Onyekachi Okonkwo

Tico
Personal information
Full name Onyekachi Donatus Okonkwo
Date of birth (1982-05-13) May 13, 1982
Place of birth Aba, Nigeria
Height 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Playing position Midfielder, centre back
Club information
Current team
Mosta F.C.
Number 10
Youth career
Pepsi Football Academy
Calabar Rovers
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
–2004 Enyimba 30 (6)
2004–2007 Orlando Pirates 43 (3)
2007–2010 FC Zürich 62 (2)
2010–2012 Al Kharitiyath 39 (5)
2012–2013 Orlando Pirates 20 (3)
2013– Mpumalanga Black Aces 15 (2)
National team
2006–2008 Nigeria 20 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 3 July 2013.
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 11 July 2009

Onyekachi Donatus Okonkwo or simply Tico (born 13 May 1982 in Aba, Nigeria) is a Nigerian football (soccer) midfielder who currently plays for South African side Mpumalanga Black Aces. His name, Onyekachi, means "Who is greater than his godly guarding?"[1]

Club career

Okonkwo was a member of Enyimba's winning side in the 2003 MTN CAF Champions League and 2004 MTN CAF Champions League finals.

During his two-year stay in South Africa he was arguably one of the club's most influential players even scoring the decisive goal against his former club Enyimba to lead the Johannesburg-based club Orlando Pirates to the 2006 MTN CAF Champions League semifinals..

Okonkwo caused a stir in Europe by signing a pre-contract agreement with German side FC Koln only to leave the club a week later to sign a four-year deal at Swiss side FC Zurich saying that he had only ever agreed to a one-week trial at the German team. Despite FC Koln's sporting director Klaus Horstmann threatening to take the matter to FIFA in order for him to fulfil his obligations to his side, Okonkwo says he did not breach any rules in moving to Switzerland. He joined Qatari side Al Kharitiyath in the summer of 2010.

On 26 June 2012 Okonkwo rejoined Orlando Pirates[2] and next year, on 12 July 2013, signed with local rivals Mpumalanga Black Aces.[3]

International

He won his first international cap for Nigeria in an 2008 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Lesotho in October 2006.

Award

2008-09 Swiss Super League: Champions

References

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