Ikechukwu Vincent Ezenwa (born 16 October 1988) is a Nigerian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper.

Ikechukwu Ezenwa
Personal information
Full name Ikechukwu Vincent Ezenwa[1]
Date of birth (1988-10-16) 16 October 1988 (age 36)
Place of birth Yenagoa, Nigeria
Height 1.81 m (5 ft 11 in)[1]
Position(s) Goalkeeper
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2006–2008 Ocean Boys F.C. 56 (0)
2008–2011 Heartland F.C. 61 (0)
2011–2014 Sharks F.C. 45 (0)
2014–2016 Sunshine Stars F.C. 38 (0)
2016–2017 Ifeanyi Ubah F.C. 28 (0)
2017–2019 Enyimba International F.C. 4 (2)
2019 Heartland F.C. 0 (0)
2019–2023 Katsina United F.C. 11 (0)
International career
2007 Nigeria U-20 3 (0)
2008 Nigeria U-23 1 (0)
2015–2019 Nigeria 21 (0)
Medal record
Representing  Nigeria
Men's football
Olympic Games
Silver medal – second place 2008 Beijing Team
Africa Cup of Nations
Third place 2019 Egypt
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 22 November 2015
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 30 June 2019

Club career

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Ezenwa began his football professional career with Ocean Boys before moved to Heartland FC in July 2008.[2] He moved to Ifeanyi Ubah FC in 2016.[3] Contract End in 2017. He has then completed a move to Enyimba[4] . Contract End in 2018. He moved on to join Katsina United on 1 January 2019.[5] One of his respected goalkeeper trainer who impacted greatly to his career is former Sunshine Stars Coach, Daramola Nicholas Akinsehinwa between the year 2013 to 2016 during his playing time with Sunshine Stars F.C. and this great development to his potentials made the Nigeria Super Eagles call-up possible by which Ikechukwu Ezenwa was part of the Nigeria squad at the 2014 World Cup.

International career

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He was a member of the Nigeria U-23 at the 2008 Summer Olympics, featuring in the qualifier games. He got the call up to the Nigeria Super Eagles in 2015 under the authority of Coach Sunday Oliseh. Following the injury of Nigeria's first choice goalkeeper Carl Ikeme he was called up to be part of the squad in the World cup and Nations cup qualifications by Super Eagles coach Gernot Rohr and given the number 1 jersey replacing Ikeme as first choice goalkeeper of the Super Eagles.

Ezenwa showed some class of keeping during Nigeria's back to back matches against the ‘indomitable lions’ of Cameroon in the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. In May 2018, he was named in Nigeria's preliminary 30 man squad for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.[6]

Career statistics

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International

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Statistics accurate as of match played 30 June 2019.[7]
Nigeria
Year Apps Goals
2015 3 0
2016 3 0
2017 6 0
2018 7 0
2019 2 0
Total 21 0

References

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  1. ^ a b "2018 FIFA World Cup Russia – List of Players" (PDF). FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 4 June 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 December 2019. Retrieved 4 June 2018.
  2. ^ [1][permanent dead link]
  3. ^ "Ezenwa gets pay rise at IfeanyiUbah - Nigeria Premier League 2016 - Ifeanyi Ubah FC". African Football. Retrieved 14 May 2018.
  4. ^ "Ikechukwu Ezenwa thrilled with Enyimba move | Goal.com". Retrieved 7 June 2018.
  5. ^ "Super Eagles goalkeeper Ikechukwu Ezenwa joins Katsina United from Enyimba". www.pulse.ng. 21 December 2018. Retrieved 27 March 2019.
  6. ^ "Revealed: Every World Cup 2018 squad - Final 23-man lists". goal.com. Goal. 4 June 2018. Retrieved 20 April 2020.
  7. ^ "Ikechukwu Ezenwa". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmermann. Retrieved 23 June 2018.
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