Willy Okpara
Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use Nigerian English Template:Infobox football biography
Williams Nwadinobi Okpara (born 7 May 1968) is a Nigerian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Having started his career with ACB Lagos, he spent more than a decade with South African side Orlando Pirates.
Career
Born in Lagos, Okpara played for ACB Lagos from 1987 to 1989 before moving to South African side Orlando Pirates. Okpara was the club's first choice goalkeeper from 1990 to 2002, losing his place to Congolese goalkeeper Michel Babale during 2002–03 season, then becoming an understudy to Thabang Radebe and Francis Chansa before retiring in 2005. He holds the record of Pirates' appearances with 375 matches, and is also the club's longest serving player.[1] He was part of the 1995 CAF Champions League winning team.[2]
International career
Okpara was Nigeria under-20's first choice goalkeeper during 1987 FIFA World Youth Championship, playing in all three matches as Nigeria failed to win during the group stage. He played for Nigeria national futsal team at 1992 FIFA Futsal World Championship as an outfield player,[3] featuring in the 5–4 loss against Poland when he was sent off.[4]
He made his debut for the Nigeria national team in 1996 and was selected for the 1998 FIFA World Cup squad.[5]
Retirement
After his retirement, Okpara became a goalkeeping coach for Orlando Pirates.[6]
Honours
- Premier Soccer League: 2000–01, 2002–03
- National Soccer League: 1994
- Nedbank Cup: 1996
- MTN 8: 1993, 1996, 2000
- Castle Challenge: 1992
- CAF Champions League: 1995
- CAF Super Cup: 1996
References
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- ↑ [1] Template:Webarchive
- ↑ [2] Template:Webarchive
- ↑ 1998 FIFA World Cup: Nigeria Squad FIFA. Retrieved 22 January 2010.
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External links
- Template:PAGENAMEBASE at National-Football-Teams.comScript error: No such module "EditAtWikidata".Script error: No such module "WikidataCheck".
- Orlando Pirates player profile - William Okpara
- Pages with script errors
- 1968 births
- Living people
- Nigerian men's footballers
- Men's association football goalkeepers
- Nigeria men's international footballers
- Nigeria men's under-20 international footballers
- 1998 FIFA World Cup players
- ACB Lagos F.C. players
- Orlando Pirates F.C. players
- Nigerian expatriate men's footballers
- Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in South Africa
- Expatriate men's soccer players in South Africa
- Association football goalkeeping coaches
- Futsal goalkeepers
- 20th-century Nigerian sportsmen