Segunda División'', and the semi-professional ''Segunda Di ...

. He made his senior debut on 22 February, starting in a 1–0 home win against

Antequera CF Antequera Club de Fútbol is a Spanish football team based in Antequera, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1992, it currently plays in Segunda Federación, holding home games at ''Estadio El Maulí'', with a capacity of 6,000 s ...

. On 31 August 2015, Nwakali was loaned to Segunda División side

Girona FC Girona Futbol Club, S.A.D. is a professional football club based in Girona, Catalonia, Spain. Founded on 23 July 1930, it plays in La Liga, to which they gained promotion in the 2022 Segunda División play-offs. Girona holds its home matches at ...

, in a

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and po ...

-long deal. However, he had to wait until 5 October to be officially available, due to a work permit. On 31 March 2016, Nwakali terminated his loan with the

Catalans Catalans (Catalan, French and Occitan: ''catalans''; es, catalanes, Italian: ''catalani'', sc, cadelanos) are a Romance ethnic group native to Catalonia, who speak Catalan. The current official category of "Catalans" is that of the citiz ...

, after failing to play a single minute for the club, and immediately joined

Tippeligaen Eliteserien () is a Norwegian professional league for association football clubs. At the top of the Norwegian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotio ...

side

IK Start Idrettsklubben Start (or simply IK Start, translates to The sports club Start ) is a Norwegian football club from the city of Kristiansand that currently plays in the 1. divisjon, the second tier of the Norwegian football league system. The cl ...

. On 2 April he made his professional debut, coming on as a second-half substitute for Mathias Rasmussen in a 1–0 home loss against

Viking FK Viking Fotballklubb, commonly known as Viking or Viking Stavanger internationally, is a Norwegian football club from the city of Stavanger. The club was founded in 1899. It is one of the most successful clubs in Norwegian football, having won 8 ...

. On 8 February 2017, Nwakali moved to

Sogndal Fotball Sogndal Fotball is the association football department of Norwegian sports club Sogndal IL from Sogndal in Vestland. The club was founded in 1926. The men's team currently plays in 1. divisjon, the second tier of the Norwegian football league sy ...

on loan. He was then loaned to

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), ...

in January 2018. In summer 2018, he joined Polish club

Raków Częstochowa Robotniczy Klub Sportowy Raków Częstochowa Spółka Akcyjna (commonly referred to as Raków Częstochowa, or simply Raków) is a Polish professional football club, based in Częstochowa, that competes in the Ekstraklasa, the top tier of na ...

but after just two appearances in all competitions, he left the club due to personal reasons. On 22 January 2019,

Kalmar FF Kalmar Fotbollförening, more commonly known as Kalmar FF, is a Swedish professional football club based in Kalmar. The club is affiliated to Smålands Fotbollförbund and play their home games at Guldfågeln Arena. Formed on 15 June 1910, the clu ...

announced that they had signed Nwakali on a four-year contract. In February 2020 Nwakali was sacked from Kalmar FF over his failure to return on time from Christmas break On 21 May, Nwakali traveled to the remote Faroe Islands for a trial with last season's champions, KÍ Klaksvík.Hesin skal royndarvenja við KÍ
nordlysid.fo, 23 Mai 2020

Career statistics

Honours

FIFA U-17 World Cup The FIFA U-17 World Cup, founded as the FIFA U-16 World Championship, later changed to U-17 in 1991 and to its current name in 2007, is the world championship of association football for male players under the age of 17 organized by ''Fédératio ...

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 ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nwakali, Chidiebere 1996 births Living people Sportspeople from Owerri Nigerian footballers Men's association football defenders Manchester City F.C. players Atlético Malagueño players Girona FC players IK Start players Sogndal Fotball players Aberdeen F.C. players Raków Częstochowa players Kalmar FF players Tuwaiq Club players Scottish Professional Football League players Eliteserien players I liga players TFF First League players Saudi Second Division players Nigeria men's under-20 international footballers Nigerian expatriate footballers Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in England Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Norway Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Scotland Expatriate footballers in Norway Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in Poland Expatriate footballers in Turkey Expatriate footballers in Saudi Arabia Nigeria men's youth international footballers