Prince Ikpe Ekong (born 5 October 1978) 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 le ...

who played as a midfielder. He is best remembered for representing Reggiana, Shenyang Ginde, Xiamen Lanshi,

GAIS , neighboring_municipalities= Altstätten (SG), Appenzell (AI), Bühler (AR), Eichberg (SG), Rüte (AI), Schlatt-Haslen (AI), Trogen (AR) , twintowns= } Gais () is a village and a municipality in the canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden i ...

, and

Djurgårdens IF Djurgårdens Idrottsförening, commonly known simply as Djurgårdens IF, Djurgården (), and (especially locally) Djurgår'n (), Dif or DIF – is a Swedish sports association with several sections, located in Stockholm. Name The club is named ...

during his career. A full international between 2001 and 2004, he won nine caps for the Nigeria national team.

Career

After the

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

a series of Nigerian players was brought to the European top leagues, and Ikpe Ekong was signed by Italian club Reggiana, then coached by Carlo Ancelotti.

Reggiana

Due to Italian rules regarding non-EU players, he could not play for the first team in Serie A, he ended up going on a loan to FC Koper from Slovenia, when he returned to Italy he was loaned out again to

Tecos UAG Tecos Fútbol Club (often referred to by its nickname "Tecos") is a Mexican professional Association football, football club associated with the Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara AC. It plays its home games in the ''Estadio 3 de Marzo'' (March ...

of Mexico, then AC Bellinzona from Switzerland and

FCM UTA Asociația Fotbal Club UTA Arad (), commonly known as UTA Arad or simply UTA, is a Romanian professional football club based in the city of Arad, Arad County, which competes in the Liga I. The UTA acronym stands for ''Uzina Textilă Arad'' ("Te ...

from Romania. It would not be until 2000 when Prince Ikpe Ekong returned to Italy to play for A.C. Reggiana. However Reggiana had fallen to

Serie C2 Lega Pro Seconda Divisione was the fourth highest football league in Italy, the lowest with a professional status. Usually it consisted of 36 teams, but in the 2011–12 season, there were 41 teams divided geographically into two divisions of 2 ...

where no non-EU players were allowed, and this led to Ikpe Ekong filing a

lawsuit - A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil actio ...

against the

Italian FA The Italian Football Federation ( it, Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio; FIGC), known colloquially as ''Federcalcio'', is the governing body of football in Italy. It is based in Rome and the technical department is in Coverciano, Florence. It ...

, which he won, allowing him to play in Serie C2.

Allsvenskan

In 2003, he moved to China and

Changsha Ginde Guangzhou City Football Club (广州城) is a Chinese professional Association football, football club that competes in the Chinese Super League under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team is based in Guangzhou, Guangdon ...

and later Xiamen Lanshi. In 2006 four clubs where interested in signing him, French club CS Sedan, Maccabi Tel Aviv from Israel, Gençlerbirliğ from Turkey and

from Sweden. He chose GAIS after he visited the club and then visited a local church where he heard God tell him to sign for GAIS. In 2008, he left GAIS to sign for

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; en, the All-Swedish, also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan, en, the Football All-Swedish) is a Swedish professional league for men's association football clubs. It was founded in 1924 and is the top tier of the Swedish football lea ...

rivals Djurgårdens IF. He was bought out of his contract with Djurgården in November 2011 after having played none of the games in the 2011 season. In 2016, Prince played for Märsta IK in the fifth tier of the Swedish Football League system.

Personal life

Ekong is the father of professional footballer

Emmanuel Ekong Emmanuel Ekong (born 25 June 2002) is a professional footballer who plays as a forward for Croatian club Istra 1961 on loan from the Italian club club Empoli. Born in Italy to Nigerian parents, he is a Sweden youth international. Club career ...

Honours

Xiamen Lanshi * China League One: 2005

References

External links

*
World Soccer profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ekong, Prince Ikpe Living people 1978 births Sportspeople from Lagos Nigerian footballers Nigeria international footballers Nigerian expatriate footballers Association football midfielders Bridge F.C. players FC Koper players Expatriate footballers in Slovenia Tecos F.C. footballers Expatriate footballers in Mexico AC Bellinzona players Expatriate footballers in Switzerland FC UTA Arad players Liga I players Expatriate footballers in Romania A.C. Reggiana 1919 players Expatriate footballers in Italy Changsha Ginde players Xiamen Blue Lions players Chinese Super League players China League One players Expatriate footballers in China GAIS players Djurgårdens IF Fotboll players Allsvenskan players Expatriate footballers in Sweden Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Slovenia Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in China Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Romania Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Italy 2004 African Cup of Nations players Slovenian PrvaLiga players