Footballer (born 1978)
Emmanuel Olisadebe
(
Polish pronunciation:
[?ma?nu?l
olisa?d?b?]
; born 22 December 1978) is a former professional
footballer
who played as a
striker
. Born in Nigeria, he played for the
Poland national team
. He scored 11 international goals in 25 caps between 2000 and 2004, and participated in the
2002 FIFA World Cup
.
Olisadebe began his career with
Jasper United
in his native Nigeria, before signing with Polish top flight club
Polonia Warsaw
in 1997. At Polonia he became a first team regular, and helped the club to the
Ekstraklasa
title, and
Ekstraklasa Cup
and
Polish SuperCup
. After meeting the residency requirements, Olisadebe became a Polish national in 2000 making him available for selection for the Poland national football team. He was subsequently called up to the national team and in the process become the first black player to represent Poland.
[1]
After leaving Polonia he went on to play in Greece, Cyprus, England and China before retiring.
Club career
[
edit
]
Polonia Warsaw
[
edit
]
Olisadebe began playing for
Polonia Warsaw
during the
1997?98 Ekstraklasa
season where in his first season he played in 13 league games.
During his time in the Polish capital he helped them secure their first championship title in 50 years in the
1999?2000 season
, scoring 12 goals in the process. He also won the League Cup and the Super Cup that season.
Panathinaikos
[
edit
]
Olisadebe moved to
Panathinaikos
where he scored 24 goals in 74 matches.
In 2004, he helped the club win the title for the first time in 7 years by scoring all the winning goals in the last three of four games of
the championship
. He also won
the cup that year
, making it a
double
. However, during his time at Panathinaikos he suffered an injury that required surgery in Greece.
[
citation needed
]
Portsmouth
[
edit
]
On 4 January 2006, he joined
Portsmouth
until the end of the
2005?06 season
.
[3]
He made his debut ten days later, replacing
Richard Hughes
after 61 minutes of an eventual 1?0
Premier League
defeat to
Everton
at
Fratton Park
.
[4]
A week later he made his only other appearance for the club, playing the final 37 minutes of a 5?0 defeat at
Birmingham City
, this time in place of
Vincent Pericard
.
[5]
His contract was terminated after four months, at which point he moved to
Skoda Xanthi
, where he played for nine matches.
[6]
APOP Kinyras Peyias
[
edit
]
He then featured for
APOP Kinyras Peyia FC
where he played in the 2007?08 season where he played in 17 games scoring 6 goals.
Henan Construction
[
edit
]
In 2008, he was offered a deal with
Chinese Super League
club
Henan Construction
. In his second match with Henan, the third round of 2008 Chinese Super League against
Liaoning
, he scored two goals. In first season at Henan he scored 12 goals in 26 games in the Chinese super league.
On 27 September, Olisadebe scored the opening goal for Henan in a 2?0 win over
Shanghai Shenhua
to regain lead in the league less than ten minutes before injuring his knee. Initial diagnosis showed that he had torn his
cruciate ligament
of the left knee, and the injury could end his entire football career.
[7]
Further results confirmed that he injured his
patellar ligament
and would only miss the rest of the season.
[8]
He was nominated for the MVP awards two years consecutively only to be 2nd in both occasions.
[
citation needed
]
Due to his performance he has been granted by the government of Henan province citizenship.
[
citation needed
]
International career
[
edit
]
Though Nigerian by birth, Olisadebe became a Polish citizen in 2000 and was selected by the
Poland national team
. He scored eight goals in ten
qualification matches
as coach
Jerzy Engel
's team reached the
2002 FIFA World Cup
, their first since
1986
, gaining one vote for
2001 FIFA World Player of the Year
. He netted their second of three goals in a victory over
Norway
on 1 September which confirmed qualification.
[9]
Olisadebe scored Poland's first goal of their
2002 FIFA World Cup
campaign in a 3?1 victory against the
United States
in
Daejeon
in the last group match.
[10]
However, Poland did not progress to the second round and Olisadebe would not score again for Poland. Jerzy Engel, the national coach who brought Olisadebe into the fold, resigned following Poland’s exit from the World Cup, and barring a handful of sporadic appearances that resignation ended Olisadebe’s association with the national team as well.
Personal life
[
edit
]
Olisadebe supported the "Let’s Kick Racism out of the Stadiums" campaign, organised by the Polish
Never Again Association.
[11]
[12]
He married a Polish woman, Beata Smoli?ska, in 2001 and they remained married until 2017; they parted on friendly terms.
[13]
Olisadebe retired from football in 2012 and eventually moved back to Nigeria. Although he admits to sometimes missing Poland, he prefers life in his original homeland of Nigeria, where he now profits from housing construction.
[14]
Career statistics
[
edit
]
Club
[
edit
]
International
[
edit
]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team
|
Year
|
Apps
|
Goals
|
Poland
|
2000
|
5
|
3
|
2001
|
8
|
7
|
2002
|
8
|
1
|
2003
|
3
|
0
|
2004
|
1
|
0
|
Total
|
25
|
11
|
- Scores and results list Poland's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Olisadebe goal.
List of international goals scored by Emmanuel Olisadebe
No.
|
Date
|
Venue
|
Opponent
|
Score
|
Result
|
Competition
|
1
|
16 August 2000
|
Stadionul Cotroceni
,
Bucharest
, Romania
|
Romania
|
1?1
|
1?1
|
Friendly
|
2
|
2 September 2000
|
Olympic Stadium
,
Kyiv
, Ukraine
|
Ukraine
|
1?0
|
3?1
|
2002 FIFA World Cup qualification
|
3
|
2?1
|
4
|
28 February 2001
|
Antonis Papadopoulos Stadium
,
Larnaka
, Cyprus
|
Switzerland
|
1?0
|
4?0
|
Friendly
|
5
|
24 March 2001
|
Ullevaal Stadion
,
Oslo
, Norway
|
Norway
|
1?0
|
3?2
|
2002 FIFA World Cup qualification
|
6
|
2?0
|
7
|
28 March 2001
|
Stadion Wojska Polskiego
,
Warsaw
, Poland
|
Armenia
|
2?0
|
4?0
|
2002 FIFA World Cup qualification
|
8
|
2 June 2001
|
Millennium Stadium
,
Cardiff
, Wales
|
Wales
|
1?1
|
2?1
|
2002 FIFA World Cup qualification
|
9
|
1 September 2001
|
Stadion ?l?ski
,
Chorzow
, Poland
|
Norway
|
2?0
|
3?0
|
2002 FIFA World Cup qualification
|
10
|
6 October 2001
|
Stadion ?l?ski
, Chorzow, Poland
|
Ukraine
|
1?0
|
1?1
|
2002 FIFA World Cup qualification
|
11
|
14 June 2002
|
Daejeon World Cup Stadium
,
Daejeon
, South Korea
|
United States
|
1?0
|
3?1
|
2002 FIFA World Cup
|
Honours
[
edit
]
- Polonia Warsaw
- Panathinaikos
Individual
References
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]