Chima Ephraim Okorie (born 8 October 1968 in Izomber,

Abia State Abia State ( ig, Ȯha Abia) is a state in the South-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria, it is bordered to the north and northeast by the states of Enugu, and Ebonyi, Imo State to the west, Cross River State to the east, Akwa Ibom State to ...

) is a Nigerian former professional football striker who was renowned for his goalscoring prowess in the Indian leagues. He went on to score 131 goals for East Bengal in three seasons, becoming the top scorer in the history of East Bengal crossing K. P. Dhanaraj who had 127 goals, until it was crossed by

Bhaichung Bhutia Bhaichung Bhutia (born 15 December 1976), also spelled as Baichung Bhutia, is an Indian former professional footballer who played as a striker. Bhutia is considered as the torchbearer of Indian football in the international arena. He is often n ...

Playing career

Okorie moved to

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

as a student, his big break came when he played first time in the Durand Cup, when he represented

Visakhapatnam , image_alt = , image_caption = From top, left to right: Visakhapatnam aerial view, Vizag seaport, Simhachalam Temple, Aerial view of Rushikonda Beach, Beach road, Novotel Visakhapatnam, INS Kursura submarine museu ...

and Hyderabad XI. There was no such thing as Chandigarh team was an all volunteer team and could not afford to pay their players. He then signed a major deal with Mohammedan SC,

East Bengal ur, , common_name = East Bengal , status = Province of the Dominion of Pakistan , p1 = Bengal Presidency , flag_p1 = Flag of British Bengal.svg , s1 = Eas ...

and

Mohun Bagan Mohun Bagan Athletic Club is an Indian professional sports club based in Kolkata, West Bengal. Founded in 1889, its football section is one of the oldest in India and Asia. The club is most notable for its victory over East Yorkshire Regiment ...

. With Mohammedan, he scored sixteen goals in 1985 CFL season. He captained East Bengal in 1990–91. He was a deadly forward and use to score by using his tremendous power, He is also the first foreign player in Mohun Bagan. He then moved to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

, joining

Peterborough United Peterborough United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Peterborough have a long-standin ...

on non-contract terms before joining

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that in the 2022–23 season will compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system, following the victory in t ...

in September 1993. He made his English league debut as a substitute away to

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition buildin ...

winning the Sunday Man of the match, and made four further appearances (all as a substitute) as his career at Grimsby was interrupted by a broken leg. He moved to

Torquay United Torquay United Football Club is a professional football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the , the fifth tier of English football. They have played their home matches at Plainmoor since 1921 and are nicknamed ...

in March 1994 and was a regular in the Torquay side for the next twelve months, before losing his place to

Duane Darby Duane Darby (born 17 October 1973) is an English football manager and former player, who was previously the manager of side Redditch United. As a player, he spent most of his career playing as a forward. Darby has made over 400 senior appear ...

. He was released at the end of the 1994–95 season was joined Norwegian second-tier side

Sogndal Sogndal is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located on the northern shore of the Sognefjorden in the traditional district of Sogn. The village of Hermansverk is the administrative center of Sogndal municipality. Other villages ...

, later playing for

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish ance ...

premier sides Ikast FS and

Viborg FF Viborg Fodsports Forening ("Viborg Footsport Association"), or Viborg F.F. and VFF for short, is a Danish professional football club based in Viborg. The club was founded in 1896 and waited more than a century before winning its only national ...

. He returned to India to play again for Mohun Bagan, but received a two-year suspension after being accused of assaulting a referee in a game on 31 August 1999. In 2001, he came back to India and signed with Bengal Mumbai FC. He appeared in few matches of Mumbai Senior Division with BMFC.

Managerial career

On 3 June 2006, he was made manager of Bengal-Mumbai FC, and also became the club's

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especiall ...

on 16 August. He was appointed manager of Mohun Bagan on 20 February 2007, but resigned on 7 April following differences with the club's senior players. He then became the manager of the

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders wi ...

based

I-League The I-League (known as Hero I-League for sponsorship ties with Hero MotoCorp) is the second-tier men's professional football competition of the Indian football league system. It is currently contested by 12 clubs across the country with the win ...

2nd division side Osian's New Delhi Heroes.

Honours

Individual

Calcutta Football League The Calcutta Football League (CFL) is a ladder-based football competition in the Indian state of West Bengal, organised by Indian Football Association (WB), under state football leagues in India. Due to sponsorship reasons, the league is off ...

Top Scorer: 1987 (26 goals), 1991 (11 goals)

References

External links

Profile
a
UpThePosh! The Peterborough United Database
{{DEFAULTSORT:Okorie, Chima 1968 births Living people Association football forwards Nigerian footballers Peterborough United F.C. players Grimsby Town F.C. players Torquay United F.C. players Ikast FS players East Bengal Club players Viborg FF players Sogndal Fotball players Norwegian First Division players Danish Superliga players Nigerian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Bangladesh Expatriate footballers in India Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Denmark Expatriate footballers in Norway Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Bangladesh Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in India Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in England Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Norway Mohun Bagan AC players Mohammedan SC (Kolkata) players Bengal Mumbai FC players Calcutta Football League players Nigerian football managers Mohun Bagan AC managers Sportspeople from Imo State