Emmanuel Olisadebe


Emmanuel Olisadebe is a retired Polish-Nigerian footballer who played as a striker.
He began his career with Jasper United, going on to have a successful career with Polonia Warsaw where in 2000 he won the Ekstraklasa, Ekstraklasa Cup and Polish SuperCup. He also played in Greece, Cyprus, England and China.
Born in Nigeria, he attracted the attention of the Polish national team after he was eligible for Polish citizenship. He scored 11 international goals in 25 caps between 2000 and 2004, and participated in the 2002 FIFA World Cup.

Club career

Polonia Warsaw

Olisadebe began playing for Polonia Warsaw during the 1997–98 Ekstraklasa season where in his first season he played in 13 league games. During his time in the Polish capital he helped them secure their first championship title in 50 years in the 1999–2000 season, scoring 12 goals in the process. He also won the League Cup and the Super Cup that season.

Panathinaikos

Olisadebe moved to Panathinaikos where he scored 24 goals in 74 matches. In 2004, he helped the club win the title for the first time in 7 years by scoring all the winning goals in the last three of four games of the championship. He also won the cup that year, making it a double. However, during his time at Panathinaikos he suffered an injury that required surgery in Greece.

Portsmouth

On 4 January 2006, he joined Portsmouth until the end of the 2005–06 season. He made his debut ten days later, replacing Richard Hughes after 61 minutes of an eventual 0–1 Premier League defeat to Everton at Fratton Park. A week later he made his only other appearance for the club, playing the final 37 minutes of a 0–5 defeat at Birmingham City, this time in place of Vincent Péricard.
His contract was terminated after 4 months, at which point he travelled to Skoda Xanthi, where he wasn't given a chance to play.

APOP Kinyras Peyias

He then featured for APOP Kinyras Peyia FC where he played in the 2007–08 season where he played in 17 games scoring 6 goals.

Henan Construction

In 2008, he was offered a deal with Chinese Super League club Henan Construction. In his second match with Henan, the third round of 2008 Chinese Super League against Liaoning, he scored 2 goals. In first season at Henan he scored 12 goals in 26 games in the Chinese super league.
On 27 September, Olisadebe scored the opening goal for Henan in a 2–0 win over Shanghai Shenhua to regain lead in the league less than ten minutes before injuring his knee. Initial diagnosis showed that he had torn his cruciate ligament of the left knee, and the injury could end his entire football career. Further results confirmed that he injured his patellar ligament and would only miss the rest of the season.
He was nominated for the MVP awards two years consecutively only to be 2nd in both occasions. Due to his performance he has been granted by the government of Henan province citizenship.

International career

Though Nigerian by birth, Olisadebe became a Polish citizen in 2000 and was selected by the Poland national team. He scored eight goals in ten qualification matches as coach Jerzy Engel's team reached the 2002 FIFA World Cup, their first since 1986, gaining one vote for 2001 FIFA World Player of the Year. He netted their second of three goals in a victory over Norway on 1 September which confirmed qualification.
Olisadebe scored Poland's first goal of their 2002 FIFA World Cup campaign in a 3–1 victory against the United States in Daejeon in the last group match. However, Poland did not progress to the second round and Olisadebe would not score again for Poland. Jerzy Engel, the national coach who brought Olisadebe into the fold, resigned following Poland’s exit from the World Cup, and barring a handful of sporadic appearances that resignation ended Olisadebe’s association with the national team as well.

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

Scores and results list Poland's goal tally first
#DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.16 August 2000Stadionul Cotroceni, Bucharest, Romania
1–1
1–1
Friendly
2.2 September 2000Olympic Stadium, Kiev, Ukraine
1–0
3–1
2002 FIFA World Cup qualification
3.2 September 2000Olympic Stadium, Kiev, Ukraine
2–1
3–1
2002 FIFA World Cup qualification
4.28 February 2001Antonis Papadopoulos Stadium, Larnaka, Cyprus
1–0
4–0
Friendly
5.24 March 2001Ullevaal Stadion, Oslo, Norway
1–0
3–2
2002 FIFA World Cup qualification
6.24 March 2001Ullevaal Stadion, Oslo, Norway
2–0
3–2
2002 FIFA World Cup qualification
7.28 March 2001Polish Army Stadium, Warsaw, Poland
2–0
4–0
2002 FIFA World Cup qualification
8.2 June 2001Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, Wales
1–1
2–1
2002 FIFA World Cup qualification
9.1 September 2001Silesian Stadium, Chorzów, Poland
2–0
3–0
2002 FIFA World Cup qualification
10.6 October 2001Silesian Stadium, Chorzów, Poland
1–0
1–1
2002 FIFA World Cup qualification
11.14 June 2002Daejeon World Cup Stadium, Daejeon, South Korea
1–0
3–1
2002 FIFA World Cup

Honours

Club

;Polonia Warsaw
;Panathinaikos