Garba Lawal (born 22 May 1974) is a Nigerian 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 winger. From 2014 to 2015, he was general manager at Kaduna United. He is with the technical department of the Nigeria Football Federation.

Club career

As a player, Lawal had his most successful time at

Roda JC Sportvereniging Roda Juliana Combinatie Kerkrade (; ), shortly as Roda JC Kerkrade () or commonly Roda JC or simply Roda, is a Dutch professional football club based in Kerkrade, Netherlands. Roda JC Kerkrade plays in the Eerste Divisie. The c ...

in the

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; "Honour Division" or "Premier Division") is a professional association football league in the Netherlands and the highest level of the Dutch football league system. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start o ...

, in the Netherlands. He also played for Julius Berger F.C. in Nigeria and Chinese side

Changsha Ginde Guangzhou City Football Club () was a Chinese professional football club which last competed in the Chinese Super League. The team was based in Guangzhou, Guangdong. The club's name between 2011 and 2020 was Guangzhou R&F, which was short for ' ...

. In August 2009, he announced his return as a player-coach for

Makurdi Makurdi is the capital of Benue State, located in central Nigeria, and part of the Middle Belt region of central Nigeria. The city is situated along the Benue River. In 2017, Makurdi's urban population was 517,342. The town is divided by the Ri ...

side Lobi Stars, He was named general manager of Kaduna United in February 2014.

International career

Lawal is regarded as one of the most versatile players in the Nigeria national team of the 1990s and early 2000s often being used for any position ranging from defence to attack on the left wing. Lawal took part at the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

s in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

, where he played a key role in the 3–2 win over

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

in Nigeria's first match of the tournament, and in

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 ...

. He won the Olympic gold medal in

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

. He represented Nigeria at four editions of

African Cup of Nations The Africa Cup of Nations, commonly abbreviated as AFCON and officially known as the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, is the main biennial international men's association football competition in Africa. It is s ...

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

and

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

, scoring in all but the first. :''Scores and results list Nigeria's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Lawal goal.''

Post-playing career

In August 2009, Lawal was named as the assistant coach of

Lobi Stars F.C. Lobi Stars Football Club (formerly known as ''Mosquito football club'', ''Lobi Bank'', ''BBL Hawks'', and ''Hawks'') is a Nigerian professional Football (soccer), soccer club based in Makurdi, Benue State, Benue. The club competes in the Nigeria ...

In the same year, he was employed as team coordinator for the Nigeria U17 national team. In February 2014 he was appointed general manager at Kaduna United.

Honours

Roda JC *

KNVB Cup The KNVB Beker (; ), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organised by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. Outside the N ...

: 1996–97, 1999–2000 Levski Sofia *

Bulgarian Cup The Bulgarian Cup () is a Bulgarian annual football competition. It is the country's main cup competition and all officially registered Bulgarian football teams take part in it. The tournament's format is ''single-elimination'', with all matche ...

: 2002–03

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lawal, Garba 1974 births Living people Nigerian men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Nigeria men's international footballers Olympic footballers for Nigeria Olympic gold medalists for Nigeria Footballers at the 1996 Summer Olympics Footballers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Olympic medalists in football Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics 1998 FIFA World Cup players 2000 African Cup of Nations players 2002 FIFA World Cup players 2002 African Cup of Nations players 2004 African Cup of Nations players 2006 Africa Cup of Nations players Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1 players Eredivisie players First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Liga Portugal 2 players Allsvenskan players Chinese Super League players Super League Greece players C.D. Santa Clara players Guangzhou City F.C. players Espérance Sportive de Tunis players IF Elfsborg players Iraklis F.C. (Thessaloniki) players Bridge F.C. players Lobi Stars F.C. players PFC Levski Sofia players Roda JC Kerkrade players Nigerian football managers Lobi Stars F.C. managers Nigerian expatriate men's footballers Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Tunisia Expatriate men's footballers in Tunisia Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Bulgaria Expatriate men's footballers in Bulgaria Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Greece Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in China Expatriate men's footballers in China Footballers from Kaduna