Victor Ikpeba

Victor Ikpeba
Personal information
Full name	Victor Ikpeba Nosa
Date of birth	12 June 1973 (age 51)
Place of birth	Benin City, Nigeria
Height	1.74 m (5 ft 9 in)
Position(s)	Forward
Senior career*
Years	Team
1989	ACB Lagos
1989–1993	RFC Liège
1993–1999	Monaco
1999–2002	Borussia Dortmund
2001–2002	→ Real Betis (loan)
2002–2004	Al Ittihad
2004–2005	Charleroi
2005	Al-Sadd
Total
National team
1996	Nigeria U23
1992–2002	Nigeria
Honours
Representing Nigeria
Men's Football
	* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Victor Ikpeba Nosa (born 12 June 1973) is a Nigerian former professional footballer who played as a forward for both club and country. Ikpeba played 31 international matches and scored seven goals for Nigeria. He was a member of Super Eagles team to the FIFA World Cups in 1994 but played and scored the lone goal against Bulgaria in the second game of the team at the 1998 FIFA World Cup. Ikpeba helped win the 1994 African Nations Cup and the Olympic football gold medal in 1996.^[source?] In spite of his small physique, Ikpeba was a fast, versatile, and opportunistic forward, who was capable of playing as a striker, as a second striker, or on either wing, and was known for his ability to score from any position on the pitch.^[1] Regarded as one of the best Nigerian forwards of all time.

Club career

He began his professional career at the Nigerian club ABC Lagos. In 1989, he performed well at the World Youth Championship and was bought by the Belgian Liege together with Sunday Oliseh. Having quickly become one of the leaders in the Belgian club, Ikpeba soon moved to the French Monaco, where he spent the best years of his career. In 1997, for his successes with Monaco, he was recognized as the best football player in Africa. In 1999, Ikpeba moved to Borussia Dortmund, but his career there did not work out and soon after a conflict with head coach Matthias Sammer, he moved on loan to the Spanish Real Betis. Having failed to gain a foothold in the Spanish club, Ikpeba changed several more not very strong clubs, but was never able to return to the previous level. Victor Ikpeba ended his career in 2005.

International career

Ikpeba made his international debut in 1992. He played a total of 30 international matches for the Nigerian national football team and, among other things, took part in the 1994 World Cup in the USA. At the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta he won the gold medal with the Nigerian selection. He also took part in the African Championships four times, where he won gold in 1994. In 2000 he was on the verge of repeating this triumph. But in the penalty shootout in the final, his penalty was disallowed even though it was clearly behind the line. Nwankwo Kanu also missed his penalty against Cameroon.

Honours

RFC Liège

Belgian Cup: 1989–90

Monaco

Al-Ittihad

Libyan Premier League: 2002–03

Nigeria

Individual

Ebony Shoe Award: 1993
African Footballer of the Year: 1997

References

↑ "Le stelle di Francia 98: da Pep Guardiola a Jugovic" (in Italian). SoloCalcio.com. Archived from the original on 29 March 2017. Retrieved 28 March 2017.

Other websites

Victor Ikpeba at National-Football-Teams.com
Victor Ikpeba at WorldFootball.net
Victor Ikpeba at kicker (in German)
Victor Ikpeba at fussballdaten.de (in German)

[1] "Le stelle di Francia 98: da Pep Guardiola a Jugovic" (in Italian). SoloCalcio.com. Archived from the original on 29 March 2017. Retrieved 28 March 2017.

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