Emmanuel Olisadebe (; born 22 December 1978) is a former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a striker. Born in Nigeria, he played for the Poland national team. He scored 11 international goals in 25 caps between 2000 and 2004, and participated in the

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea/Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

. In 2001, he won the Polish Footballer of the Year Award. Olisadebe began his career with Jasper United in his native Nigeria, before signing with Polish top flight club

Polonia Warsaw Polonia Warsaw (, ), founded on 19 November 1911, is the oldest existing sports club in Warsaw, the capital of Poland, best known for its Association football, football and basketball teams. It also has track and field, Swimming (sport), swimm ...

in 1997. At Polonia he became a first team regular, and helped the club to the

Ekstraklasa (; meaning "Extra Class" in Polish), officially known as PKO Bank Polski Ekstraklasa due to its Sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by PKO Bank Polski, is a professional association football league in Poland and the highest level of the Polish foo ...

title, and

Ekstraklasa Cup The Ekstraklasa Cup () was an elimination tournament for Polish football clubs that played in the Polish Ekstraklasa. The Ekstraklasa Cup was the fourth attempt at introducing a League Cup competition in Poland. The first such tournament was a on ...

and

Polish Super Cup The Polish Super Cup (, ) is an annually held match between the champions of the Ekstraklasa and the Polish Cup winners or, if the Ekstraklasa champions also win the Polish Cup, the Cup's runners-up. As of 2024, the Polish Super Cup has been ...

. After meeting the residency requirements, Olisadebe became a Polish national in 2000 making him available for selection for the Poland national football team. He was subsequently called up to the national team and in the process become the first black player to represent Poland. After leaving Poland he went on to play in Greece, Cyprus, England and China before retiring.

Club career

Polonia Warsaw

Olisadebe began playing for

during the

1997–98 Ekstraklasa Statistics of the Ekstraklasa for the 1997–98 season. Overview 18 teams competed in the 1997–98 season. ŁKS Łódź won the championship. League table Results Top goalscorers References External links Poland – List of final table ...

season where in his first season he played in 13 league games. During his time in the Polish capital he helped them secure their first championship title in 50 years in the 1999–2000 season, scoring 12 goals in the process. He also won the League Cup and the Super Cup that season.

Panathinaikos

Olisadebe moved to Panathinaikos where he scored 24 goals in 74 matches. In 2004, he helped the club win the title for the first time in 7 years by scoring all the winning goals in the last three of four games of the championship. He also won the cup that year, making it a

double Double, The Double or Dubble may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Multiplication by 2 * Double precision, a floating-point representation of numbers that is typically 64 bits in length * A double number of the form x+yj, where j^2=+1 * A ...

. However, during his time at Panathinaikos he suffered an injury that required surgery in Greece.

Portsmouth

On 4 January 2006, he joined

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

until the end of the 2005–06 season. He made his debut ten days later, replacing Richard Hughes after 61 minutes of an eventual 1–0

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

defeat to Everton at

Fratton Park Fratton Park is a association football, football ground in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England, and is the home of Portsmouth F.C., Portsmouth Football Club. Fratton Park's location on Portsea Island is unique in English professional football, as it ...

. A week later he made his only other appearance for the club, playing the final 37 minutes of a 5–0 defeat at

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. The team compete in the ...

, this time in place of Vincent Péricard. His contract was terminated after four months, at which point he moved to

Skoda Xanthi Xanthi Football Club () is a Greek Association football, football club based in Xanthi, Western Thrace. They play their home matches at Skoda Xanthi Arena Founded in 1967, Xanthi is well set up in terms of their financial support and youth set ...

, where he played for nine matches.

APOP Kinyras Peyias

He then featured for APOP Kinyras Peyia FC where he played in the 2007–08 season where he played in 17 games scoring 6 goals.

Henan Construction

In 2008, he was offered a deal with

Chinese Super League The Chinese Football Super League (), commonly known as the Chinese Super League or the CSL (), also known as the China Resources Beverage Chinese Football Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Ch ...

club Henan Construction. In his second match with Henan, the third round of 2008 Chinese Super League against

Liaoning ) , image_skyline = , image_alt = , image_caption = Clockwise: Mukden Palace in Shenyang, Xinghai Square in Dalian, Dalian coast, Yalu River at Dandong , image_map = Liaoning in China (+all claims hatched).svg , ...

, he scored two goals. In first season at Henan he scored 12 goals in 26 games in the Chinese super league. On 27 September, Olisadebe scored the opening goal for Henan in a 2–0 win over

Shanghai Shenhua Shanghai Shenhua Football Club () is a Chinese professional football club based in Shanghai, that competes in . Shanghai Shenhua plays its home matches at the Shanghai Stadium, located within Xuhui District. The owner of Shanghai Shenhua is ...

to regain lead in the league less than ten minutes before injuring his knee. Initial diagnosis showed that he had torn his

cruciate ligament Cruciate ligaments (also cruciform ligaments) are pairs of ligaments arranged like a letter X. They occur in several joints of the body, such as the knee joint, wrist joint and the atlanto-axial joint. In a fashion similar to the cords in ...

of the left knee, and the injury could end his entire football career. Further results confirmed that he injured his

patellar ligament The patellar tendon is the distal portion of the common tendon of the quadriceps femoris, which is continued from the patella to the tibial tuberosity. It is also sometimes called the patellar ligament as it forms a bone to bone connection when ...

and would only miss the rest of the season. He was nominated for the MVP awards two years consecutively only to be 2nd in both occasions. Due to his performance he has been granted by the government of Henan province citizenship.

International career

Though Nigerian by birth, Olisadebe became a Polish citizen in 2000 and was selected by the Poland national team. He scored eight goals in ten qualification matches as coach Jerzy Engel's team reached the

, their first since

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. ** Spain and Portugal en ...

, gaining one vote for 2001 FIFA World Player of the Year. He netted their second of three goals in a victory over

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

on 1 September which confirmed qualification. Olisadebe scored Poland's first goal of their

campaign in a 3–1 victory against the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Daejeon Daejeon (; ) is South Korea's list of cities in South Korea, fifth-largest metropolis, with a population of nearly 1.5 million. Located in a central lowland valley between the Sobaek Mountains and the Geum River, the city is known both as a ...

in the last group match. However, Poland did not progress to the second round and Olisadebe would not score again for Poland. Jerzy Engel, the national coach who brought Olisadebe into the fold, resigned following Poland’s exit from the World Cup, and barring a handful of sporadic appearances that resignation ended Olisadebe’s association with the national team as well.

Personal life

Olisadebe supported the "Let’s Kick Racism out of the Stadiums" campaign, organised by the Polish Never Again Association. He married a Polish woman, Beata Smolińska, in 2001 and they remained married until 2017; they parted on friendly terms. Olisadebe retired from football in 2012 and eventually moved back to Nigeria. Although he admits to sometimes missing Poland, he prefers life in his original homeland of Nigeria, where he now profits from housing construction.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Poland's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Olisadebe goal.''

Honours

;Polonia Warsaw *

: 1999–2000 *

: 2000 * Polish League Cup: 1999–2000 ;Panathinaikos *

Superleague Greece The Super League Greece 1 (), or Stoiximan Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Greece and the highest level of the Greek football league system. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and repl ...

: 2003–04 *

Greek Cup The Greek Football Cup (), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Betsson Greek Cup for sponsorship reasons is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second-most important domestic men's footba ...

: 2003–04 Individual * Polish Footballer of the Year: 2001 *Fourth-best Polish sportsman of the Year: 2002 *Nominated for the

FIFA World Player of the Year The FIFA World Player of the Year was an association football award presented annually by the sport's governing body, FIFA, between 1991 and 2015 at the FIFA World Player Gala. Coaches and captains of international teams and media representative ...

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

References

External links