Michael Emenalo (born 14 July 1965) is a Nigerian sports director and 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

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

. He is sports director of the

Saudi Pro League The Saudi Pro League (SPL), also known as the Roshn Saudi League (RSL) for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Saudi Arabia and the highest level of the Saudi football league system. The SPL is regarded as th ...

. He is the former

director of football A sporting director, or director of sport, is an senior management, executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many typ ...

of Chelsea and

AS Monaco Association Sportive de Monaco Football Club, commonly referred to as AS Monaco (), is a professional football club based in Fontvieille, Monaco. Although not in France, they are a member of the French Football Federation (FFF) and currently ...

Playing career

Emenalo began his career in his native Nigeria before moving to the United States, where he attended college at and played for

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

, from 1985 to 1988. He played for

Molenbeek ( French, ) or ( Dutch, ), often simply called Molenbeek, is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, from which it is separated ...

in Belgium, In the winter of 1993, Emenalo completed a trial training session at

SV Prüm SV, Sv, sv, etc. may refer to: Places and language * El Salvador, ISO 3166-1 country code SV * Province of Savona, (vehicle registration plate code), Italy * South Vietnam, an extinct state * Svalbard, Norway, FIPS country code SV * Swedish langu ...

, but a contract was not signed.

Eintracht Trier SV Eintracht-Trier 05 e. V., commonly known as Eintracht Trier (), is a Football in Germany, German association football club based in Trier, Rhineland-Palatinate. The club was established on 11 March 1948 through the merger of Westmark 05 Trier ...

in Germany, and Notts County F.C in England before going back to the US. Emenalo was part of the original allocated players for

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

and spent two seasons (1996–97) with the San Jose Clash. After that, he played with

UE Lleida Unió Esportiva Lleida was a Spanish football team based in Lleida, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. It was founded as ''Lérida Balompié-AEM'' on 30 October 1939, and became ''Unión Deportiva Lérida'' in 1947, after a merger with ''C ...

in Spain and

Maccabi Tel Aviv Maccabi Tel Aviv () is one of the largest sports clubs in Israel, and a part of the Maccabi association. Many sports clubs and teams in Tel Aviv are in association with Maccabi and compete in a variety of sports, such as football, basketball, j ...

in Israel. Emenalo won 14 caps for

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, ...

and played in the

1994 FIFA World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States w ...

, missing the first game through injury but then, played against

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

and

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

before Nigeria was knocked out by

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

Technical director

Emenalo became director of player development at the Tucson Soccer Academy in the US in 2006, before joining the coaching staff at Chelsea when former manager

Avram Grant Avraham "Avram" Grant (; né Granat; born ) is an Israeli professional football manager who currently manages the Zambia national football team. He has spent the majority of his career coaching and managing in Israel, winning a number of nati ...

was in charge in 2007. After the departure of

Ray Wilkins Raymond Colin Wilkins (14 September 1956 – 4 April 2018) was an English football player and coach. Born into a footballing family with his father and three brothers involved in the game, Wilkins played as a midfielder. He began his career a ...

, Emenalo was promoted from his position as chief scout to assistant first team coach on 18 November 2010. On 8 July 2011, Chelsea appointed Emenalo as Technical Director of the club. He completely restructured the club's academy, scouting, loan and women's team setups, and is credited as a key figure behind the club's success having overseen the scouting and transfers of key players including

Juan Mata Juan Manuel Mata García (born 28 April 1988) is a Spanish professional Association football, footballer who plays as a midfielder for A-League Men club Western Sydney Wanderers FC, Western Sydney Wanderers. He primarily plays as an attacking ...

Thibaut Courtois Thibaut Nicolas Marc Courtois (; ; born 11 May 1992) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for La Liga club Real Madrid and the Belgium national team. Regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time, he is known ...

Kevin De Bruyne Kevin De Bruyne (; born 28 June 1991) is a Belgian professional Association football, footballer who plays as a midfielder for club SSC Napoli, Napoli and captains the Belgium national football team, Belgium national team. After spending mos ...

Mohamed Salah Mohamed Salah Hamed Mahrous Ghaly (, ; born 15 June 1992), also known as Mo Salah, is an Egyptian professional Association football, footballer who plays as a right winger or Forward (association football), forward for club Liverpool F.C., L ...

N'Golo Kanté N'Golo Kanté (born 29 March 1991) is a French professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Saudi Pro League club Al-Ittihad and the France national team. He is known for his work rate and defensive acumen. Kanté is widely ...

Eden Hazard Eden Michael Walter Hazard (born 7 January 1991) is a Belgian former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Winger (association football), winger or attacking midfielder for Lille OSC, Lille, Chelsea F.C., Chelsea, Real ...

, and Cesc Fàbregas. He has been credited by numerous sources as being the driving force behind Chelsea's most influential signings. He has also been credited for the development of the Chelsea Football Club Academy (CFC Academy) as well as the recent resurgence of the Chelsea Football Club Women's Team. On 10 June 2013, Emenalo requested that his contract be terminated "to facilitate the return of

José Mourinho José Mário dos Santos Mourinho Félix (; born 26 January 1963) is a Portuguese professional Association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former player, who is currently the head coach of Süper Lig club Fenerba ...

". but his request was denied. On 6 November 2017, he resigned as technical director of the club, and at the end of that month joined Monaco as its sporting director. On 12 August 2019, Emenalo left Monaco by mutual consent. On 12 July 2023, ''

The Athletic ''The Athletic'' is a subscription-based sports journalism department of ''The New York Times''. It provides national and local coverage in 47 North American cities as well as the United Kingdom. ''The Athletic'' also covers national stories ...

'' reported that Emenalo would become the first director of football of the

Personal Life

Emenalo's son,

Landon Landon is a personal name and surname of English origin that means "long hill". It is a variant of Langdon. Landon became popular as a given name in the United States in the 1990s, and by 2010 was the 32nd most popular name for boys.

, is currently a member of the Chelsea academy.

Honours

Michael Emenalo celebrates winning the Premier League with his Children

Chelsea *

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 ...

: 2009–10, 2014–15, 2016–17 *

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

: 2008–09, 2009–10, 2011–12, 2017–18 * Football League Cup / EFL Cup: 2014–15 *

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

: 2011–12 *

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Emenalo, Michael 1965 births Living people Nigerian men's footballers Footballers from Aba, Nigeria Boston University alumni Rangers International F.C. players R.W.D.M. Brussels F.C. players R.W.D. Molenbeek (1909) players Boston University Terriers men's soccer players Notts County F.C. players San Jose Earthquakes players Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C. players UE Lleida players La Liga players Major League Soccer players Israeli Premier League players 1994 FIFA World Cup players 1995 King Fahd Cup players Nigeria men's international footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Israel Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in England Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Israel Chelsea F.C. non-playing staff Men's association football defenders AS Monaco FC non-playing staff Association football technical directors English Football League players 20th-century Nigerian sportsmen Nigerian expatriate men's footballers Footballers from Abia State