TOP 10 NIGERIAN STARS IN BUNDESLIGA
Over the years, Nigerian star players have made their mark in the Bundesliga, the most recent being Victor Boniface and Nathan Tella. Here, TANA AIYEJINA takes a look at the Top 10 performers, with extra information from Bundesliga.com.
Austin Okocha
Club: Eintracht Frankfurt.
Position: attacking midfield.
When: 1992-1996
The first Nigerian to play in the Bundesliga was unquestionably one of the best players the country has produced.
Okocha was an unknown quantity when he went to Germany in 1990, but the Nigerian's amazing skills immediately astounded both fans and opponents. He began his career at Borussia Neunkirchen before moving on to Eintracht Frankfurt in 1992, when he scored one of the best goals in Bundesliga history.
In August 1993, while playing against Karlsruhe, the aggressive midfielder received the ball on a breakaway and proceeded to toy with legendary goalkeeper Oliver Kahn. The Nigerian master turned the current Bayern CEO inside out and back again, employing a series of feints that even fooled a few defenders. That stunning performance was named Germany's Goal of the Year in 1993, and it was one of 18 goals Okocha scored - along with 13 assists - in 90 Eintracht games.
The former Bolton and Paris Saint-Germain player, who left Frankfurt for Fenerbahce in 1996, won the Africa Cup of Nations and Olympic gold medals throughout his career.
Jonathan Akpaborie
Clubs: Hansa Rostock, VfB Stuttgart, and Wolfsburg
Position: Striker.
When: 1996-97 (Hansa); 1997-99 (Stuttgart); 1999-2001 (Wolfsburg)
Akpoborie, who was born in Lagos, was already in Germany when Okocha arrived, but he was playing in the lower levels at the time, having previously played for Saarbrücken, Carl Zeiss Jena, and Stuttgarter Kickers, among other clubs.
However, nine goals in 18 Bundesliga 2 appearances for Waldhof Mannheim in the first half of the 1995/96 season piqued the interest of top-tier club Hansa Rostock, who signed him in January 1996.
In his first 16 league appearances for Hansa, the 12-time Nigeria international scored six goals and assisted twice, including the opener in a 3-1 win away against Okocha's Frankfurt in April 1996, helping them finish sixth that season. Akpoborie, a muscular, hard-running center forward, followed up with 15 goals and five assists in 31 Bundesliga games the following season, earning him a move to Stuttgart in the summer of 1997.
VfB scored 21 goals in 58 league matches over two years, whereas Wolfsburg scored 19 in 39 games over the next two seasons. He ended his career with a last season in Bundesliga 2 with Saarbrücken, although he still remains Nigeria's best scorer and record holder appearance maker in the Bundesliga with 60 goals in 144
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Viktor Agali
Clubs: Hansa Rostock and Schalke
Position: Striker.
When: 1998-2001, 2007-08 (Rostock), 2001-04 (Schalke).
After experiencing their first taste of a prolific Nigerian frontman, Hansa responded to Akpoborie's departure by signing Agali a year later. At the age of 20, the Okpanam native scored six goals and provided four assists in 22 top-flight appearances in his rookie season.
With a strong 6'4" body, he was an outstanding target man, retaining the ball well and bringing others into play. Eleven more goals came in 44 games over the next two seasons, including two on his debut for Nigeria in a 3-0 World Cup qualification win over Sudan in January 2001.
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All of this motivated Schalke to pursue his services that summer. Agali scored 14 goals in 54 Bundesliga appearances over the next three seasons before leaving for Nice in France in the summer of 2004, after helping Nigeria win bronze at the Africa Cup of Nations earlier that year.
After Akpoborie, he is the second-highest Nigerian appearance maker in the Bundesliga with 143 and the second-highest scorer with 32.
Sunday Oliseh.
Clubs: Cologne, Dortmund, and Bochum.
Position: Defensive Midfield
When: 1995-1997 (Cologne), 2000-04 (Dortmund), and 2003-04 (Bochum).
Oliseh, another of Nigerian football's most famous players, earned a name for himself in Germany for many years. The holding midfielder arrived in Cologne as a fresh-faced 21-year-old in 1995 and appeared 24 times to help the Billy Goats finish 12th in his debut season.
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After winning gold in the 1996 Olympics alongside Okocha, he solidified his spot in the Cologne team, contributing four goals and as many assists in 30 games.
His performances drew admiring glances from top European clubs, but after three years with Ajax and Juventus, Oliseh returned to Germany with Dortmund in 2000.
The 6'0" midfielder spent four years in Black-and-Yellow, the last of which was on loan at Bochum.
Obafemi Martins
Club: Wolfsburg.
Position: Striker.
When: July 2009 – July 2010.
Martins rose to prominence as a teenager at Inter Milan in 2002/03, with his explosive pace, strong body, and clinical finishing making him one of the game's most exciting prospects at the time.
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Following a time in England with Newcastle United, he joined Wolfsburg in the summer of 2009 to compete for positions with Edin Dzeko and Grafite, who had just led the Wolves to the Bundesliga title a few weeks before.
"He's good enough that he can join the team at any time," stated newly appointed Wolfsburg coach Armin Veh at the time.
Martins proved him correct, scoring on his debut from the bench to secure a 3-1 win in Cologne. The Lagos native scored again the following week, in a 4-2 defeat to Hamburg, and by the end of October 2009, he had five goals in his first nine league games.
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He battled with injuries following that, and found it difficult to recapture his rhythm, scoring only once more all season before leaving for Rubin Kazan in Russia in the summer of 2010. Martins, despite his brief stay in Germany, is warmly remembered at the Volkswagen Arena for his somersault celebrations and as one of the club's most brilliant players.
Antonio Ujah
Clubs: Mainz, Cologne, Werder Bremen, and Union Berlin
Position: Striker.
When: 2011-2013, 2018-19 (Mainz), 2013-15 (Cologne), 2015-16 (Bremen), and 2019-2022 (Union).
Ujah, now 33, has spent the majority of his career in Germany. After impressing at Norwegian club Lilleström, Mainz won the race to recruit him in 2011. Ujah is a hardworking centre forward who excels in some of the more unglamorous aspects of the game: holding the ball up, pressing defenders and making runs to open space.
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He is also capable of scoring goals, as evidenced by the amount of Bundesliga clubs that have signed him. Following two goals in 12 games for Mainz in his debut season, the Ugbokolo, Benue State native began to show his true colors in 2014/15, scoring 10 goals in 32 games for Cologne and 11 in 32 the following year for Bremen.
Ujah was previously a full Nigeria international, having earned his first cap in 2013, but he hasn't played since September 2015, when he made his last of seven appearances in a friendly against Niger.
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After spending two years in China, he returned to the Bundesliga with Mainz in 2018, before moving to Union Berlin a year later. Despite not being a first-choice forward, owing largely to Taiwo Awoniyi's rise, he scored three times in 24 games in 2019/20 and is the third-highest scoring Nigerian in Bundesliga history with 30 goals.
Pascal Ojigwe
Clubs: Kaiserslautern, Bayer Leverkusen, and Borussia Mönchengladbach.
Position: Defensive Midfield
When: 1995-2000 (Kaiserslautern), 2000-03 (Leverkusen), and 2003-04 (Gladbach).
Ojigwe may be one of the lesser-known players on this list, but he is more than deserving of his place.
Born in Aba, he went to Germany as a teenager and signed with Kaiserslautern in 1995. It took him some time to adjust to life in Germany game, but made his Bundesliga debut in 1997/98 against 1860 Munich – the first of 42 top-flight appearances all told.
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Ojigwe, a terrier-like battler who was always snapping at the opposition's heels, joined Leverkusen in the summer of 2000 and was part of the group that won three runners-up trophies that season after losing the DFB and UEFA Champions League finals, as well as finishing second in the Bundesliga.
Ojigwe earned seven international caps for the Super Eagles, helping the team finish third in the 2002 Africa Cup of Nations. He withdrew from the game in 2007, at the age of 31.
Taiwo Awoniyi
Clubs: Mainz and Union Berlin.
Position: Striker.
When: 2019-20 (Mainz); 2020-2022 (Union)
After joining Liverpool aged only 17 in 2015, Awoniyi was moved out on loan to seven different clubs, including Mainz and Union Berlin, before completing the move to the latter a permanent one in summer 2021.
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If the striker had always hinted at his finishing talent, he undoubtedly proved it during the 2021/22 season, becoming the club's all-time leading scorer in the Bundesliga (21 overall) and helping the team climb as high as fourth in the table.
Victor Boniface
Club: Bayer Leverkusen.
Position: Striker.
When: July 2023 to date.
Boniface arrived at the Bay Arena in July with a tremendous reputation, having scored six goals for Belgian team Union Saint-Gilloise in the 2022/23 Europa League, tied with Marcus Rashford of Manchester United. He previously won the Norwegian topflight Eliteserien in 2020 and 2021 with Bodø/Glimt.
The Akure-born striker, who started his career at Lagos-based youth club Real Sapphire, lived up to expectations, firing Leverkusen to their first-ever German Bundesliga title in their 120-year history with 20-goal contributions — 11 goals and none assists. Overall he has 18 goals, a further five in Europa and two in the DFB Pokal as the unbeaten German champions aim for a dream treble this season.
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Nathan Tella
Club: Bayer Leverkusen.
Position: Midfielder.
When: August 2023 till date.
Tella, who was born in England to Nigerian parents, signed for Leverkusen for £20 million in August 2023 after helping Burnley earn promotion to the English Premier League while on loan from Southampton.
The Arsenal academy product, who can also play on the right wing, has 11 goals and four assists in 34 games across all competitions this season. He hopes to add the Europa and DFB Pokal to his trophy cabinet after winning the Bundesliga.
