Daniel Amokachi
Personal information
Full name Daniel Ray Owefin Amokachi
Date of birth (1972-12-30) 30 December 1972
Place of birth Kaduna, Nigeria
Height 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Position(s) Forward
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
Total 201 (64)
International career
1990–1999 Nigeria 44 (13)
Managerial career
2006 Nasarawa United
2007 Nigeria (Assistant coach)
2008 Enyimba
2008–2014 Nigeria (Assistant coach)
2014–2015 Nigeria (interim)
2015 Ifeanyi Ubah
2016–2017 JS Hercules
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Daniel Owefin Amokachi listenⓘ (born 30 December 1972) is a Nigerian football manager and former professional player.

As a player he was a forward who notably played in the Premier League for Everton and was part of their 1995 FA Cup winning team, he also played top flight football in both Belgium and Turkey with extended spells at Club Brugge and Beşiktaş. Whilst with Brugge in 1992 he scored the club's first goal in the UEFA Champions League. He also had a brief spells with Ranchers Bees, Colorado Rapids and Nasarawa United. He was capped 44 times by Nigeria, scoring 13 goals. His spell in international football saw him win the African Cup of Nations in 1994 and a gold medal at the 1996 Olympics. He was also present in his nations squads for 1994 FIFA World Cup and 1998 FIFA World Cup.

Upon retiring, Amokachi moved into coaching and has spent time as manager of Nasarawa United, Enyimba, Ifeanyi Ubah and JS Hercules. He has also spent two spells as assistant coach of Nigeria, as well as managing his nation in an interim basis from 2014 to 2015.

Club career

Amokachi, nicknamed "The Bull",[1] 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.[1] 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,[1] Everton became interested in Amokachi and their manager Mike Walker signed him for a fee of £3 million ($4.7 million).[2][3]

He went on to win the FA Cup with Everton in 1995, scoring two goals in the semi-final against Tottenham Hotspur[1] after 'substituting himself' into the match while Paul Rideout was receiving treatment (the manager Joe Royle had only instructed him to warm up in preparation for possibly coming on).[4][5][3][2] He appeared in the final only briefly, late on, again as a substitute but is remembered fondly for his beret-wearing celebrations afterwards.[2][3]

He remained at Everton until the end of the 1995–96 season, when he was transferred to Beşiktaş of Turkey for a fee of £1.75 million. He had failed to make the impact at Goodison Park that many fans had been hoping for,[2] and had been unable to win a regular place in the first team, as Rideout and Duncan Ferguson were firmly established as Everton's two strikers at that 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.[1] Amokachi trained with French second division side US Créteil,[1] but the deal was hampered by injuries. American MLS team Colorado Rapids signed him in 2002, but seeing 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
Gold medal – first place 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[3] and won the 1994 African Nations Cup. He also helped win the Olympic championship in 1996, scoring in the final against Argentina.[1]

Amokachi sustained an injury just ahead of the 1998 FIFA World Cup, played one match at the tournament, but struggled with knee problems thereafter.[2]

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.[6] In January 2016, he was named as manager of JS Hercules.[7] 4 February 2020, Amokachi was named as Nigeria’s football ambassador by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd).[8]

Personal life

Amokachi is married to a Tunisian woman and has twin sons named Kalim and Nazim, both of whom are currently in the Besiktas youth academy. He also has a daughter named Raya.[9]

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition[10]
Club Season League
DivisionAppsGoals
Club Brugge 1990–91 Belgian First Division 30
1991–92 2612
1992–93 239
1993–94 2814
1994–95 10
Total 8135
Everton 1994–95 Premier League 184
1995–96 256
Total 4310
Beşiktaş 1996–97 First League 307
1997–98 278
1998–99 204
Total 7719
Career total 20164

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year
National teamYearAppsGoals
Nigeria 199071
199141
199211
199342
1994122
199552
199612
199752
199840
199910
Total4413
Scores and results list Nigeria's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Amokachi goal.
List of international goals scored by Daniel Amokachi[11]
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
118 August 1990Lagos, Nigeria Togo3–01992 African Cup of Nations qualification
227 April 1991Lagos, Nigeria Benin3–01992 African Cup of Nations qualification
329 August 1992Lagos, Nigeria Uganda2–01994 African Cup of Nations qualifier
413 July 1993Lagos, Nigeria Algeria4–11994 FIFA World Cup qualification
525 September 1993Lagos, Nigeria Ivory Coast4–11994 FIFA World Cup qualification
621 June 1994Dallas, United States Bulgaria3–01994 FIFA World Cup
730 June 1994Boston, United States Greece2–01994 FIFA World Cup
86 January 1995Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Japan3–01995 Intercontinental Cup
913 January 1995Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Mexico1–11995 Intercontinental Cup
109 November 1996Lagos, Nigeria Burkina Faso2–01998 FIFA World Cup qualification
11
125 April 1997Lagos, Nigeria Guinea2–11998 FIFA World Cup qualification
13

Honours

Everton

Beşiktaş

Nigeria

Individual

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Amokachi just wants a club". BBC Sport. 30 March 2001. Retrieved 23 March 2010.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Aanu Adeoye (7 November 2017). "An ode to Daniel Amokachi, Everton cult hero and the best sub never made". Planet Football. Retrieved 20 January 2019.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Adam Bate (24 July 2017). "Daniel Amokachi interview: Former Everton man happy to come home". Sky Sports. Retrieved 20 January 2019.
  4. ↑ "Daniel Amokachi". Everton F.C. 30 March 2001. Archived from the original on 2 February 2017. Retrieved 20 January 2019.
  5. ↑ "The strangest substitution ever?". BBC Sport. 19 April 2018. Retrieved 20 January 2019.
  6. ↑ "Daniel Amokachi quits as FC IfeanyiUbah coach after five weeks". BBC Sport. 17 September 2015. Retrieved 25 September 2016.
  7. ↑ "Daniel Amokachi appointed JS Hercules manager | Goal.com". www.goal.com. Retrieved 14 May 2018.
  8. ↑ "Buhari names Amokachi football ambassador". www.msn.com. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
  9. ↑ "Nigeria And Tunisia In Tug Of War Over International Future Of Amokachi Twins". owngoalnigeria.com. 17 December 2016. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
  10. ↑ Daniel Amokachi at National-Football-Teams.com
  11. ↑ Daniel Owefin Amokachi - Goals in International Matches Archived 3 August 2014 at the Wayback Machine.
  12. ↑ "CumhurBaşkanlığı Kupası (Profesyonel Takım) (Final)". tff.org. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
  13. ↑ Milliyet. "Protesto çağrısı". Archived from the original on 12 December 2015. Retrieved 12 September 2015.
  14. ↑ AA. "Beşiktaş 3000. golü bekliyor". Retrieved 12 September 2015.
  15. ↑ Sporx (22 December 2015). "Türkiye Spor Adamları Ödülleri sahiplerini buldu - Futbol". Sporx.com (in Turkish). Retrieved 14 May 2018.
  16. ↑ "Yılın Menajeri Özkan Doğan". Haberler.com (in Turkish). Retrieved 14 May 2018.
  17. ↑ "2015'te de Yılın Spor Gazetesi". Retrieved 14 May 2018.
  18. ↑ uefa.com (13 September 2013). "UEFA Champions League - News – UEFA.com". UEFA.com. Retrieved 14 May 2018.
  19. ↑ Dove, Ed. "The 50 Greatest African Players of All Time". Bleacher Report. Retrieved 14 May 2018.
  20. ↑ "IFFHS' Century Elections". RSSSF. Retrieved 14 May 2018.
  21. 1 2 "Bahs-i Diğer: Uzun şortun mucidi: Daniel Amokachi".
  22. ↑ "Beşiktaş J.K. Squads of Century (Golden Team)".
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