Jay-Jay Okocha
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Augustine Azuka ("Jay-Jay") Okocha (born August 14, 1973 in Enugu) is a Nigerian football midfielder. He is nicknamed Jay Jay for his entertaining and flamboyant style of play.
Okocha's most recent club was the English Premier League club Bolton Wanderers. He previously played for Paris Saint-Germain, Fenerbahçe, and Eintracht Frankfurt. He was regularly selected for the Nigeria national football team from 1993 till 2006. He was also captain of the Super Eagles when he retired from international football at the 2006 African Cup of Nations.
Okocha has played at the 1994, 1998 (where he was named in the official team of the tournament), and 2002 FIFA World Cup finals and many African Nations Cup tournaments. He was also a member of the Nigerian team that won the golden medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia.
He is a member of the FIFA 100, a list of the 125 greatest living footballers selected by Pelé in conjunction with FIFA's centenary celebrations. He has also been nominated BBC's African footballer of the year (2004 and 2005).
In the early 2005/06 season, he was replaced as Bolton captain by Kevin Nolan. This is much attributed to his public admittance that he was interested in a lucrative move to the Middle East to ply his trade. This must definitely have caused displeasure to the management of Bolton. His number of appearances for the club declined and he played the role of a substitute in most league games in 2005-6. After the final league game of the season it was announced that Bolton would not be renewing his contract, manager Sam Allardyce shaking Okocha's hand before he came onto the field in his last game.
In 2004 he released a DVD called "Superskills with Jay-Jay Okcoha" where he teaches children at a football school the most difficult tricks in football.
Married to Nkechi, a native of Nigeria. Jay-Jay also has a son (Named "A-J Okocha").
Statistics
| Club | Season | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Europe | Others | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| App | Goals | App | Goals | App | Goals | App | Goals | App | Goals | App | Goals | ||
| Bolton Wanderers F.C. | 2002-2006 | 124 | 14 | 5 | 0 | 9 | 4 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 145 | 18 |
| Total | 124 | 14 | 5 | 0 | 9 | 4 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 145 | 18 | |
External links
- [Okocha's profile at NigerianPlayers.com]
- [FootballDatabase provides Jay-Jay Okocha's profile and stats]
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