Uche Innocent Nwofor (born 17 September 1991) 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. He is currently

unattached In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

Club career

Born 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 ...

, Nwofor began his career with Power United also called Anambra Pillars. He left in summer 2009 to go on loan to Nigerian premier league side Shooting Stars where he played for one season before joining

Enugu Rangers Rangers International Football Club, commonly known as Enugu Rangers, is a Nigerian professional association football team founded in 1970. Based in Enugu, the Rangers play their home games at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium. Enugu Rangers are one ...

. Nwofor signed with

VVV Venlo VVV-Venlo (, ''VVV'' stands for ''Venlose Voetbal Vereniging'' meaning "Venlo Football Club") is a Dutch football club from Venlo, a city on the border with Germany. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, following ...

in August 2011, On 11 September 2011, he announced his arrival by scoring on his debut for Venlo in a 3–3 home draw with

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional association football, football department, which has pla ...

in the Dutch top-flight on Sunday. In his first season, he scored four goals in the

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; "Honour Division" or "Premier Division") is a professional association football league in the Netherlands and the highest level of the Dutch football league system. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start o ...

. On 30 August 2013, Nwofor joined

SC Heerenveen Sportclub Heerenveen (; West Frisian language, West Frisian: Sportklub It Hearrenfean) is a Dutch professional association football, football club from Heerenveen. They currently play in the Eredivisie, the top level of football in the Netherla ...

on a season-loan move. On 12 September 2014, Nwofor joined Belgian club Lierse on a free transfer, signing a one-year contract.

International career

In April 2011 Nwofor represented Nigeria under-20 team where he netted four goals in five games to finish highest goal scorer of the 2011 African Youth Championship as Nigeria won a sixth continental title in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

and he was named the Goal.com star of the week in the tournament. In August 2011 Nwofor represented Nigeria in the

FIFA U-20 World Cup The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members' men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 when i ...

in Colombia. He was an instant hit, coming off the bench to score two goals in six minutes against Croatia, Nigeria was subsequently knocked out by France in the quarter-finals in a 3–2 thriller. Nwofor earned his first full-international cap for the Nigeria senior national team on 3 March 2010 in a friendly game against the

Congo DR national football team The DR Congo national football team (French language, French: ''Équipe nationale de football de la République démocratique du Congo''), recognised by FIFA as Congo DR, represents the Democratic Republic of the Congo in men's international a ...

. He was also instrumental when Nigeria's B team beat Republic of

Benin Benin, officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in West Africa. It was formerly known as Dahomey. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the north-west, and Niger to the north-east. The majority of its po ...

4–0 in the

WAFU Nations Cup The WAFU Nations Cup (also known as the WAFU Cup of Nations or simply the WAFU Cup) is an association football competition that is contested by representative teams of the West African Football Union. History A trophy was commissioned by Presiden ...

. In July 2013, Nwofor was called up by the Nigerian national team for an international friendly match against South Africa in Durban on 14 August. The punch 18 July 2013 He scored two goals in the 49th and 68th minutes as Nigeria won the match 2–0. In the first of ''Super Eagles World Cup warm-up matches of 2014, Nwofor scored a last-minute equaliser to spare Nigeria's blushes against an in-form

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. The match ended 2–2. Nwofor made the World Cup roster when it was announced three days later.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nwofor, Uche 1991 births Living people Nigerian men's footballers Footballers from Lagos Nigeria men's international footballers Nigeria men's under-20 international footballers Men's association football midfielders 2014 FIFA World Cup players Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players Belgian Pro League players Anambra Pillars F.C. players Shooting Stars S.C. players VVV-Venlo players SC Heerenveen players Lierse S.K. players Boavista F.C. players AS Trenčín players Nigerian expatriate men's footballers Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Slovakia Expatriate men's footballers in Slovakia Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Algeria Expatriate men's footballers in Algeria 21st-century Nigerian sportsmen