Simeon Tochukwu Nwankwo (born 7 May 1992), known simply as Simy, is a Nigerian 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 plays as a striker for club

Salernitana Unione Sportiva Salernitana 1919 is an Italian professional football club based in Salerno, Campania. The original club was founded in 1919 and has been reconstituted three times in the course of its history, most recently in 2011. The current ...

. He has also previously represented the Nigeria national team. Simy became the first African footballer to finish as top scorer in an Italian professional league, recording 20 goals with

Crotone Crotone (; ; or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Calabria, Italy. Founded as the Achaean colony of Kroton ( or ; ), it became a great Greek city, home of the renowned mathematician-philosopher Pythagoras amongst other famous citizens, and one ...

during the

2019–20 Serie B The 2019–20 Serie B (known as Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons) was the 88th season since its establishment in 1929. The 20-team format returned after 16 years, the last time being in the 2002–03 season. The season was scheduled to run from ...

campaign. With 66 total goals in all competitions, he is also Crotone's all-time top scorer.

Club career

In July 2016, Simy signed for

, newly promoted to

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 ...

. He scored seven goals during the 2017–18 campaign, tied with Ante Budimir for second-most for the club and only one behind top scorer

Marcello Trotta Marcello Trotta (born 29 September 1992) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Turris. Club career Early career Born in Santa Maria Capua Vetere, Italy, Trotta began his career in the youth team at Serie A club ...

. This included a memorable

overhead kick In association football, a bicycle kick, also known as an overhead kick or scissors kick, is an acrobatic strike where a player kicks an airborne Ball (association football), ball rearward in midair. It is achieved by throwing the body backwar ...

in a 1–1 draw against champions

Juventus Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...

on 19 April 2018. Crotone, however, would be relegated at season's end. Although the club struggled to a twelfth place finish in their return to

Serie B The Serie B (), officially known as Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had b ...

, Simy was able to find his form and have his best season since moving to Italy, finishing first on his team and sixth overall in goals with fourteen. He bested this in the 2019–20 campaign, topping Serie B with twenty goals and helping his team earn promotion back to Italy's top flight. Simy was prolific again during the 2020–21 season, scoring 20 league goals, but this was not enough to prevent Crotone from being relegated after a single season in the top flight. On 19 August 2021, Simy moved to newly-promoted Serie A club Salernitana on a season-long loan.

Salernitana

On 9 January 2022, Simy's rights were acquired fully by

for a fee of €3.5m. On 31 January 2022, he was loaned out to Serie B club

Parma Parma (; ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmesan, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,986 inhabitants as of 2025, ...

for the remainder of the season with an option to buy. On 1 September 2022, Simy moved to

Benevento Benevento ( ; , ; ) is a city and (municipality) of Campania, Italy, capital of the province of Benevento, northeast of Naples. It is situated on a hill above sea level at the confluence of the Calore Irpino (or Beneventano) and the Sabato (r ...

on loan with an option to buy.

International career

On 25 May 2018, Simy was called up to the Nigeria national team's camp by coach

Gernot Rohr Gernot Rohr (born 28 June 1953) is a German professional football coach and former player who is currently the manager of the Benin national team. Managerial career In 1996, he managed Girondins de Bordeaux to the UEFA Cup final, where they l ...

in preparation for the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded t ...

in Russia. Three days later, he made his international debut in a 1–1 draw against the

DR Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

. In June he was named in Nigeria's final 23-man squad for the World Cup. He made his first appearance at the tournament against

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

where he came in as a second-half substitute whilst Nigeria were 2–0 down. He also played as substitute in the 2–1 defeat 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 ...

who eliminated Nigeria from the World Cup.

Personal life

Simy is the eldest of three children. His brother, a physiotherapist, and sister, a nurse, are twins. Simy and his wife are

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

and have a son. Simy has been the subject of racial abuse on social media during his time in Crotone, including wishes that his son 'would die of pancreatic cancer'. Taking a stand against racism, Crotone's mayor,

Vincenzo Voce Vincenzo Voce (born 5 April 1962 in Crotone) is an Italian politician. He ran for Mayor of Crotone at the 2020 Italian local elections, supported by the civic list Tesoro Calabria (''Treasure Calabria'') and other civic parties. He was elected ...

, gave honorary citizenship of the city to Nwankwo's son on 27 March 2021.

Career statistics

Club

International

References

External links

Simy
at the U.S. Salernitana 1919 website *
Simy
at Goalsreplay.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Simy 1992 births Living people Sportspeople from Onitsha Footballers from Anambra State Men's association football forwards Nigerian men's footballers Nigeria men's international footballers 2018 FIFA World Cup players Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Serie A players Serie B players Portimonense S.C. players Gil Vicente F.C. players FC Crotone players US Salernitana 1919 players Parma Calcio 1913 players Benevento Calcio players Nigerian expatriate men's footballers Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Nigerian Roman Catholics 21st-century Nigerian sportsmen