Sean Ugochukwu "Ugo" Okoli (born February 3, 1993) is a former American professional

soccer 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 (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

player 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

Born in

Federal Way Federal Way is a city in King County, Washington, United States and part of the Seattle metropolitan area. One of the most recently incorporated cities in the county, its population was 101,030 at the 2020 census. Federal Way is the 10th most p ...

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

, Okoli was a part of the Seattle Sounders FC Academy before attending college at

Wake Forest University Wake Forest University (WFU) is a private research university in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1834, the university received its name from its original location in Wake Forest, north of Raleigh, North Carolina. The R ...

in 2011. While playing for the '' Demon Deacons'' Okoli earned All-ACC honors in all three seasons he attended the college and scored 24 goals with 9 assists during his time there. While playing at Wake Forest, Okoli also played in the

USL PDL USL League Two (USL2), formerly the Premier Development League (PDL), is a semi-professional soccer league sponsored by United Soccer Leagues in the United States, forming part of the United States soccer league system. The league will feature ...

with the

Seattle Sounders FC U-23 Sound FC is an American soccer team based in Tacoma, Washington. Founded in 2006, the team most recently played in USL League Two, the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid. History 2006–2009: Playoffs The Tacoma team was introduced i ...

side in 2012 and 2013. He was also one of the first Academy players to play for the Seattle Sounders reserve side in the

MLS Reserve League The MLS Reserve League was a association football, soccer league for the reserve teams of Major League Soccer with teams in both the United States and Canada. It was inaugurated on April 9, 2005, with the first official reserve game being a 2 ...

in 2011.

Professional

In January 2014, Okoli, along with academy teammate Aaron Kovar, signed a professional contract with

Seattle Sounders FC Seattle Sounders FC is an American professional association football, soccer club based in Seattle. The Sounders compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The club was established on ...

. He made his debut for the Sounders on March 8 in the team's

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

opener against

Sporting Kansas City Sporting Kansas City is an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Kansas City metropolitan area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The ad ...

CenturyLink Field Lumen Field is a multi-purpose stadium in Seattle, Washington, United States. Located in the city's SoDo neighborhood, it is the home field for the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League (NFL), Seattle Sounders FC of Major League ...

when he came on in the 86th minute for Lamar Neagle. He then contributed to the teams winning goal in the 93rd minute as they beat Sporting KC 1–0. In January 2015, the Sounders traded Okoli's rights to

New England Revolution The New England Revolution are an American professional association football, soccer club based in the Greater Boston area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference. It is on ...

in order to trade up in the

MLS SuperDraft The MLS SuperDraft is an annual Draft (sports), college draft for teams of Major League Soccer in the United States and Canada in which MLS clubs take turns selecting from a pool of eligible amateur players. These drafted players usually come f ...

and select Northwestern goal keeper Tyler Miller. After his release from New England, Okoli signed with

United Soccer League The United Soccer League (USL) is an organizer of various professional and amateur soccer leagues in the United States league system. It currently organizes its Championship, League One, and League Two for men, its Super League and W Leag ...

side

FC Cincinnati Football Club Cincinnati is an American professional soccer club based in Cincinnati. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The team was first announced on August 12, 2015 as a United Soccer Leag ...

for the 2016 season. Okoli led the USL in goals (16) for the 2016 season and was awarded the league's Golden Boot. and Most Valuable Player award. After spending a season with FC Cincinnati, Okoli moved back to Major League Soccer, signing with

New York City FC New York City Football Club (often referred to as NYCFC) is an American professional Association football, soccer club based in New York City. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern C ...

on December 5, 2016. New York released Okoli at the end of the 2017 season. Okoli signed with

FK Jerv Fotballklubben Jerv is a Norwegian Association football, football club from Grimstad. ''Jerv'' is the Norwegian name for wolverine. They currently play in the Norwegian Second Division, 2. divisjon, the third tier of Norwegian football. History ...

from

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

in August 2018, but left the club again at the end of the year. In July 2019, Okoli joined Austrian Austrian Regionalliga West side Pinzgau Saalfelden. Okoli signed with

Orange County SC Orange County Soccer Club is an American soccer team based in the Orange County, California city of Irvine. Founded in 2010 as the Los Angeles Blues, the team currently plays in the Western Conference of the USL Championship, the second tier ...

on February 19, 2020. On February 24, 2021, Okoli joined USL Championship side

Austin Bold Austin Bold FC (ABFC) was an American professional soccer team located in Austin, Texas. Founded in 2017, the team made its debut in the USL Championship in 2019. In 2021, Austin Bold FC announced it would be moving to Fort Worth, Texas leaving ...

. On April 20, 2023, Okoli joined USL Championship side

Monterey Bay FC Monterey Bay Football Club is an American professional soccer team based in Monterey County, California. The club was established on February 21, 2021, and is a member of the USL Championship, the second tier of the American soccer league syst ...

. He left Monterey Bay following their 2023 season.

Personal life

Okoli is of Nigerian descent.

Career statistics

Honors

Individual * USL League MVP:

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

* USL All-League Team:

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Okoli, Sean 1993 births Living people American men's soccer players United States men's youth international soccer players African-American soccer players American sportspeople of Nigerian descent Wake Forest Demon Deacons men's soccer players Seattle Sounders FC U-23 players Seattle Sounders FC players Orange County SC players New England Revolution players FC Cincinnati players New York City FC players Landskrona BoIS players Men's association football forwards Sportspeople from Federal Way, Washington Soccer players from King County, Washington USL League Two players Major League Soccer players USL Championship players American expatriate men's soccer players Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden American expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Expatriate men's footballers in Norway American expatriate sportspeople in Norway FK Jerv players Norwegian First Division players American expatriate sportspeople in Austria Homegrown Players (MLS) Austin Bold FC players 21st-century African-American sportsmen Monterey Bay FC players 21st-century American sportsmen