Kenneth Zeigbo (born 16 June 1977) 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 striker.

Career

Zeigbo started his career playing with Nigerian teams

NEPA Lagos NEPA Lagos was a Nigerian football team based in Lagos, which participated in the top league in Nigeria in 1974, 1995 and 1996. The club is owned by the National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) of Nigeria and was previously known as Lagos ECN. I ...

and then

Enugu Rangers Rangers International Football Club, commonly known as Enugu Rangers, is a Nigerian professional association football team founded in 1970. Based in Enugu, the Rangers play their home games at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium. Enugu Rangers are one ...

. On 7 August 1997, he made his debut for the Nigeria national team in a match against

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

, also scoring a goal during the game. He then moved to Europe, joining

Legia Warsaw Legia Warszawa (), commonly referred to as Legia Warsaw or simply Legia, is a professional football club based in Warsaw, Poland. Legia is the most successful Polish football club in history, winning a record 15 champions titles, a record 2 ...

and immediately scoring a winning goal in his debut, a

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 ...

match against

Widzew Łódź RTS Widzew Łódź () is a Polish football (soccer), football club based in Łódź. The club was founded in 1910. Its official colours are red and white, hence their nicknames ''Czerwona Armia'' (Red Army) and ''Czerwono-biało-czerwoni'' (Red-wh ...

. Zeigbo was then noticed by

Venezia Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

scouts and signed by the ''arancioneroverdi'', then playing in

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

, in 1998. He failed to break into the first team and was immediately relegated into the reserves and successively loaned out to United Arab Emirates side

Al Ain Al Ain () is a city in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, and the seat of the administrative division of the Al Ain Region. The city is Oman–United Arab Emirates border, bordered to the east by the Omani town of Al-Buraimi. Al A ...

, Libyan club Al-Ahly and

Serie C1 Serie C1 was the third highest football league in Italy. It consisted of 36 teams, divided geographically into two divisions. History Before the 1978–79 season, there were only three professional football leagues in Italy, the third being Se ...

team

L'Aquila L'Aquila ( ; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' in central Italy. It is the capital city of the Province of L'Aquila and the Abruzzo region in Italy. , it has a population of 69,902. Laid out within medieval walls on a hill in the wide valley of the A ...

. In 2002, he returned to Venezia, only marking three appearances as a substitute before being sold to

Serie C2 Serie C2 was the fourth highest football league in Italy, the lowest with a professional status. History Before the 1978–79 season, there were only three professional football leagues in Italy, the third being Serie C. The league menaging t ...

side

Belluno Belluno (; ; ) is a town and province in the Veneto region of northern Italy. Located about north of Venice, Belluno is the Capital (political), capital of the province of Belluno and the most important city in the Eastern Dolomites region. W ...

in January 2003. After two difficult seasons and a number of serious injuries, Zeigbo left professional football and moved to

Eccellenza Veneto Eccellenza Veneto is the regional Eccellenza football division for clubs in Veneto, Italy. It is competed amongst 32 teams, in two different groups (A and B). The winners of the Groups are promoted to Serie D. The club who finishes second also hav ...

amateurs Prix Camisano in 2005, leaving them in 2007 to sign for

Eccellenza Sardinia Eccellenza Sardinia is the regional Italian Eccellenza football division for clubs in Sardinia and is the main football championship played on the island. Formerly called Prima Categoria and Promozione, it usually involves the participation of 17 t ...

side A.S.D. Villasimius, joining former

Internazionale 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 football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Since 1 ...

and

Cagliari Cagliari (, , ; ; ; Latin: ''Caralis'') is an Comune, Italian municipality and the capital and largest city of the island of Sardinia, an Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Italy. It has about 146,62 ...

player Fabio Macellari. After retiring as a player he became an owner of a security company in Italy.

Honours

Legia Warsaw *

: 1997 Al Ain *

UAE Pro League The UAE Pro League (), also known as the ADNOC Pro League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the highest level of the Emirati football league system. The first team to w ...

: 1999–2000

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zeigbo, Kenneth 1977 births Living people Footballers from Enugu Nigerian men's footballers Nigeria men's international footballers Men's association football forwards NEPA Lagos F.C. players Rangers International F.C. players Legia Warsaw players Venezia FC players Al Ain FC players Al Ahli SC (Tripoli) players L'Aquila 1927 players AC Belluno 1905 players ASD Civitavecchia 1920 players Nigeria Professional Football League players Ekstraklasa players Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players Serie D players UAE Pro League players Nigerian expatriate men's footballers Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Poland Expatriate men's footballers in Poland Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates Expatriate men's footballers in the United Arab Emirates Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Libya Expatriate men's footballers in Libya