Wednesday, 17 September 2014

Wednesday’s Special: Meet Jay-Jay Okocha


In this seventh episode of Wednesday’s Special, The Writer will bring readers into the life and brief story of a weekly selected footballer. Today, readers will have the chance to meet one of the greatest talents from Africa, Jay-Jay Okocha; albeit in words only.


Okocha’s real name is Augustine Azuka Okocha. Sounds a bit like a Japanese name right? He actually got his famous ‘Jay-Jay’ name from his older brother whose named is James. James started a football career first and was simply called as ‘J-J’ among his teammates in Nigeria. Then this younger brother, Augustine, borrowed his brother’s nickname and it stuck until today as ‘Jay-Jay Okocha’. Okocha is widely regarded as the best Nigerian player of his generation and is certainly among the best African players of all time. He was known for his step-over skills, excellent free-kicks, fantastic dribbling ability, and midfield playmaker role. For the record, Okocha holds a second nationality which is Turkish having acquired it while playing in Turkey. His Turkish name is Muhammet Yavuz.



Okocha’s career started in Nigeria where he joined Enugu Rangers in 1990. Within the same year, he was invited to go to German by a friend and luckily he impressed in several training session. Soon after that, he was offered a contract to play for a Third Division German club, Borussia Neunkirchen. Later in 1992, Okocha got a transfer to Eintracht Frankfurt where he plied his trade with several African big name players such as Tony Yeboah and Thomas Doll. One of the highlight during his stay at Frankfurt was a goal he scored past Oliver Kahn. The goal was voted as the Best Goal of The Year 1993. Unfortunately his stay at Frankfurt didn’t last long as he was involved in a feud with manager, Jupp Heynckes and later left the club following the club’s relegation to the 2nd division in 1996.



Okocha signed for Fenerbahce in July 1996 and managed to spend two fruitful years at the club. He scored 30 goals in 62 appearances which were mostly through his trademark free-kicks. In his time at Fenerbahce, he gained the Turkish citizenship and was worshipped by the fanatic fans of Fenerbahce. After two years, Okocha was bought by Paris Saint Germain for 24 million thus making him as the most expensive African footballer at that time. He stayed for another four wonderful years at PSG and was regarded as the mentor for the upcoming young Brazilian superstar in the name of Ronaldinho.      



Then after the World Cup 2002, Okocha decided to leave PSG for free after his contract expired and later joined Bolton Wanderers of the EPL. During his time at Bolton, he once again scored a wonder goal which was voted as the Best Goal for Bolton in the new rebranded EPL era. He was made the fans’ favorite as early as in his debut season because of his excellent performance for Bolton and he was made the captain of the club in his second season. As captain, Okocha guided Bolton to the 2004 League Cup Final where they finished a respectable runner-up placement. He was regarded as a legend at Bolton and even had the fans singing a song specially made for him. Among the lyrics in the song are “Jay-Jay – so good they named him TWICE…laa laa laaalaa laa laa”. In all, his stint at Bolton was among his finest and the EPL never forgot his presence there to this day.



In 2006, Okocha left Bolton and joined Qatar SC. His career at Qatar was not successful and in just one season, he left to England again. Hull City was Okocha’s next destination in 2007 as he once said “God has told me to join Hull City”. However his stay at Hull was once again not a successful one and soon after Hull’s victory towards gaining promotion to the EPL, Okocha decided to retire from football for good. Going into his international career, it is fair to say that Okocha really excelled on the international stage as he got the chance to win more trophies and awards than at club level. He won the 1994 African Cup of Nations, 1995 Afro-Asian Cup of Nations, 1996 Olympic gold medalist for men’s football, and several Player of The Tournament & Golden Boot Winner awards. Okocha was also appointed as the Nigeria’s national team captain in 2002. He retired from international duty in 2006 after persistent injuries affected his performances.



Jay-Jay Okocha had never been voted as the African Player of the Year although he was highly regarded as one of the best players of his generation. It was mainly because of his sometimes over-the-limit bad behavior off the pitch and also his closest challengers for the award at that time often got one step above him for the calendar year. However, Okocha was included among Pele’s 125 greatest ever football legends that were still alive in 2004. That was what sums up Jay-Jay Okocha’s 18 years of footballing career. A legend!

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