sport.wikisort.org - Athlete

Emmanuel Olisadebe (Polish pronunciation: [ɛmaˈnuɛl olisaˈdɛbɛ]; born 22 December 1978) is a former professional footballer who played as a striker.

This biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. (February 2012)

Emmanuel Olisadebe

Olisadebe with Henan Construction in 2009
Personal information
Date of birth	(1978-12-22) 22 December 1978 (age 43)
Place of birth	Warri, Nigeria
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Position(s)	Striker
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1995–1997	Jasper United	40	(20)
1997–2001	Polonia Warsaw	66	(20)
2001–2005	Panathinaikos	74	(24)
2005–2006	Portsmouth	2	(0)
2006–2007	Skoda Xanthi	5	(0)
2007–2008	APOP Kinyras Peyias	17	(6)
2008–2010	Henan Construction	63	(24)
2011–2012	Veria	9	(1)
Total		276	(95)
National team
2000–2004	Poland	25	(11)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

He began his career with Jasper United, going on to have a successful career with Polonia Warsaw where in 2000 he won the Ekstraklasa, Ekstraklasa Cup and Polish SuperCup. He also played in Greece, Cyprus, England and China.

Born in Nigeria, he attracted the attention of the Poland national team after he was eligible for Polish citizenship. He scored 11 international goals in 25 caps between 2000 and 2004, and participated in the 2002 FIFA World Cup. He was the first black player in the history of the Poland national team.[1]

Club career

Polonia Warsaw

Olisadebe began playing for Polonia Warsaw during the 1997–98 Ekstraklasa season where in his first season he played in 13 league games.[2] 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

Olisadebe moved to Panathinaikos where he scored 24 goals in 74 matches.[2] 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

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 Péricard.[5]

His contract was terminated after four months, at which point he travelled to Skoda Xanthi, where he wasn't given a chance to play.^{[citation needed]}

APOP Kinyras Peyias

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.[2]

Henan Construction

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.[6] Further results confirmed that he injured his patellar ligament and would only miss the rest of the season.[7] 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

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.[8]

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.[9] 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

Olisadebe supported the "Let’s Kick Racism out of the Stadiums" campaign, organised by the Polish Never Again Association.[10][11] He married a Polish woman, Beata Smolińska, in 2001 and they remained married until 2017; they parted on friendly terms.[12] 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.[13]

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition[2]

Club	Season	League			National cup[lower-alpha 1]		League cup[lower-alpha 2]		Continental		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Jasper United	1996		32	17	–		–		–		32	17
	1997		8	3	–		–		–		8	3
	Total		40	20	–		–		–		40	20
Polonia Warsaw	1997–98[14]	Ekstraklasa	13	1	2	0	–		–		15	1
	1998–99[15]	Ekstraklasa	16	4	–		–		3	1	19	5
	1999–2000[16]	Ekstraklasa	24	12	4	1	4	1	6	2	38	16
	2000–01[17]	Ekstraklasa	13	3	1	2	2	1	6	3	22	9
	Total		66	20	7	3	6	2	15	6	94	31
Panathinaikos	2000–01	Alpha Ethniki	8	4	1	0	–		2	0	11	4
	2001–02	Alpha Ethniki	19	9	5	1	–		10	2	34	12
	2002–03	Alpha Ethniki	19	8	2	1	–		9	4	30	13
	2003–04	Alpha Ethniki	9	3	2	1	–		2	0	13	4
	2004–05	Alpha Ethniki	13	0	–		–		3	1	16	1
	2005–06	Alpha Ethniki	6	0	–		–		2	2	8	2
	Total		74	24	10	3	0	0	28	9	112	36
Portsmouth	2005–06	Premier League	2	0	–		–		–		2	0
Skoda Xanthi	2006–07	Super League Greece	5	0	3	0	–		1	0	9	0
APOP Kinyras Peyias	2007–08	Cypriot First Division	17	6	–		–		–		17	6
Henan Construction	2008	Chinese Super League	26	12	–		–		–		26	12
	2009	Chinese Super League	18	10	–		–		–		18	10
	2010	Chinese Super League	19	2	–		–		–		19	2
	Total		63	24	–		–		–		63	24
Veria	2011–12	Football League (Greece)	9	1	–		–		–		9	1
Career total			276	95	7	3	6	2	45	13	344	116

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year[18]

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[18]

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 Śląski, Chorzów, Poland	Norway	2–0	3–0	2002 FIFA World Cup qualification
10	6 October 2001	Stadion Śląski, Chorzów, 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

Polonia Warsaw

• Ekstraklasa: 1999–2000
• Polish SuperCup: 2000
• Polish League Cup: 2000

Panathinaikos

• Superleague Greece: 2003–04
• Greek Cup: 2003–04

Individual

• Polish footballer of the Year: 2001
• Fourth-best Polish sportsman of the Year: 2002
• Nominated for the FIFA World Player of the Year: 2002

References

External links

• Player profile for the 2002 World Cup at BBC Sport
• Player profile at 90minut.pl (Polish)
• Player profile at Sodasoccer.com (Chinese)
• Player stats at Sohu.com (Chinese)

На других языках

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[de] Emmanuel Olisadebe

Emmanuel Olisadebe (* 22. Dezember 1978 in Warri, Nigeria) ist ein ehemaliger polnischer Fußballspieler nigerianischer Herkunft.

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- [en] Emmanuel Olisadebe

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[es] Emmanuel Olisadebe

Emmanuel Olisadebe (n. Warri, 22 de diciembre de 1978) es un exfutbolista nigeriano, nacionalizado polaco. Jugaba como delantero. Anteriormente jugó en la selección de fútbol de Polonia después de convertirse en ciudadano de ese país. Zbigniew Boniek, un excentrocampista de la selección, convenció al presidente de PZPN (Asociación Polaca de Fútbol) y al presidente del país de darle la nacionalidad a Emmanuel.

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[fr] Emmanuel Olisadebe

Emmanuel Olisadebe, né le 22 décembre 1978 à Warri (Nigeria), est un footballeur international polonais d'origine nigériane. Il est attaquant.

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[it] Emmanuel Olisadebe

Emmanuel Olisadebe (Warri, 22 dicembre 1978) è un ex calciatore nigeriano naturalizzato polacco, di ruolo attaccante.

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[ru] Олисадебе, Эммануэль

Эммануэ́ль Олисаде́бе (англ. Emmanuel Olisadebe; род. 22 декабря 1978[1], Варри) — польский футболист, нападающий. Натурализованный нигериец, после получения польского гражданства успешно выступал за национальную сборную, в которой стал первым чернокожим игроком за всю её историю. Принимал участие в чемпионате мира 2002 года в Южной Корее и Японии.

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