Sunday Oliseh

Sunday Oliseh
Personal information
Full nameSunday Ogochukwu Oliseh
Date of birth14 September 1974
Place of birthAbavo, Delta State, Nigeria
Height1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Playing positionDefensive Midfielder
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps†(Gls)†
1989–1990Julius Berger
1990–1994RFC Liège75(3)
1994–1995Reggiana29(1)
1995–19971. FC Köln54(4)
1997–1999Ajax54(8)
1999–2000Juventus8(0)
2000–2004Borussia Dortmund53(1)
2003–2004→ VfL Bochum (loan)[1][2]32(1)
2005–2006Genk16(0)
Total321(18)
National team
1993–2002Nigeria54(2)
Teams managed
2007Eupen (Sports director)
2008–2009Verviétois
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).

Sunday Ogorchukwu Oliseh (born 14 September 1974 in Abavo, Delta State) is a former Nigerian footballer and coach, who in his active player career played as a midfielder. He now lives in Belgium

Football career

A physical, technical defensive midfielder, Oliseh played for well known clubs such as AFC Ajax, Borussia Dortmund and Juventus F.C..

Oliseh played 54 international matches and scored two goals[3] for Nigeria, and played at the Football World Cups of 1994 and 1998. Oliseh also participated in the Olympic gold medal winning team of 1996.

He is mostly remembered for scoring the winning goal in the group stage match against Spain in the 1998 World Cup, as Nigeria prevailed 3–2. A throw-in deep in the Spanish half was headed clear by a defender – Oliseh ran and fired an explosive shot from 25 yards and took Spanish goalkeeper Andoni Zubizarreta completely by surprise.[4] Despite captaining Nigeria during the 2002 African Cup of Nations, Oliseh was omitted from his country's World Cup squad later that year for disciplinary reasons. After missing out on World Cup selection, Oliseh retired from international football in June 2002.[5]

In March 2004, Oliseh was sacked by Borussia Dortmund after punching team-mate Vahid Hashemian while on loan at VfL Bochum.[6][7]

In January 2006, at the age of 31, Oliseh retired from professional football after playing a half season for Belgian top club K.R.C. Genk.[8]

Club statistics

[9]

Club performance League
Season Club League Apps Goals
Belgium League
1990–91LiègeFirst Division30
1991–92161
1992–93302
1993–94260
Italy League
1994–95ReggianaSerie A291
Germany League
1995–96KölnBundesliga240
1996–97304
Netherlands League
1997–98AjaxEredivisie295
1998–99253
Italy League
1999–00JuventusSerie A80
Germany League
2000–01Borussia DortmundBundesliga220
2001–02181
2002–0320
2002–03Bochum110
2003–04211
2004–05Borussia Dortmund110
Belgium League
2005–06GenkFirst Division160
Country Belgium 913
Italy 371
Germany 1396
Netherlands 548
Total 32118

International career statistics

[9]

Nigeria national team
YearAppsGoals
199310
1994110
199530
199610
199740
199872
199930
2000100
200170
200270
Total542

Honours

Club

Ajax
Borussia Dortmund

Country

Nigeria

Personal

His younger brothers, Azubuike and Egutu, are also professional footballers; another brother is Churchill Oliseh and his nephew is Sekou Oliseh.

References

  1. ↑ "Bochum release Oliseh". BBC Sport. 1 March 2004. Retrieved 4 April 2010.
  2. ↑ Bennett, Mark (28 April 2004). "Ruhr treat for Bochum". UEFA. Retrieved 4 April 2010.
  3. ↑ Roberto Mamrud (10 Apr 2014). "Sunday Ogorchukwu Oliseh - International Appearances". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 29 January 2015.
  4. ↑ "Oliseh goal vs. Spain".
  5. ↑ Obayiuwana, Osasu (19 June 2002). "Sunday Oliseh quits". BBC News. Retrieved 14 October 2012.
  6. ↑ "Oliseh shown door after punch-up". CNN. 11 March 2004. Retrieved 14 October 2012.
  7. ↑ "Oliseh not surprised". BBC News. 12 March 2004. Retrieved 14 October 2012.
  8. ↑ "Oliseh leaves Genk" (in French). sport.be.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 "Oliseh, Sunday". National Football Teams. Retrieved 20 July 2011.

External links

Preceded by
Uche Okechukwu		 Nigeria Captain
2000–2002 		Succeeded by
Jay-Jay Okocha