Nedum Onuoha

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Personal information
Nedum Onuoha

Full name	Chinedum Onuoha
Date of birth	12 November 1986 (1986-11-12) (age 21)
Place of birth	Warri, Nigeria
Height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Playing position	Defender
Club information
Current club	Manchester City
Number	4
Youth clubs
2003–2004	Manchester City
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
2004–	Manchester City	61 (1)
National team²
2005–	England U21	14 (1)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 22:31, 5 April 2008 (UTC). ² National team caps and goals correct as of 20:44, 17 October 2007 (UTC). * Appearances (Goals)

Chinedum Onuoha, commonly known as Nedum Onuoha (born on 12 November 1986 in Warri, Nigeria) is an English footballer. He currently plays for Manchester City and the England national under-21 football team. He is a defender, typically a centre back, but he can also play at right-back or left-back.

1 Career
2 References
3 External links

[edit] Career

[edit] Early and personal life

Born in Nigeria, Onuoha was raised in Manchester, England. He went to Hulme Grammar private school in Oldham for his education. An outstanding junior sprinter; aged 14 he finished in second place in the final of the 2001 English School's Athletics Association Junior 100 metres contest, clocking 11.09 seconds and beating current Great-Britain sprinter Craig Pickering.^{[citation needed]}

He is also currently the co-national record holder for boys under 15 standing triple jump, in the Sports Hall events held annually throughout the UK, the record is held with international long jumper Jonathan Moore. The distance of 9.44 meters was achieved at Wigan in 2002.^{[citation needed]}

Onuoha currently lives in the Middleton area of Manchester with his family.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Manchester City

Onuoha played regularly for Manchester City's reserves in the 2003–04 season, and had his first involvement with the Manchester City first team in the 2004–05 pre-season, playing in a friendly against Bury.^[1] He made his first team debut against Arsenal in the Carling Cup on 27 October 2004, at the age of 17. He made his Premier League debut as a substitute on 1 November [2004]] at home to Norwich City. Though Onuoha's natural position is centre-half, manager Kevin Keegan initially played him at right back with the intention of improving his passing ability.^[2]

Onouha made 18 appearances in his debut season, but suffered a series of injuries during the 2005–06 season, meaning he played only 12 games.

Due to several injuries throughout the 2006–07 season, Onouha was brought into the team for several long periods of time. He soon established himself and was rewarded with a new four-year contract.

He captained the Manchester City side to a 2–1 victory over Bristol City in the Carling Cup 2nd round. He scored his first goal for City at home against Tottenham Hotspur on 16 March 2008 in a 2–1 win. On 5 April 2008 Onuoha dislocated his shoulder in a game against Chelsea and was ruled out for the remainder of the 2007–08 season following surgery.^[3]

[edit] International career

Onuoha is a regular in the England U-21 side, making his debut on 12 October 2005. He was part of the squad participating in the 2007 European Under 21s Championship in the Netherlands. During the Championships Onuoha was subjected to racist abuse from Serbian fans, but received praise for maintaining his conduct amid provocation.^[4]^[5] He played in each of England's four fixtures, but limped off in extra-time in the semi-final against the Netherlands after all three of the permitted substitutions had been made. England went out 13-12 on penalties in the semi-final. He will be eligible for the team until the summer of 2009. He captained the England Under-21 team for the first time in a 0–0 draw with Poland Under-21s.

In March 2007, Onuoha received an international callup from Nigeria,^[6] but has not announced whether he wishes to represent Nigeria or England at full international level.