Uche Kalu (born 16 May 1986) is a

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

football player who plays for

Altyn Asyr FK Football Club Altyn Asyr (), also known as Altyn Asyr Ashgabat or simply Altyn Asyr, which translates to ''Golden Century'', is a Turkmen professional football club based in Ashgabat. Founded in 2008, the club competes in the Ýokary Liga, the to ...

in the Turkmenistan Higher League. He is not related to former Enyimba teammate

Henry Uche Henry Iffanyi Uche (born 18 August 1990) is a Nigerian international footballer who plays as a midfielder for AFC Leopards. Career Club career After playing in Nigeria with Shooting Stars and Enyimba, Uche moved to Albanian club FK Kukësi in ...

nor fellow Nigeria international and India-based midfielder

Kalu Uche Kalu Uche (born 15 November 1982) is a Nigerian former professional footballer who played as a forward. He spent most of his career in Spain, mainly with Almería, with which he amassed La Liga totals of 117 matches and 27 goals (212 appearan ...

Career

In 2007, he was named as "Most Valuable Player" in the Nigerian Premier League after joining

Enyimba Aba is a city in southeastern Nigeria. It lies along the west bank of the Aba River and is at the intersection of roads leading to settlements such as Port Harcourt, Owerri, Umuahia, Ikot Ekpene, and Ikot-Abasi. Aba was established by t ...

from second-level team Bussdor United F.C. He however struggled with injuries the next few years. After a failed transfer attempt to

Botola The Botola Pro (), officially known as the Botola Pro Inwi for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Morocco and the top tier of the Moroccan football league system. Organized by the Ligue Nationale de Football Prof ...

team

Wydad Casablanca Wydad Athletic Club (, ), often known outside Morocco as Wydad Casablanca, is a Moroccan sports club based in Casablanca. Wydad AC is best known for its professional football team that competes in Botola, the top tier of the Moroccan football ...

in February 2012, he rejoined Enyimba. He moved to Turkish second-tier team

Çaykur Rizespor Çaykur Rizespor Kulübü is a Turkish professional Association football, football club based in Rize, a city on the eastern Black Sea region, Black Sea coast. The team competes in the Süper Lig, the top tier of Football in Turkey, Turkish footba ...

in August 2012, and had a goal and assist in his debut. In January 2014, Uche Kalu joined

Adanaspor Adanaspor Kulübü is a Turkish professional Association football, football club based in Adana; currently, they play in the TFF First League. The club was founded in 1954 by middle-class merchants and artisans in response to their perceived ali ...

on a loan deal. In January 2015, Kalu went on trial with

Kazakhstan Premier League The Kazakhstan Professional Football League (, ''Qazaqstan Premier Ligasy''), commonly referred to as the Kazakh Premier League or simply the Premier League, is a professional association football league in Kazakhstan and the highest level of the ...

side

FC Tobol FC Tobol () is a Kazakhstan, Kazakh professional association football, football club based at the Kostanay Central Stadium, Central Stadium in Kostanay. They have been members of the Kazakhstan Premier League since its foundation in 1992. In 20 ...

, signing a year-long contract with the club on 6 February 2015. Kalu returned to

in January 2016, signing a one-and-a-half-year contract. On 24 April 2016 Adanaspor guaranteed to play in the first tier of Turkish football after 12 years. Kalu Uche played a very pig part in this success story. In August 2019, Niger Uche Kalu and Kenya Peter Opiyo signed a contract with

FC Altyn Asyr Football Club Altyn Asyr (), also known as Altyn Asyr Ashgabat or simply Altyn Asyr, which translates to ''Golden Century'', is a Turkmenistan, Turkmen professional association football, football club based in Ashgabat. Founded in 2008, the club c ...

from

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan is a landlocked country in Central Asia bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the south and southwest and the Caspian Sea to the west. Ash ...

. This is the first foreign footballer in the history of the club and the first legionnaire in the

2019 Ýokary Liga 2019 Ýokary Liga season was the 27th edition of the top tier professional Yokary Liga football annual competition in Turkmenistan administered by the Football Federation of Turkmenistan. Altyn Asyr defended their championship, winning their si ...

season.

International career

He was a member of the Nigeria B team that won the

2010 WAFU Nations Cup The 2010 WAFU Nations Cup was the first edition of the WAFU Nations Cup, an association football tournament organised by the West African Football Union. The tournament was also held in 2002, but that edition was cancelled due to the civil war ...

. His regained form saw him called up by Nigeria coach

Stephen Keshi Stephen Okechukwu Keshi (23 January 1962 – 7 June 2016) was a Nigerian association football, football player and manager (association football), manager. During his playing career, Keshi played as a defender (association football), defender ...

in 2012. He made his senior debut in the Eagles' 0-0 tie against

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

in January 2012. He scored his first goal in a friendly later that year against

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kalu, Uche 1986 births Living people Nigerian men's footballers Footballers from Lagos Men's association football forwards Enyimba F.C. players Çaykur Rizespor footballers Adanaspor footballers FC Tobol players Gaziantep F.K. footballers Al-Markhiya SC players Süper Lig players TFF 1. Lig players Kazakhstan Premier League players Nigeria men's international footballers Nigerian expatriate men's footballers Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Kazakhstan Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Turkmenistan Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in Kazakhstan Expatriate men's footballers in Turkmenistan Bussdor United F.C. players 21st-century Nigerian sportsmen