Emmanuel Olisadebe

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

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 9 (0)
2007–2008 APOP Kinyras Peyias 17 (6)
2008–2010 Henan Construction 63 (24)
2011–2012 Veria 9 (1)
Total 276 (95)
International career
2000–2004 Poland 25 (11)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

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

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 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 moved to Skoda Xanthi, where he played for nine matches.[6]

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.[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. 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.[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

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 Smolińska, 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

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
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Jasper United 1996 3217–––3217
1997 83–––83
Total 4020–––4020
Polonia Warsaw 1997–98[15] Ekstraklasa 13120––151
1998–99[16] Ekstraklasa 164––31195
1999–2000[17] Ekstraklasa 24124141623816
2000–01[18] Ekstraklasa 133122163229
Total 662073621569431
Panathinaikos 2000–01 Alpha Ethniki 841 0–20114
2001–02 Alpha Ethniki 19951–1023412
2002–03 Alpha Ethniki 19821–943013
2003–04 Alpha Ethniki 9321–20134
2004–05 Alpha Ethniki 130––31161
2005–06 Alpha Ethniki 60––2282
Total 74241030028911236
Portsmouth 2005–06 Premier League 20–––20
Skoda Xanthi 2006–07 Super League Greece 503 0–1090
APOP Kinyras Peyias 2007–08 Cypriot First Division 176–––176
Henan Construction 2008 Chinese Super League 2612–––2612
2009 Chinese Super League 1810–––1810
2010 Chinese Super League 192–––192
Total 6324–––6324
Veria 2011–12 Football League (Greece) 91–––91
Career total 2769573624513344116
  1. Includes Nigerian FA Cup, Greek Cup, FA Cup, Cypriot Cup, Chinese FA Cup
  2. Includes League Cup, Football League Cup

International
Appearances and goals by national team and year[19]
National teamYearAppsGoals
Poland 200053
200187
200281
200330
200410
Total2511
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[19]
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
116 August 2000Stadionul Cotroceni, Bucharest, Romania Romania1–11–1Friendly
22 September 2000Olympic Stadium, Kyiv, Ukraine Ukraine1–03–12002 FIFA World Cup qualification
32–1
428 February 2001Antonis Papadopoulos Stadium, Larnaka, Cyprus  Switzerland1–04–0Friendly
524 March 2001Ullevaal Stadion, Oslo, Norway Norway1–03–22002 FIFA World Cup qualification
62–0
728 March 2001Stadion Wojska Polskiego, Warsaw, Poland Armenia2–04–0 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification
82 June 2001Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, Wales Wales1–12–1 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification
91 September 2001Stadion Śląski, Chorzów, Poland Norway2–03–0 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification
106 October 2001Stadion Śląski, Chorzów, Poland Ukraine1–01–1 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification
1114 June 2002Daejeon World Cup Stadium, Daejeon, South Korea United States1–03–12002 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. "Εμμάνουλ Ολισαντέμπε".
  7. "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.
  8. "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.
  9. "The strange case of Emmanuel Olisadebe". When Saturday Comes. 13 July 2011. Retrieved 27 May 2015.
  10. "American dream lives on". BBC Sport. 14 June 2002. Retrieved 27 May 2015.
  11. "AGAINST RACISM IN THE STADIUMS". "NEVER AGAIN" ASSOCIATION. Retrieved 21 June 2021.
  12. "Portrait de footballeur polonais : Olisadebe, un précurseur venu d'Afrique". Le Monde.fr (in French). 10 June 2012. Retrieved 21 June 2021.
  13. "Emmanuel Olisadebe - kiedyś był gwiazdą reprezentacji Polski, teraz słuch o nim zaginął". sport.onet.pl. Onet.pl. 9 April 2020. Retrieved 12 September 2021.
  14. 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.
  15. "Sezon 1997/98". 90minut.pl/. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
  16. "Sezon 1998/99". 90minut.pl/. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
  17. "Sezon 1999/00". 90minut.pl/. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
  18. "2000/01". 90minut.pl/. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
  19. "United States 1-3 Poland". European Football. Retrieved 27 May 2015.
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