Jonathan Akpoborie (born 20 October 1968) 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 forward and spent the majority of his playing career in Germany.

Club career

Akpoborie started his professional career at Julius Berger, before moving to USA. In 1990, he joined 1. FC Saarbrücken of German 2. Bundesliga. Akpoborie also had spells with

FC Carl Zeiss Jena FC Carl Zeiss Jena () is a German football club based in Jena, Thuringia. Founded in 1903, it was initially associated with the optics manufacturer Carl Zeiss. From the 1960s to the 1980s it was one of the top-ranked clubs in East Germany, won ...

, Stuttgart Kickers, for whom he scored 37 goals in one season, and Waldhof Mannheim, before finally joining top-flight FC Hansa Rostock in 1995. After spending two years at Hansa, the player moved to their

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

rivals

VfB Stuttgart Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V. (), commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German professional sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's Association football, football team is currently part of Germany's f ...

and then VfL Wolfsburg in 1999. Akpoborie finished his playing career at

Saarbrücken Saarbrücken (; Rhenish Franconian: ''Sabrigge'' ; ; ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of cities and towns in Germany, city of the state of Saarland, Germany. Saarbrücken has 181,959 inhabitants and is Saarland's administrative, commerci ...

in 2002.

International career

Akpoborie was part of the Nigeria team that won the first edition of the FIFA U-16 Championship in

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...

, scoring in the final against the then West Germany. Two years later, he featured for the Flying Eagles at the 1987 FIFA World Youth Championship in Chile. He attended and played for

Brooklyn College Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn in New York City, United States. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls nearly 14,000 students on a campus in the Midwood and Flatbush sections of Brooklyn as of fall ...

. At the senior level, he was selected for the

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

and 2000 Africa Cup of Nations where he won bronze and silver respectively. His first senior cap was in a 1992 Africa Cup of Nations Third-place match against Cameroon, which the Super Eagles won. He scored his first goal for the Super Eagles against

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

at the 1995 U.S. Cup on 24 June 1995. He got his second goal – a 48th-minute equalizer – in a 1–1 draw with

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

in a

1998 FIFA World Cup qualification The 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification competition was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA FIFA#Structure, confederations. Each confederation — the Asian Football Confederation, AFC (Asia), Confederation of African Football, CAF (Afr ...

match on 12 January 1997. Akpoborie was surprisingly dropped from

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

's squad for the

1998 FIFA World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 1 ...

by Bora Milutinović, in spite of the fact that he played in five of the six

matches and was the joint second top scorer in the 1997-98 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup tournament. He was also one of the two Nigerian footballers to play in a European Cup final that year, the other being

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football ...

defender Taribo West, who was red-carded in the 1998 UEFA Cup Final, less than a month to the World Cup in France. In 1999, Dutch manager Thijs Libregts recalled him to the national side in a 2000 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifier against

Senegal Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. It borders Mauritania to Mauritania–Senegal border, the north, Mali to Mali–Senegal border, the east, Guinea t ...

. The game ended in a 1–1 draw, with Akpoborie scoring his third international goal. Nigeria did not play any qualifier after the game as they qualified as hosts of the 2000 AFCON after Zimbabwe – the originally designated host – failed to get a guarantee from the government. Akpoborie featured in a number of games ahead of 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 the 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification – CAF first round, he scored his fourth goal in Nigeria's 4–0 win over

Eritrea Eritrea, officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa, with its capital and largest city being Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia in the Eritrea–Ethiopia border, south, Sudan in the west, and Dj ...

in Lagos.

Slave ship allegations

In 2001, Akpoborie made the headlines when a boat, managed by his family, was stopped in

Benin Benin, officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in West Africa. It was formerly known as Dahomey. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the north-west, and Niger to the north-east. The majority of its po ...

after allegations that it was carrying children into slavery in

Gabon Gabon ( ; ), officially the Gabonese Republic (), is a country on the Atlantic coast of Central Africa, on the equator, bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north, the Republic of the Congo to the east and south, and ...

. The incident led to Akpoborie's suspension from the Wolfsburg team and eventually, after a brief sojourn at Saarbrücken, to his retirement. The story of the ship, her passengers and her owner has been covered by the documentary ''Das Schiff des Torjägers'' (''The Goalgetter's Ship'') by Swiss director Heidi Specogna.

Personal life

Akpoborie now resides in

Lagos Lagos ( ; ), or Lagos City, is a large metropolitan city in southwestern Nigeria. With an upper population estimated above 21 million dwellers, it is the largest city in Nigeria, the most populous urban area on the African continent, and on ...

. He works as a player agent for Rogon Sports Management.

References

External links

Biography
at Worldsoccer.com * {{DEFAULTSORT:Akpoborie, Jonathan 1968 births Living people Nigerian men's footballers Nigerian expatriate men's footballers Nigeria men's youth international footballers Nigeria men's under-20 international footballers Nigeria men's international footballers FC Carl Zeiss Jena players Stuttgarter Kickers players SV Waldhof Mannheim players FC Hansa Rostock players VfB Stuttgart players VfL Wolfsburg players 1. FC Saarbrücken players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Regionalliga players Expatriate men's footballers in Germany University at Buffalo alumni 1992 African Cup of Nations players 2000 African Cup of Nations players Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Men's association football forwards Brooklyn College alumni 20th-century Nigerian sportsmen