Innocent Emeghara
Innocent Emeghara | ||
![]() Innocent Emeghara, 2012
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Personalia | ||
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Name | Innocent Nkasiobi Emeghara | |
Birthday | 27. May 1989 | |
Birthplace | Lagos, Nigeria | |
Size | 170 cm | |
Position | Storm | |
Juniors | ||
Years | Station | |
2002–2003 | FC Töss | |
2003–2006 | FC Winterthur | |
Men | ||
Years | Station | Games (goals)1 |
2006–2009 | FC Zurich U-21 | 47 (16) |
2009–2010 | FC Winterthur | 28 (17) |
2010–2011 | Grasshopper Club Zurich | 40 (14) |
2011–2013 | FC Lorient | 28 | (5)
2013–2014 | AC Siena | 17 | (7)
2013–2014 | → AS Livorno (loan) | 30 | (4)
2014–2015 | Qarabağ Ağdam | 8 | (5)
2015–2016 | San Jose Earthquakes | 7 | (1)
2017–2018 | Ermis Aradippou | 28 | (9)
2018–2019 | Qarabağ Ağdam | 11 | (5)
2019–2020 | Fatih Karagümrük SK | 32 | (7)
2020– | FC Winterthur | |
National team | ||
Years | Selection | Games (goals) |
2011 | Switzerland U-21 | 8 | (5)
2011–2013 | Switzerland | 9 | (0)
2012 | Switzerland Olympia | 3 | (1)
1 Only league games are shown. Status: October 5, 2020 |
Innocent Emeghara (born 27 May 1989 in Lagos) is a Nigerian-Swiss footballer. From 2011 to 2013 he also played for the Swiss national team in the position of striker. Since the beginning of October 2020, he has been back at his parent club FC Winterthur, from where he launched his career in 2010.
Player career
Association
Born in Nigeria, he came to Winterthur, Switzerland at the age of 13 and played for FC Töss, FC Winterthur and FC Zurich during his youth.[1] From the 2006/07 season, he featured in the 1st division, Switzerland’s third division, for FC Zurich’s U-21 team. In the next three seasons he received more appearances in the 1st division and in the 2008/09 season he made it into the regular squad, but he was never used in the professional team of FC Zurich in the Super League.
For the 2009/10 season, Emeghara moved to FC Winterthur in the Challenge League, where he made an immediate breakthrough. He finished the season joint fourth in the league scoring charts with Frédéric Besseyre of Stade Nyonnais with 17 league goals. This made him of interest to Super League teams and Grasshopper Club Zurich signed him in July 2010. At the Hoppers, he impressed right after his arrival with his tremendous speed.[2] In August 2011, he scored his first Super League hat-trick in an away match against Servette Geneva.
At the end of August 2011, he moved to Ligue 1 side FC Lorient, where he signed a four-year contract. In his first appearance for his new club, he scored the final goal in a 1-1 draw away to FC Sochaux.
In January 2013, Emeghara moved to AC Siena in the Italian Serie A. He scored seven goals in 17 games, but was unable to avoid relegation to Serie B. Emeghara was then loaned out to AS Livorno for the 2013/14 season. He scored four goals in 30 league games.
After Emeghara’s parent club AC Siena was dissolved, he moved on a free transfer to Azerbaijan’s Premyer Liqası to Qarabağ Ağdam. His contract was terminated on 5 January 2015 after eight appearances in which Emeghara scored five goals. Emeghara then trained with his ex-club FC Winterthur[3] and played as an auditioner as part of Hamburger SV’s training camp in Dubai.[4] Although he “behaved fabulously” during the training camp and the test match against Odense BK, according to Peter Knäbel, director of professional football at HSV, Emeghara was not given a contract in Hamburg.[5]
From 31 January 2015 to 31 December 2016, Emeghara played for the San Jose Earthquakes.[6] He then moved to Cyprus to join Ermis Aradippou, where he scored nine goals in 28 games. He then returned once more to Qarabağ Ağdam in Azerbaijan in 2018. In 2019/20 he played in Istanbul for Fatih Karagümrük SK, with whom he was promoted to the top Turkish league in 2020.
He returned to Winterthur in the summer of 2020, signing a two-year contract in early October after spending three weeks training with his parent club FC Winterthur.[7]
National player
In October 2010, he was granted Swiss citizenship[1] swiss nationality and subsequently said that he hoped to be called up for the Swiss national football team.[8] After several appearances for the U-21 national team, he was called up for the first time at elite level for the Swiss national football team in May 2011 and made his debut against England on 4 June 2011.[9]
In June 2011 he played in the U-21 European Championship 2011 with Switzerland and reached there the 2nd place behind Spain. He was a regular player and brought the opponents with his speed again and again in big trouble.
Titles and successes
As an international player
- Finalist at the U-21 European Championship 2011
Web links
- Innocent Emeghara in the database of weltfussball.de
- Deployment statistics on the website of the Swiss Football Association: A-Team, U-21, U-20, U-19, U-18, U-17, U-16, U-15
- Innocent Emeghara in the database of transfermarkt.de
- Innocent Emeghara in the database of the Türkiye Futbol Federasyonu (English)
- Innocent Emeghara in the database of mackolik.com (Turkish)
- Schützi TV, Episode 118: Inno is back!
Individual references
- ↑ a b Footballer with heart and soul: Innocent Emeghara
- ↑ A sprint rocket with a nose for goal
- ↑ FC Winterthur Media reports & club news for the second half of the season, 6 January 2015, retrieved 12 January 2015.
- ↑ Hamburger SV HSV tests Innocent Emeghara(Memento of 4 March 2016 in the Internet Archive), 12 January 2015, retrieved 12 January 2015.
- ↑ HSV splinter: No contract for Emeghara(Memento of 29 May 2016 in the Internet Archive), Official website of Hamburger SV, retrieved 26 January 2015
- ↑ Quakes sign Innocent Emeghara third designated player, Official website of the San Jose Earthquakes (English), retrieved on 1 February 2015
- ↑ FCW signs Innocent Emeghara.FC Winterthur, 5 October 2020, retrieved 6 October 2020.
- ↑ Nigerian-Born Striker Innocent Emeghara Anxious To Play For Switzerland
- ↑ Deployment statistics on the website of the Swiss Football Association: A-Team, U-21, U-20, U-19, U-18, U-17, U-16, U-15
Personal data | |
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NAME | Emeghara, Innocent |
ALTERNATE NAMES | Emeghara, Innocent Nkasiobi (full name) |
SHORT DESCRIPTION | nigerian-Swiss footballer |
DATE OF BIRTH | 27. May 1989 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Lagos, Nigeria |
- National football player (Switzerland)
- Footballer (Fatih Karagümrük SK)
- Footballer (FC Winterthur)
- Footballer (Grasshopper Club Zurich)
- Footballer (FC Lorient)
- Footballer (AC Siena)
- Footballer (AS Livorno)
- Footballer (Qarabağ Ağdam)
- Footballer (San José Earthquakes)
- Footballer (Ermis Aradippou)
- Olympic athlete (Switzerland)
- Swiss
- Nigerian
- Sportsman (Lagos)
- Born in 1989
- Man
- Participant in the 2012 Summer Olympics