Samuel Elijah (born 14 November 1969), popularly known as Samuel "Prophet" Elijah is a retired

Nigerian Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was taken from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jour ...

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 ...

who played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. He was a member of the Nigeria U-20 team that competed at the

1989 FIFA World Youth Championship The 1989 FIFA World Youth Championship took place in Saudi Arabia between 16 February and 3 March 1989. The 1989 championship was the 7th contested. The tournament took place across four cities: Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam, and Ta'if. Qualificatio ...

Early life and career

Born in

Bauchi State Bauchi State (Fula: ''Leydi Bauchi'' 𞤤𞤫𞤴𞤣𞤭 𞤦𞤢𞤵𞤷𞥅𞤭) is a state in the North-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria, bordered by Kano and Jigawa to the north, Taraba and Plateau to the south, Gombe and Yobe to the ...

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya 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 G ...

, Samuel started playing football while in primary school and went on to play for companies like Kaduna Textile Limited and Lead Way Insurance in 1985 during his secondary school days. In 1989, he was part of the Nigeria U-20 team that placed second at the 1989 FIFA World Youth Championship. He went on to gain his first cap as a senior player in a match against Togo. After numerous injury problems, Samuel went into coaching course in 2004, and officially started coaching Kwara State All Stars. In 2005, Samuel joined Crown FC Ogbomoso and coached them in 2005 and 2006. After 2006, he went to Lagos and coached the Nigeria Port Authority (NPA) in 2007. That was when he met

Clemens Westerhof Clemens Westerhof (born 3 May 1940) is a Dutch football manager, who has worked in various football positions on the African continent since 1989. He is most noted for his success with the Nigerian national team. Under Westerhof, the Super ...

in Ilorin. When his contract expired, Elijah went back to Ilorin to work with

at the Kwara Football Academy.

References

External links

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11v11 player profile
1969 births Living people Nigerian men's footballers Nigeria men's international footballers Nigeria men's under-20 international footballers Men's association football midfielders {{Nigeria-footy-midfielder-stub