Gregory Junior Nwokolo (born 3 January 1986) is a 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 ...

who last played as a forward for Madura United. Born in Nigeria, he represented

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

at international level.

Club career

Greg began his career in

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an ...

with

Tampines Rovers Tampines Rovers Football Club is a professional football club based in Tampines, Singapore, that competes in the Singapore Premier League, the top tier of Singapore football league system. Founded in 1945, the club have won the national league ...

. After that, in 2004 he signed for Young Lions. He left them in the same year to moved to the Indonesian club, Persijatim Solo. After half a year in Indonesia for Persijatim, he joined

Singapore Armed Forces FC Warriors Football Club is a Singaporean professional football club that played in the Singapore Premier League, the top division of football in Singapore. Before changing their name on 20 January 2013, they were previously known as the Singap ...

in January 2005 and signed back to

PSIS Semarang Persatuan Sepak Bola Indonesia Semarang ( 'Indonesian Football Association of Semarang'), commonly known by its abbreviation PSIS is an Indonesian professional football club based in Semarang, Central Java. The club play their home matches in ...

in early 2006. After a year and a half, in mid-2006 he joined

PSMS Medan Persatuan Sepakbola Medan dan Sekitarnya, commonly known as PSMS, is an Indonesian football club based in Medan, North Sumatra, Indonesia. It is one of Indonesia's most successful clubs. They currently compete in Liga 2, the second level in In ...

. He played for

one year before being signed in January 2007 for

Persis Solo Persatuan Sepakbola Indonesia Surakarta (commonly known as PERSIS Solo, literally translates to Indonesian Football Association of Surakarta), is an Indonesian football club based in the Central Java city of Surakarta. Founded on 8 November 1923 ...

, after 14 goals in 28 games in the 2007–08 season was sold to

Persija Jakarta Persatuan Sepakbola Indonesia Jakarta ( 'Indonesian Football Association of Jakarta'; abbreviated as Persija), is an Indonesian professional football club based in the Indonesian capital city of Jakarta. Persija Jakarta is one of the most s ...

. In 2009, he left the club, Persija Jakarta and he want to seek his fortune in Europe and signed for the

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Port ...

club, S.C. Olhanense until 30 June 2010, in August 2010 before he moved back to Persija Jakarta as a free agent. In the 2011–12 season, he was recruited by

Pelita Jaya Madura United Football Club is an Indonesian professional football club. The club is based in Pamekasan, Madura, East Java. They currently play in the Liga 1. Established on 10 January 2016, Madura United FC is one of few professional clubs ...

together with Safee Sali and

Aleksandar Bajevski Aleksandar Bajevski ( mk, Александар Бајевски, born 8 December 1979) is a Macedonian international footballer who has retired from professional football in 2012, after a short spell at FK Radnički Niš in Serbian SuperLiga. ...

. After that, Greg moved to

Arema Indonesia Arema Football Club is an Indonesian professional football club based in Malang, East Java. The club competes in the Liga 1, the top flight of Indonesian Football. They are considered one of the best and most successful football clubs in th ...

for the 2012–13 season. On 5 December 2014, he signed again with Persija Jakarta.

International career

As a

Nigerian Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was taken from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jour ...

, Greg does not have any record that he has been capped in any match for both junior or senior

Nigeria National Football Team The Nigeria national football team represents Nigeria in men's international football. Governed by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), they are three-time Africa Cup of Nations winners, with their most recent title in 2013. In April 1994, ...

. In early 2010, Greg was rumoured that he will soon play for the

Indonesia national football team The Indonesia national football team ( id, Tim nasional sepak bola Indonesia) represents Indonesia in international association football. It was the first Asian team to participate in the FIFA World Cup, particularly in the 1938 edition as Du ...

, though this rumour wasn't confirmed by Greg himself, what is interesting is that he does not confirm nor deny the rumour. After many speculations, in August 2011

Football Association of Indonesia The Football Association of Indonesia ( id, Persatuan Sepakbola Seluruh Indonesia; 'All-Indonesian Football Association'; abbreviated as PSSI) is the governing body of football in Indonesia. It was founded on 19 April 1930, fifteen years before ...

finally confirmed that Greg has been

naturalised Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the in ...

, and got

n citizenship officially on 10 October 2011. He made his debut for the

in the

2015 AFC Asian Cup qualification The 2015 AFC Asian Cup qualification was a qualification process organized by the AFC to determine the participating teams for the 2015 AFC Asian Cup. The 2015 AFC Asian Cup, hosted by Australia, featured 16 teams. In the initial scheme, ten p ...

campaign against

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries by area, fifth-largest country in Asia ...

on 23 March 2013.

Career statistics

International

International goals

:''Scores and results list Indonesia's goal tally first.''

Honours

Club

Tampines Rovers * S.League:

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 ...

Singapore Cup The Singapore Cup is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic Singaporean football. Established in 1998, it is the foremost football cup competition in the country. It is open to clubs in the Singapore Premier League. Since ...

: 2004 Arema Cronus * Menpora Cup: 2013

Controversies

On 15 April 2014, after the

Persipura Jayapura Persatuan Sepakbola Indonesia Jayapura, or Persipura, is an Indonesian football club based in Jayapura, Papua. The club was founded in 1963 and currently competes in the Liga 2. Persipura used to always use the Mandala Stadium as their ho ...

vs Persebaya Bhayangkara match conference, Greg got into a fight with Jacksen F. Tiago because of personal problems that started in the

. The situation then eased after police restrained both of them.

Personal life

On 20 May 2018, he married Indonesian model and actress Kimmy Jayanti, in

Perth Perth is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the Australian states and territories of Australia, state of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth most populous city in Aust ...

, Australia.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nwokolo, Greg 1986 births Living people Sportspeople from Onitsha Indonesian footballers Indonesia international footballers Nigerian footballers Nigerian emigrants to Indonesia Indonesian people of Nigerian descent Association football forwards Nigerian expatriates in Portugal Indonesian expatriate footballers Warriors FC players Expatriate footballers in Singapore Liga 1 (Indonesia) players Persija Jakarta players S.C. Olhanense players Pelita Jaya FC players PSMS Medan players Expatriate footballers in Portugal Naturalised citizens of Indonesia Expatriate footballers in Thailand