Nigerian Football Legend: Augustine "Jay Jay" Okocha
Over the years, the football community has seen numerous endowed players, who eventually turned legends and patriarchs by age and retirement. No matter how good you are, you will have to live the stage one day for others to shine. The likes of Christiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have been exceptional in the past 10 years or more. Many don't want to see them hang their boots but it will happen someday and I will miss the duo a whole lot.
Well, today isn't for Christiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi because they are still in action. Rather, we will look at an exceptional player who made football interesting and thrilling to watch in his days.
Africa is known to have many iconic, gifted and talented football stars. Presently, we have the likes of Sadio Mane, Mohammed Salah, and many others flying high the African flags in the world of football.
Speaking of African football legends, I won't fail to mention these names; Samuel Eto'o of Cameroon, Didier Drogba of Cote d’Ivoire, Kanu Nwankwo of Nigeria, Roger Mila of Cameroon, George Weah of Liberia, Yaya Toure, John Obi Mikel, and many others. However, more focus will be given to this great player Nigeria had - Okocha.
Let's Talk About Jay-Jay Okocha
If you were around in the 1990s, you must have heard of this name once or more than once. Augustine Jay-Jay Okocha is one of the greatest players in the history of Nigerian footballers. You can't watch him play and then not admire him. He was a great talisman, dribbler, and playmaker. I was still very young then and I can still picture some of his moves when in possession of the ball. He made playing football look simple and fun. My admiration of him made me buy a jersey with his name on it.
In case you didn't know, his full name is Augustine Azuka Okocha while Jay-Jay is the nickname which many know him by. He was born on August 14th, 1973. Of course, he is a Nigerian but from Enugu State which is in eastern part of the country.
The football talent was something that was present in his family but only him ended as a star. Just like every football star, he began his football journey playing on streets; precisely, playing improvised football because back then, it wasn't easy owning a football. It's not like today where we can buy as many balls as we want.
Come to think of it, I can't tell why I didn't end up a football star as well because I equally played improvised football on my street back in the days😅. I played using oranges and sometimes, we'd wrap paper till it was big enough to be used as a football. Childhood was fun but adulthood changes a lot of things.
Okocha had a unique playing style which was mostly seen in his dribbling skills and scoring ability. The attacking midfield was his position and this allowed him to always have the free role in every match. This brings us to the clubs and leagues Okocha featured in while in active football.
Club Football Career
Augustine Okocha began playing football at a professional level in the year 1990. His first-ever football club was Enugu Rangers, in the Nigerian Football Professional League (NPFL).
In July 1991, Okocha joined Borussia Neunkirchen and played in the 2.Bundesliga (Germany 3rd division league) for a while. He made 35 appearances for the German side and scored 7 goals before leaving the club to a upper-division team Eintracht Frankfurt. Though he spent a short time here, Okocha did make a lot of impacts and recorded tangible achievements with Borussia Neunkirchen.
Achievements
Saarland Cup (Twice): 1990 and 1992
Oberliga Südwest: 1991Ref
Due to his top-notch performances while at Neunkirchen, the second-division side Eintracht Frankfurt showed interest in bringing Okocha to 1. Bundesliga. As a result, Jay-Jay Okocha joined Frankfurt in December 1991 and stayed till 1995 before advancing. Notably, he scored 18 goals in 90 matches for Eintracht Frankfurt.
Although he won no major trophy here, he did create history for himself by netting a Goal of The Year stunner. Using his dribbling skills, he disorganized Karlsruhe's backline plus the goalkeeper, Oliver Kahn to hit the net in a fancy manner.
The Turkish side Fenerbahçe was Jay Jay Okocha's next bus stop after parting ways with Frankfurt in 1995. In 1996, he began playing in the Turkey Super Lig where he netted a whooping 32 goals in 60 appearances only. Research shows that majority of his goals at Fenerbache came from free-kicks.
Also, he won two cup medals before leaving Turkey to explore another league. Okocha won the Prime Minister's Cup in 1998 and the Atatürk Cup in 1999.
With that, Jay-Jay completed his mission at Fenerbache and then moved to France's biggest football club - Paris St Germain. In July 1998, PSG paid a huge fee to lure Okocha to the French Ligue 1. Of course, he didn't disappoint as he performed as expected while at the club. He stayed for 4 years at Paris St Germain and departed the club in 2022.
He made 84 appearances for the French side, scoring 12 goals only. Did he achieve anything at the club? Yes. He won two trophies in the period he played for the club which is; Trophée des Champions (1998) and the UEFA Intertoto Cup (2001).
You won't be wrong to say that Jay-Jay was a football tourist and he featured in many country leagues. After his contract expired at PSG in the summer of 2002 after the FIFA World Cup, he landed the Premier League on a free transfer deal courtesy of Bolton Wanderers.
Okocha's presence in the club made massive impacts. He contributed immensely to one of the major successes of Bolton Wanderers as he saved them from relegation in 2008. This made the club and fans like him even more. His sensational goal against West Ham United in 2004 will not be forgotten by fans in a hurry.
Achievements
During his tenure as captain, Jay Jay Okocha led the club to their first cup final in nine years where they finished runners-up in the 2004 Football League Cup to Middlesbrough.
Okocha made 124 appearances for Bolton while scoring 14 goals in all competitions. Despite being offered a one-year contract extension, he left Bolton in 2006 to join a club in Qatar. He was named as the best player to ever play for Bolton Wanderers Football Club at the Reebok/Macron Stadium.
(Bolton Wanderers Goals: Free-Kicks)
He spent only a year (2006 - 2007) with Qatar SC where he made 41 appearances for the club. Aside from the many contributions to the team, he scored 6 goals.
Okocha's club career ended in 2008 after he joined Hull City from Qatar SC. He played only 18 games for Hull City but suffered a series of injury problems which led to his retirement.
Country Football
The greatest honour of any player is representing his country. Jay-Jay Okocha joined the Super Eagles squad in 1993 and played till 2006. During this period, he played 73 times for the Nigeria national team scoring 14 goals. Okocha is regarded as one of the greatest football players from Africa.
In 1996, Jay-Jay Okocha played in the Flying Eagles team (Nigeria U23) during the Olympics. He won the Summer Olympic Games that year. Also, he lifted the Africa Cup of Nations trophy in 1994. He also came runner-up in the 2000 Africa Cup of Nations tournament while taking third place in the following AFCON editions: 2002, 2004, 2006. Still on the list of achievements is the Afro-Asian Cup of Nations trophy won in 1995. Source
Without a doubt, Augustine Azuka Okocha was such an amazing player and the pride of Nigeria. He may not have played for a very long time (1990 - 2008) but he made a lasting impact and will forever remain a legend in Nigeria, Africa and in the world as well.
A good post but couldn't forward this as you have used images that are Getty and Imagio. These are just not allowed.
Edited
Unfortunately I can't do anything now as is way over the time we can submit. Has to be in within 24 hours. Getty unfortunately controls 99% of football photographs so one has to check properly.
What more can I say😩😩?