Peter Ijeh (born 28 March 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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

Career

Early career

After playing for clubs like NiTel United Lagos and won the highest goal scorer award with Julius Berger FC in the

Nigerian Premier League The Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) (formerly the Nigeria Professional Football League) is the highest level of club football in Nigerian football league system. The Nigerian Premier League has suffered like many others, from the financ ...

,he joined Swedish club

Malmö FF Malmö Fotbollförening (), commonly known simply as Malmö FF or MFF, is a Swedish professional football club based in Malmö, Scania. They compete in the Allsvenskan, the top division of Swedish football, and play home matches at the Eleda S ...

in 2001. He was the top scorer in

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; ), also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan (, ) is a professional association football league in Sweden and the highest level of the Swedish football league system. Founded in 1924, it operates on a system of promotion and relegatio ...

in 2002 with 24 goals. In 2003, he suffered a leg injury that kept him out of most of the season, but he still managed to come back strongly and finished with 10 goals. In late 2003, he transferred to

IFK Göteborg Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna Göteborg (officially IFK Göteborg Fotboll), commonly known as IFK Göteborg, IFK (especially locally) or Blåvitt, is a Swedish professional Football team, football club based in Gothenburg. Founded in 1904, it ...

on a free transfer in a highly controversial affair as the club's big name signing for its 100th anniversary and Göteborg finished third. In 2005 Ijeh moved to Danish club

FC Copenhagen Football Club Copenhagen (, ), commonly known as F.C. København, F.C. Copenhagen, Copenhagen, or simply FCK, is a Danish professional football club based in Copenhagen. FCK was founded in 1992 as a superstructure on top of Kjøbenhavns Boldklu ...

and won the league title in 2005–06 season.

Viking

On 19 June 2006, Ijeh moved to

Viking FK Viking Fotballklubb, commonly known as Viking or Viking Stavanger internationally, is a Norwegian professional football club from the city of Stavanger. The club was founded in 1899. It is one of the most successful clubs in Norwegian football, ...

in Norway on a 3 million

Danish krone The krone (; plural: ''kroner''; sign: kr.; code: DKK) is the official currency of Denmark, Greenland, and the Faroe Islands, introduced on 1 January 1875. Both the ISO code "DKK" and currency sign "kr." are in common use; the former precedes ...

deal. He became an instant success, scoring 11 goals in 15 games to save the team from relegation. In the last game of the 2006 season Ijeh scored 4 goals and pressured an opposition defender to concede an own goal as Viking surprisingly demolished local rivals and second-placed

S.K. Brann Sportsklubben Brann is a Norwegian professional Association football, football club based in Bergen. Founded on 26 September 1908, Brann has played in Eliteserien, the first tier of Norwegian football for 67 out of 80 seasons, the second mos ...

5–0 to climb two places in the table and thus escape relegation on goal difference. In early January 2007, several sources within Norwegian football claimed that Ijeh would soon be looking for another club, with English Championship side

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Coventry, West Midlands. The club plays in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club is nicknamed The Sky Blues after the sky blue colou ...

courting the Nigerian striker, who was thought to be keen to test his skills in the more physical English game. Coventry City manager

Micky Adams Michael Richard Adams (born 8 November 1961) is an English former professional association football, footballer and football Manager (association football), manager. As a player, he was a Full-back (football), full back, and made a total of 43 ...

was thought to have watched the player on a recent scouting trip to Norway.

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

-based club

Lyn Fotball Lyn 1896 Fotballklubb () is a Norway, Norwegian association football, football club and a department of the sports club SFK Lyn, Ski- og Fotballklubben Lyn based in Oslo, whose members also participate in Nordic skiing and orienteering. Until 2 ...

reportedly made a NOK 12 million bid for Ijeh's services, though this was rejected from Viking. Ijeh left Viking at the end of the 2009 season to sign for

Syrianska FC Syrianska Football Club, also known as Syrianska FC or simply Syrianska, is a Swedish professional association football, football club based in Södertälje in Stockholm County. The club was founded by Aramean people, Syriac-Aramean immigrants ...

in the Swedish second division.

Syrianska FC

On 23 October Ijeh scored two goals in the game that took Syrianska to

for the first time ever. He finished the season with 17 goals. He also scored Syrianska FC's first Allsvenskan goal, after a mistake by the Gefle IF defence allowed him to roll the ball into an empty net.

GAIS

After two seasons in Syrianska, Ijeh left the club for Allsvenskan rivals

GAIS Gais () is a village and a municipality in the canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden in Switzerland. The area of Gais is . In 1977, the village Gais received the Wakker Prize for the development and preservation of its architectural heritage. The ...

where he took over the number nine shirt.

Post-playing career

Ijeh studied at Gothenburg University and the Swedish Football Federation (SvFF) and acquired a UEFA advanced licensed certificate. He is also a technical and tactical soccer coach. Ijeh took over

Assyriska BK Assyriska BK is a Swedish football club based in Västra Frölunda, Gothenburg. The club was formed in 1985 by Assyrian immigrants and is currently playing in Division 2 Västra Götaland which is the fourth tier of Swedish football. They play ...

in November 2013 as a head coach. On 10 November 2020, it was announced that Ijeh would take over as manager for Division 2 club

Vårgårda IK Vårgårda is a locality and the seat of Vårgårda Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It bo ...

in Västergötland, Sweden. On 7 June 2022, the club announced that Ijeh would leave his post as manager.

Personal life

Ijeh is a member of the Norwegian Christian sports organization '' Kristen Idrettskontakt'' (KRIK).

Career statistics

References

External links

Viking F.K. profile
*
Profile at Syrianskafc.com
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ijeh, Peter 1977 births Living people Nigerian men's footballers Nigeria men's international footballers Malmö FF players IFK Göteborg players F.C. Copenhagen players Viking FK players Syrianska FC players GAIS players Men's association football forwards Nigerian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Expatriate men's footballers in Norway Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Norway Eliteserien players Danish Superliga players Allsvenskan players Superettan players