Prince Ikpe Ekong


Prince Ikpe Ekong is a Nigerian footballer who plays for Märsta IK as a midfielder.

Career

After the 1994 World Cup a series of Nigerian players was brought to the European top leagues, and Ikpe Ekong was signed by Italian club Reggiana, then coached by Carlo Ancelotti.

Reggiana

Due to Italian rules regarding non-EU players, he could not play for the first team in Serie A, he ended up going on a loan to FC Koper from Slovenia, when he returned to Italy he was loaned out again to Tecos UAG of Mexico, then AC Bellinzona from Switzerland and FCM UTA from Romania. It would not be until 2000 when Prince Ikpe Ekong returned to Italy to play for A.C. Reggiana. However Reggiana had fallen to Serie C2 where no non-EU players were allowed, and this led to Ikpe Ekong filing a lawsuit against the Italian FA, which he won, allowing him to play in Serie C2.

Allsvenskan

In 2003, he moved to China and Changsha Ginde and later Xiamen Lanshi. In 2006 four clubs where interested in signing him, French club CS Sedan, Maccabi Tel Aviv from Israel, Gençlerbirliğ from Turkey and GAIS from Sweden. He chose GAIS after he visited the club and then visited a local church where he heard God tell him to sign for GAIS. In 2008, he left GAIS to sign for Allsvenskan rivals Djurgårdens IF. He was bought out of his contract with Djurgården in November 2011 after having played none of the games in the 2011 season. Since 2016 Prince plays for Märsta IK in the fifth tier of the Swedish Football League system.

Honours

Xiamen Lanshi