Emmanuel Olisadebe

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

Emmanuel Olisadebe
Olisadebe with Henan Construction in 2009
Personal information
Date of birth (1978-12-22) 22 December 1978
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)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

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 Polish 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 Polish 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.

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 0–1 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 0–5 defeat at Birmingham City, this time in place of Vincent Péricard.[5]

His contract was terminated after 4 months, at which point he travelled to Skoda Xanthi, where he wasn't given a chance to play.

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 2 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. Due to his performance he has been granted by the government of Henan province citizenship.

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

[2]

Club performance League Cup League Cup Continental Total
Season Club League AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals
Nigeria League FA Cup League Cup Africa Total
1996Jasper United3217–––3217
199783–––83
Poland League Polish Cup League Cup Europe Total
1997–98[14]Polonia WarsawEkstraklasa13120––151
1998–99[15]164––31195
1999–2000[16]24124141623816
2000–01[17]133122163229
Greece League Greek Cup League Cup Europe Total
2000–01PanathinaikosAlpha Ethniki841 0–20114
2001–021995 1–1023412
2002–031982 1–943013
2003–04932 1–20134
2004–05130––31161
2005–0660––2 260
England League FA Cup League Cup Europe Total
2005–06PortsmouthPremier League20–––20
Greece League Greek Cup League Cup Europe Total
2006–07Skoda XanthiSuper League503 0–1090
Cyprus League Cypriot Cup League Cup Europe Total
2007–08APOP Kinyras PeyiasFirst Division176–––176
China PR League FA Cup League Cup Asia Total
2008Henan ConstructionSuper League2612–––2612
20091810–––1810
2010192–––192
Greece League Greek Cup League Cup Europe Total
2011–12VeriaFootball League91–––91
CountryNigeria 4020–––4020
Poland 662073621569431
Greece 8825––30712835
England 20–––20
Cyprus 176–––176
China PR 6324–––6324
Total 2769573624513344116

International
Poland national team[18]
YearAppsGoals
200053
200187
200281
200330
200410
Total2511

International goals

Scores and results list Poland's goal tally first[18]

#DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.16 August 2000Stadionul Cotroceni, Bucharest, Romania Romania
1–1
1–1
Friendly
2.2 September 2000Olympic Stadium, Kyiv, Ukraine Ukraine
1–0
3–12002 FIFA World Cup qualification
3.
2–1
4.28 February 2001Antonis Papadopoulos Stadium, Larnaka, Cyprus  Switzerland
1–0
4–0
Friendly
5.24 March 2001Ullevaal Stadion, Oslo, Norway Norway
1–0
3–22002 FIFA World Cup qualification
6.
2–0
7.28 March 2001Stadion Wojska Polskiego, Warsaw, Poland Armenia
2–0
4–0
 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification
8.2 June 2001Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, Wales Wales
1–1
2–1
 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification
9.1 September 2001Stadion Śląski, Chorzów, Poland Norway
2–0
3–0
 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification
10.6 October 2001Stadion Śląski, Chorzów, Poland Ukraine
1–0
1–1
 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification
11.14 June 2002Daejeon World Cup Stadium, Daejeon, South Korea United States
1–0
3–1
2002 FIFA World Cup

Honours
Polonia Warsaw
Panathinaikos

Individual

References
  1. Mason, Tom (16 November 2016). "Emmanuel Olisadebe: the immigrant who enriched a footballing nation". thesefootballtimes.co. These Football Times. Retrieved 12 September 2021.
  2. Emmanuel Olisadebe at National-Football-Teams.com
  3. "Portsmouth seal Olisadebe swoop". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 10 February 2012.
  4. "Portsmouth 0-1 Everton". BBC Sport. 14 January 2006. Retrieved 27 May 2015.
  5. "Birmingham 5-0 Portsmouth". BBC Sport. 21 January 2006. Retrieved 27 May 2015.
  6. "奥贝初步诊断十字韧带断裂 赛季报销恐将提前退役". sina.com.cn. Retrieved 28 September 2009.
  7. "奥贝确诊髌腱韧带脱落 缺席本赛季不危及职业生涯". sina.com.cn. Retrieved 29 September 2009.
  8. "The strange case of Emmanuel Olisadebe". When Saturday Comes. 13 July 2011. Retrieved 27 May 2015.
  9. "American dream lives on". BBC Sport. 14 June 2002. Retrieved 27 May 2015.
  10. "AGAINST RACISM IN THE STADIUMS". "NEVER AGAIN" ASSOCIATION. Retrieved 21 June 2021.
  11. "Portrait de footballeur polonais : Olisadebe, un précurseur venu d'Afrique". Le Monde.fr (in French). 10 June 2012. Retrieved 21 June 2021.
  12. "Emmanuel Olisadebe - kiedyś był gwiazdą reprezentacji Polski, teraz słuch o nim zaginął". sport.onet.pl. Onet.pl. 9 April 2020. Retrieved 12 September 2021.
  13. Olisadebe, Emmanuel (4 November 2020). "Drugie życie Emmanuela Olisadebe. Żyje z mieszkań, nigdzie mu się nie spieszy. "Nie jestem zbyt ambitny"". WP Sportowe Fakty (Interview). Interviewed by Piotr Koźmiński. Wirtualna Polska. Retrieved 12 September 2021.
  14. "Sezon 1997/98". 90minut.pl/. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
  15. "Sezon 1998/99". 90minut.pl/. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
  16. "Sezon 1999/00". 90minut.pl/. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
  17. "2000/01". 90minut.pl/. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
  18. "United States 1-3 Poland". European Football. Retrieved 27 May 2015.
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