Benedict "Ben" Iroha (born 29 November 1969) is a Nigerian former professional association football player who played as a left-back or

left midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

Career

Iroha started his career in Nigeria, scoring the first ever goal in the newly professional Nigerian league in 1990 for Iwuanyanwu Nationale, who went on to win the league that year. Iroha was originally a midfielder before national coach Clemens Westerhof converted him to play

left back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

. His club career in Europe was largely unsuccessful, and Iroha was allocated to San Jose Clash in 1996. Iroha ended up playing in the inaugural MLS match against D.C. United, and is credited with the league's first-ever assist. The next season, he was traded to D.C. United, where he won the league title but was dropped to comply with salary restrictions. He entered negotiations with the team to re-sign his contract, but they were halted after Iroha was called up to the World Cup squad for Nigeria. After a move to Spanish side Elche CF in 1997, he moved to Watford in December 1998, playing ten games for the

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

side. A problem with bunions forced him to the sidelines, and he retired in March 2000.

International career

Playing for the Nigerian national team, he has featured in the

1994 FIFA World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States ...

and the

1998 FIFA World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the football world championship for men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. The country was chosen as the host nation by FIFA for the ...

as well as when they won the

1994 African Nations Cup The 1994 African Cup of Nations was the 19th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the association football championship of Africa ( CAF). It was hosted by Tunisia, who replaced original hosts Zaire. Just as in 1992, the field of twelve teams was ...

Coaching career

After retiring, he returned to the US to coach in the youth department of FC Dallas. Most recently, he was an assistant with the Nigerian U-17 team that won the 2007 FIFA U-17 World Cup and head coach of Nigeria's Dolphins FC. Iroha is on the staff of Heartland of Owerri.

External links

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Iroha, Ben 1969 births Living people People from Aba, Abia Nigerian footballers Association football defenders Nigeria international footballers Africa Cup of Nations-winning players 1990 African Cup of Nations players 1994 African Cup of Nations players 1994 FIFA World Cup players 1995 King Fahd Cup players 1998 FIFA World Cup players Eredivisie players La Liga players Major League Soccer players Bendel Insurance F.C. players Heartland F.C. players ASEC Mimosas players SBV Vitesse players San Jose Earthquakes players D.C. United players Elche CF players Watford F.C. players Nigerian football managers Dolphin F.C. (Nigeria) managers Nigerian expatriate footballers Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate soccer players in the United States Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate footballers in Spain Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate footballers in England Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Ivory Coast Expatriate footballers in Ivory Coast