Sani Shehu Emmanuel (born 23 December 1992) 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.

Career

Early career

Born in

Edo Edo (), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. Edo, formerly a (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the '' de facto'' capital of Japan from 1603 as the seat of the Tokugawa shogu ...

, Emmanuel started his playing career in his native

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, ...

for My People FC, a Nigerian football Academy based in

Lagos Lagos ( ; ), or Lagos City, is a large metropolitan city in southwestern Nigeria. With an upper population estimated above 21 million dwellers, it is the largest city in Nigeria, the most populous urban area on the African continent, and on ...

and which was run by the Synagogue Church of Nations. In 2009 Emmanuel joined Swedish club

Bodens BK Bodens BK is a Swedish football club located in Boden in Norrbotten. The club was formed on 2 November 1916 and began playing soccer in 1918. It is currently playing in the third tier of Swedish football, Division 1. Linguistics Note that ...

where he stayed for only a few months as

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

rules stated that he had to be 18 years old to make an international transfer. In 2010, after his award-winning performance at the

2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup The 2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup was the thirteenth tournament of the FIFA U-17 World Cup held in Nigeria from 24 October to 15 November 2009. Switzerland national under-17 football team, Switzerland won the tournament, beating the host team and holde ...

, it was reported that Emmanuel had trials at both Chelsea and

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

of the English

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 ...

. While at Tottenham Emmanuel was even offered an extended stay. However, in 2011, after trialing at several clubs in Europe, Emmanuel signed for Italian

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 ...

side

S.S. Lazio (; ; ''Lazio Sport Club'') is an Italian professional sports club based in Rome, most known for its football activity. The society, founded in 1900, plays in the Serie A and have spent most of their history in the top tier of Italian footba ...

where he was immediately put into their Primavera side. In 2012 Emmanuel signed for

U.S. Salernitana 1919 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 ...

of the

Lega Pro Seconda Divisione Serie C2 was the fourth highest football league in Italy, the lowest with a professional status. History Before the 1978–79 season, there were only three professional football leagues in Italy, the third being Serie C. The league menaging ...

on a co-owned basis from Lazio and on 9 September 2012 Emmanuel made his only appearance for the 4th tier Italian side against Chiete Calcio in which he came on in the 58th minute for Christian Chirieletti as Salernitana suffered a 4–1 defeat that day.

FC Biel-Bienne (loan)

On 16 February 2013, it was announced that Emmanuel had signed with

Swiss Challenge League The Challenge League (known as the Dieci Challenge League for sponsorship reasons) is the second-highest tier of the Swiss football league system and lower of two professional leagues in the country. Ten teams play in the Challenge League; the wi ...

side

FC Biel-Bienne FC Biel-Bienne is a Swiss association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball ...

on loan for the rest of the season. He made his debut for the club on 16 March 2013 against Wohlen in which he came on in the 72nd minute for Ramon Egli as Biel-Bienne lost the match 1–0. On 12 May 2013, Emmanuel scored his first professional goals in a league match against

FC Wohlen FC Wohlen is a Swiss football club based in the town Wohlen in Canton Aargau. They play in the Swiss 1. Liga, the fourth tier of football in the country. The club was founded in May 1904 and holds the honour of being the oldest football club i ...

in which he scored a hat-trick to lead Biel-Bienne to a 7–0 victory. He scored two more goals for Biel-Bienne on 30 May 2013 against

FC Winterthur FC Winterthur is a Swiss football club based in Winterthur, Canton of Zürich. They play in the Swiss Super League, the first tier of Swiss football, and appeared regularly in the Nationalliga A during the 20th century. Their home is the Stad ...

as the club 2–2.

Beitar Jerusalem

In October 2014 Sani signed with

Beitar Jerusalem Beitar Jerusalem Football Club (), commonly known as Beitar Jerusalem () or simply Beitar (), is an Israeli professional football club based in the city of Jerusalem, that plays in the Israeli Premier League, the top tier in Israeli football ...

. Three weeks later, after playing only 24 minutes for the club, Sani was released by Beitar Jerusalem, with the club stating that the coach was not excited by Sani and that he did not feature in future plans. After leaving Beitar Jerusalem, Emmanuel had a trial at

Bosnia Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

n side,

FK Sarajevo Fudbalski klub Sarajevo ( sh-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Сарајево; , English language, English: Sarajevo Football Club), is a professional Association football, football Sports club, club based in Sarajevo, the capital city of Bosn ...

, but failed in his attempt. In November 2019 ex-teammate

Ogenyi Onazi Ogenyi Eddy Onazi (born 25 December 1992) is a Nigerian professional footballer who currently plays for USL League One club Charlotte Independence He has also played for the Nigeria national team, with whom he won the Africa Cup of Nations in ...

helped pay for Emmanuel's medical expenses. Emmanuel was to undergo surgery for achilles tendonitis.

International

Emmanuel rose the prominence during the

which was hosted in his home country

. Emmanuel finished the tournament with five goals being the joint top-scorer and won the Golden Ball as he helped Nigeria to a runners-up finish behind

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Emmanuel, Sani 1992 births Living people Sportspeople from Edo State Nigerian men's footballers Men's association football forwards Nigeria men's under-20 international footballers Nigeria men's youth international footballers My People F.C. players SS Lazio players US Salernitana 1919 players FC Biel-Bienne players Beitar Jerusalem F.C. players Oskarshamns AIK players Serie C players Swiss Challenge League players Israeli Premier League players Ettan Fotboll players Nigerian expatriate men's footballers Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Israel Expatriate men's footballers in Israel Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden 21st-century Nigerian sportsmen