Daniel Amokachi

Daniel Amokachi
Personal information
Full name Daniel Owefin Amokachi
Date of birth (1972-12-30) 30 December 1972
Place of birth Kaduna, Nigeria
Height 1.82 m (5 ft 11 1⁄2 in)
Playing position Forward
Club information
Current team
 JS Hercules (manager)
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1989–1990 Ranchers Bees ? (?)
1990–1994 Club Brugge 81 (35)
1994–1996 Everton 43 (10)
1996–1999 Beşiktaş 77 (19)
2002 Colorado Rapids 0 (0)
2005 Nasarawa United ? (?)
National team
1990–1999 Nigeria 44 (13)
Teams managed
2006 Nasarawa United
2007 Nigeria (Assistant coach)
2008 Enyimba
2008–2014 Nigeria (Assistant coach)
2014–2015 Nigeria (interim)
2015 Ifeanyi Ubah
2016– JS Hercules

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.


Daniel Owefin Amokachi (born 30 December 1972) is a Nigerian former professional footballer of Idoma descent and former assistant manager of the Nigeria national football team.

As a player he was a striker from 1989 until 2005, starting his career with Ranchers Bees before earning notability by playing outside his native country with Premier League side Everton, as well as Club Brugge and Beşiktaş before initially finishing his career in the United States with Major League Soccer club Colorado Rapids. He returned to Nigeria in 2005 to briefly play for Nasarawa United, who he went on to manage before moving on to Enyimba. He had his second spell as assistant manager of Nigeria after that. Amokachi is currently the manager of Finnish 2nd division side JS Hercules for the 2016 season.[1]

Club career

Amokachi, nicknamed "The Bull",[2] was discovered while playing for Ranchers Bees by Nigerian national team coach Clemens Westerhof, who brought the talented player to the 1990 African Nations Cup, and soon Amokachi moved to play for Club Brugge in Belgium. He competed in the new format of the Champions League, and became the first player to score in the competition, after his goal secured a 1–0 win in the opening match in the group stage against CSKA Moscow. Performing well in Belgium and at the 1994 World Cup, Everton became interested in Amokachi and their manager Mike Walker signed him for a fee of £3,000,000 ($4,700,000).

He went on to win the FA Cup with Everton in 1995, famously infuriating manager Joe Royle by bringing himself on as a substitute, then proceeding to score two goals in the semi-final against Tottenham Hotspur. He appeared in the final only briefly, late on, as a substitute but is remembered fondly for his beret wearing celebrations.

He remained at Everton until the end of the 1995–96 season, when he was transferred to Beşiktaş of Turkey for a fee of £1.75million. He had failed to make the impact at Goodison Park that many fans had been hoping for, and had been unable to win a regular place in the first team, as Paul Rideout and Duncan Ferguson were firmly established as Everton's two strikers at this stage. He did, however, stand in for Ferguson while he spent six weeks in prison during the autumn of 1995 for an offence committed in Scotland 18 months earlier.

After leaving Beşiktaş in 1999, his playing career more or less ended. He signed with 1860 Munich, but the contract was cancelled after he failed a medical test. In turn he was rejected by Tranmere Rovers for the same reason. Amokachi trained with French second division side US Créteil,[2] but the deal was hampered by injuries. American MLS team Colorado Rapids signed him in 2002, but seeing as he was not fit enough they released him before a single match was played. He went to play in the United Arab Emirates, but was denied again due to his medical condition.

International career

Olympic medal record
Representing  Nigeria
Men's Football
1996 Atlanta Team Competition

He played many international matches for Nigeria, and was part of the team that participated in the 1994 FIFA World Cup and 1998 FIFA World Cup and won the 1994 African Nations Cup. He also helped win the Olympic gold medal in 1996, scoring in the Gold Medal game itself against Argentina.[2]

Amokachi sustained an injury just ahead of the 1998 FIFA World Cup, played one game, but struggled with knee problems thereafter.

Managerial career

Amokachi managed Nigerian club Nasarawa United and later Enyimba Aba. In April 2007, he quit his role as assistant coach of the Nigeria national team. On 10 April 2008, Amokachi was re-appointed to Nigeria's national team, the Super Eagles, as assistant coach to Shuaibu Amodu, and then as assistant to Stephen Keshi.

In 2015, Amokachi managed Ifeanyi Ubah, resigning after five weeks in the post.[3] In January 2016, he was named as manager of JS Hercules.[1]

Statistics

[4]

Club performance League
Season Club League Apps Goals
Belgium League
1990/91BruggeFirst Division30
1991/922612
1992/93239
1993/942814
1994/9510
England League
1994/95EvertonPremier League184
1995/96256
Turkey League
1996/97BeşiktaşFirst League307
1997/98278
1998/99204
Country Belgium 8135
England 4310
Turkey 7719
Total 20164
Nigeria national team
YearAppsGoals
199071
199141
199211
199342
1994122
199552
199612
199752
199840
199910
Total4413

International goals

Scores and results list Nigeria's goal tally first.[5]

References

  1. 1 2 "Former Everton striker Daniel Amokachi to coach in Finland". JS Hercules. 21 January 2016. Retrieved 10 February 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 "Amokachi just wants a club". BBC Sport. 30 March 2001. Retrieved 23 March 2010.
  3. ↑ "Daniel Amokachi quits as FC IfeanyiUbah coach after five weeks". BBC Sport. 17 September 2015. Retrieved 25 September 2016.
  4. ↑ Daniel Amokachi at National-Football-Teams.com
  5. ↑ Daniel Owefin Amokachi - Goals in International Matches.
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