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Nigeria beats South Africa on penalties

7 Feb 2024
2024 AFRICA CUP - Quarter-Finals - DAY 17 - Nigeria vs Angola 1:0

Nigeria beats Angola

2 Feb 2024
2024 AFRICA CUP - Last Sixteen - DAY 13 - Nigeria vs Cameroon 2:0

Nigeria beats Cameroon 

27 Jan 2024
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Nigeria beats Guinea-Bissau

22 Jan 2024
2024 AFRICA CUP - GROUP A - DAY 06 - Côte d'Ivoire vs Nigeria 0:1

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18 Jan 2024
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a draw between Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea

14 Jan 2024
2024 AFRICA CUP - kick-off in two days

Who to watch out for at Afcon

11 Jan 2024
2024 AFRICA CUP - Preview
Sa., 13. Jan. 2024 – So., 11. Feb. 2024 in Côte d'Ivoire
 
18 Dec 2023
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Tunisia beats Nigeria 1:0

23 Jan 2022

Kelechi Iheanacho
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 07/2017Embed from Getty Images

 

Nigeria

Leiceister City  Season 2017-

Article 01

Article 02

Article 03


Personal information
Full name

Kelechi Promise Iheanacho
Date of birth
3 October 1996 
Place of birth
Imo, Nigeria
Height
1.87 m (6 ft 1 1⁄2 in)
Playing position
Forward

Club information
Current team

Manchester City
Number
72


Youth career

Taye Academy
2011-2014

Manchester City
2014-2015

→ Columbus Crew (loan)
2014


Senior career

Manchester City
2015-2017
46x apps / 12x goals

Leicester City
2017-
0x apps / 0x goals

 


National team

Nigeria U17
2013
7x apps / 8x goals

Nigeria U20
2015-
2x apps / 0x goals

Nigeria
2015-
10x apps / 6x goals

(* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 16:08, 10 September 2016 (UTC) - National team caps and goals correct as of 31 May 2016)


Kelechi Promise Iheanacho is a Nigerian professional footballer who plays for Premier League club Manchester City and the Nigeria national team. 

He has made appearances for Manchester City U-21 team, as well as the Nigeria squad that won the 2013 FIFA U-17 World Cup and the Nigeria U-20 team at the 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup. 

Iheanacho was called up to the Manchester City senior squad for the 2015-16 season.


Club career

Early career
Iheanacho was born in the town of Obogwe
in Ohaji Egbema LGA, in the state of Imo.

As a youth, he represented Taye Academy in Owerri, the capital city of Imo. 

His performances for Nigeria in the 2013 FIFA U-17 World Cup led to interest from clubs in Europe; teams following his progress included Arsenal, Sporting Clube de Portugal and Porto.

In December 2012, Iheanacho travelled to England to discuss a move to Manchester City. 

He signed a pre-contract agreement with the club, stating his intent to formally sign for City on his 18th birthday in October 2014. 

In the interim, he returned to Nigeria. 

As the year drew to a close, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) named him the Most Promising Talent of the Year for 2013 at the CAF Awards.


Manchester City
Iheanacho joined Manchester City's Academy
on 10 January 2014. 

Before the 201415 season, City visited the United States on a pre-season tour, and although still not formally a City player, he joined up with the squad. 

He played and scored in the first match of the tour, a 4:1 win against Sporting Kansas City, and scored again against Milan in a 5:1 win.

After the conclusion of the tour, Manchester City arranged for Iheanacho to train with the Columbus Crew until mid-October.

Delays in obtaining a work permit meant Iheanacho was unable to play in England until February 2015. 

He made his debut at under-19 level in a UEFA Youth League match against Schalke 04, but sustained an injury after only 11 minutes. 

After his recovery, he began to represent Manchester City at both youth and under-21 level in the latter part of the season. 

He played in the FA Youth Cup final, where he scored, but ended on the losing side after Chelsea claimed a 5:2 aggregate victory. 

The following week, he scored the only goal as Manchester City beat Porto in the final of the 2014-15 Premier League International Cup.

In July 2015, Iheanacho was included in City's pre-season tour team in Australia. 

On the tour, he set up the first goal for Raheem Sterling and scored the second goal in the win against Roma in the 2015 International Champions Cup. 

He also set up Sterling for the fourth goal in City's 8:1 victory against the Vietnam national team. 

In City's last pre-season game, against VfB Stuttgart, he came on as a substitute, scoring late on in a 4:2 defeat. 

Due to his impressive pre-season, Iheanacho was promoted to the Manchester City senior squad.

On 10 August 2015, Iheanacho was included in a first-team matchday squad for the first time in a competitive fixture, however he remained an unused subtitute in their 3:0 win at West Bromwich Albion in their first game of the Premier League season.

Nineteen days later, he made his competitive debut, replacing Raheem Sterling for the final minute of a 2:0 win against Watford at the City of Manchester Stadium.

He scored his first competitive goal on 12 September, replacing Wilfried Bony in the final minute in a match away to Crystal Palace and scoring the only goal of the game.

Iheanacho scored his first career hat-trick on 30 January 2016 against Aston Villa in the fourth round of the FA Cup, also setting up City's fourth goal, scored by Raheem Sterling.

The following month, he was put in City's UEFA Champions League squad at the expense of the injured Samir Nasri.

During February, Iheanacho scored against Tottenham Hostpur in a 2:1 home defeat for City.

Iheanacho's next goals came on 23 April 2016, where he scored twice against Stoke City in a 4:0 victory.

He followed this up with a Champions League semi-final substitute appearance on 26 April 2016. 

Five days later, on 1 May 2016, he scored two again, albeit in a 4:2 defeat at the hands of Southampton.

Iheanacho ended the 2015-16 season with eight Premier League goals and had the best goals-per-minute ratio of any player averaging, a goal every 93.9 minutes.

In all competitions he finished with a record of 14 goals and 5 assists from 35 appearances, although he only started 11 of these games.

His goals total also meant he ended the season as City's third-highest scorer.

 

2016–17 season
On 10 September 2016,
Iheanacho started in the Manchester Derby. 

He recorded an assist and his first goal of the season in the 2:1 win.

Four days later, Iheanacho came off the bench to score the final goal in City's 4:0 home win in the Champions League, against Borussia Mönchengladbach.

This was his first European goal for Manchester City. 

Three days after the 4:0 win, Kelechi scored the second goal, also assisting the third, in City's game against AFC Bournemouth. 

That goal took his tally in the Premier League to 10, allowing him to join an exclusive list of players to have scored 10 Premier League goals before the age of 20. 

This list includes players such as Wayne Rooney, Ryan Giggs, Nicolas Anelka, Michael Owen and Romelu Lukaku..

In October 2016, Iheanacho was nominated for the FIFA Golden Boy award, which was eventually won by Bayern Munich's midfielder Renato Sanches.

Previous winners of the award include teammates Raheem Sterling and Sergio Aguero, and five-time Ballon d'Or winner Lionel Messi.

Iheanacho's next goal would come in the Champions League, against Celtic, in a 1:1 home draw on 6 December 2016.


 

Leicester City
Iheanacho was signed by Premier League side Leicester City on a five-year contract on 3 August 2017, for a reported £25m fee.

 


International career
Iheanacho has represented Nigeria at youth levels
from under-13 upwards.

His first experience of a major international tournament was the 2013 African U-17 Championship in Morocco. 

For Iheanacho, the highlight was a hat-trick in a win against Botswana.

He dedicated his goals to his mother, who died two months before the tournament.

Nigeria reached the final of the competition, where they were defeated on penalties by the Ivory Coast.

Iheanacho played a significant role in the 2013 FIFA U-17 World Cup, where he won the Golden Ball award for player of the tournament.

Nigeria won the competition, in which Iheanacho scored six times, including once in the final, and provided seven assists.

In the run-up to the 2014 African Nations Championship, Iheanacho trained with the senior Nigeria squad but was released from the squad in order to travel to England to sign with Manchester City.

He was part of the Nigeria squad for the 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup in New Zealand, and featured in two matches.

Iheanacho made his senior debut as a substitute in a 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying match against Swaziland in which Nigeria drew 0:0.

His first start for the senior team was on 25 March 2016, a 1:1 draw with Egypt in a 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match.

He was selected by Nigeria for their 35-man provisional squad for the 2016 Summer Olympics.