Bolton
Wanderers (England), Birmingham City (england)
Honours
???
Biography
Yay-Jay Okocha (born August 14, 1973 in Enugu)
is a Nigerian football (soccer) midfielder. He is nicknamed Jay
Jay for his entertaining and flamboyant style of play.
Okocha is currently playing in the English Premier League for
Bolton Wanderers. He has previously played for Paris Saint-Germain,
Fenerbahçe, and Eintracht Frankfurt. He is regularly selected
for the Nigeria national football team.
Known as a hugely skillful midfielder, Okocha has played at the
1994, 1998 (where he was named in the official team of the
tournament), and 2002 World Cup finals and many African Nations
Cup tournaments. He was also a member of the Nigerian team that
won the golden medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta,
Georgia.
Okocha is often described as an African "Maradona", as his style
is similar to that of the Argentine superstar. He is a member of
the FIFA 100, a list of the 125 greatest living footballers
selected by Pelé in conjunction with FIFA's centenary
celebrations. He has also been nominated BBC's African
footballer of the year (2004 and 2005).
In the early 2005/06 season, he was replaced as Bolton captain
by Kevin Nolan. This is much attributed to his public admittance
that he was interested in a lucrative move to the Middle East to
ply his trade. This must definitely have caused displeasure to
the management of Bolton. His number of appearances for the club
have declined since, and he now plays the role of a substitute
in most league games.
Jay-Jay is an excellent example of a complete African player
with his great individual skills, good vision, passing and
shooting.
In 2004 he released a DVD called "Superskills with Jay-Jay
Okcoha" where he teaches kids at a footbal school the most
difficult tricks in football, most of which he has done in games.
He's known as the player who does things during a match that
most people can't even imagine doing in training or even do it
at all.
Married to Nkechi, a native of Nigeria. Jay-Jay also has a son (Named
"A-J Okocha").
