Daniel Amokachi
Daniel Amokachi the Bull is he is popularly known has been appointed by the nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari as Nigeria’s football Ambassador. The formal professional footballer becomes the first sports person appointed by the current president of Nigeria. Daniel Amokachi assisted many past coached of the nigerian national team.
Amokachi, nicknamed “The Bull”, was discovered while playing for Ranchers Bees by Nigerian national team coach Clement Westerhof. The coach brought the talented player to the 1990 African Nations Cup, and soon Amokachi moved to play for Club Brugge in Belgium.
He competed in the Champions League and became the first player to score in the competition. He scored a goal to secured a 1–0 win in the opening match in the group stage against CSKA Moscow. Performing well in Belgium and at the 1994 World Cup, Everton became interested in Amokachi and their manager manager Mike Walker signed him for a fee of £3,000,000 ($4,700,000).
He went on to win the FA Cup with Everton in 1995, scoring two goals in the semi-final against Spurs after ‘substituting himself’ into the match while Paul Rideout was receiving treatment (the manager Joe Royles had only instructed him to warm up in preparation for possibly coming on). He appeared in the final only briefly, late on, again as a substitute but is remembered fondly for his beret-wearing celebrations afterwards.
He remained at Everton until the end of the 1995-96 season, when he was transferred to Besiktas of Turkey for a fee of £1.75million. He had failed to make the impact at Godison Park that many fans had been hoping for, and had been unable to win a regular place in the first team, as Rideout and Ferguson were firmly established as Everton’s two strikers at that stage.
He did, however, stand in for Ferguson while he spent six weeks in prison during the autumn of 1995 for an offence committed in Scotland 18 months earlier. After leaving Beşiktaş in 1999, his playing career more or less ended. He signed with 1860 Munich, but the contract was cancelled after he failed a medical test. In turn he was rejected by Tranmere Rovers for the same reason.
Amokachi trained with French second division side US Creteil, but the deal was hampered by injuries. American MLS team Colorado Rapids signed him in 2002, but seeing he was not fit enough they released him before a single match was played. He went to play in the United Arab Emirates, but was denied again due to his medical condition.
Amokachi, a member of the 1994 Super Eagles Team that won the African Nations Cup in Tunisia, was also in the Nigerian Olympic Football Team to the 1996 Atlanta Olympics that won the Gold Medal.
Amokachi managed Nigerian club Nasarawa United and later Enyimba Aba. In April 2007, he quit his role as assistant coach of the Nigeria national team. On 10 April 2008, Amokachi was re-appointed to Nigeria’s national team, the Super Eagles, as assistant coach to Shuaibu Amodu, and then as assistant to Stephen Keshi.
In 2015, Amokachi managed Ifeanyi Ubah, resigning after five weeks in the post. In January 2016, he was named as manager of JS Hercules. As Nigeria’s Football Ambassador a largely ceremonial role – Amokachi will assist the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development. He will help to scout for talents, be part of processes to revive the country’s football development, as well as mentor young sportsmen and women.