Francis Uzoho

Francis Odinaka Uzoho // (listen)(born 28 October 1998) is a Nigerian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Cypriot First Division club Omonia and the Nigeria national team.

Francis Uzoho
Uzoho with Omonia in 2022
Personal information
Full name Francis Odinaka Uzoho
Date of birth (1998-10-28) 28 October 1998
Place of birth Nwangele, Imo State, Nigeria
Height 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in)[1]
Position(s) Goalkeeper
Team information
Current team
 Omonia
Number 23
Youth career
2013–2016 Aspire Academy
2017 Deportivo La Coruña
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2017–2018 Deportivo B 26 (0)
2017–2020 Deportivo La Coruña 2 (0)
2018–2019 → Elche (loan) 7 (0)
2019 → Anorthosis (loan) 3 (0)
2019–2020 → Omonia (loan) 5 (0)
2020–2021 APOEL 19 (0)
2021– Omonia 24 (0)
International career‡
2017– Nigeria 27 (0)
Honours
Men's football
Representing  Nigeria
Africa Cup of Nations
Third place2019 Egypt
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 01:44, 7 January 2023 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 20:54, 17 November 2022 (UTC)

Club career

Early Career and Deportivo La Coruña

Born in Nwangele,[2] Uzoho joined the Senegal branch of Aspire Academy in 2013, aged 14;[3] initially a forward, he was converted into a goalkeeper after being deemed "too slow" at the age of 12.[4] In 2016, after impressing on a tournament in Barcelona, he joined Deportivo de La Coruña's Juvenil squad.[4]

Age rules meant that Uzoho could only become available to sign a contract with Dépor in January 2017;[5] shortly after signing his contract, he started to train with the first team.[6] Promoted to the reserve team ahead of the 2017–18 season, he made his senior debut on 10 September by starting in a 3–0 Segunda División B home win against Real Madrid Castilla.[7]

Uzoho made his first team – and La Liga – debut on 15 October 2017, starting in a 0–0 away draw against SD Eibar.[8] At the age of 18 years and 352 days, he became the youngest ever foreign goalkeeper to debut in La Liga, and the second-youngest player to appear in the league during the campaign at that point, only behind Real Madrid's Achraf Hakimi.[9][10]

On 24 August 2018, Uzoho renewed his contract for three seasons[11] and was immediately loaned to Segunda División side Elche CF for one year.[12] In February 2019 he moved on loan to Cypriot club Anorthosis Famagusta,[13] in the search for more first-team football in the run up to the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations.[14]

After making his debut for the club, concerns were raised about his health certificate.[15] As a result, Anorthosis Famagusta were deducted 9 points, which they appealed.[16] The club's deduction appeal was rejected, although Uzoho's appeal against his personal penalty of a one-match ban and €1,000 fine was successful.[17]

In July 2019 he returned on loan to Cyprus, this time with Omonia.[18] He played a limited number of games, due to a serious injury he sustained while playing for his national team.[19]

Permanent move to Cyprus

In July 2020, Uzoho moved permanently to APOEL on a three year contract, but was released at the end of the season. On the deadline of the Summer transfer window, Uzoho joined Omonia on a three-year deal.[20]

On 13 October 2022, Uzoho received praise for his performance against Manchester United at Old Trafford in the Europa League. Omonia lost 1–0 to a late goal, but Uzoho made 12 saves on the night.[21] He was nominated for the Europa League Player of the Week and Save of the Day awards.[22]

In March 2023, Uzoho was named Nigerian Goalkeeper of the Year at the Nigeria Pitch Awards.[23]

International career
Uzoho with Nigeria against Iceland at the 2018 FIFA World Cup

Uzoho represented Nigeria under-17s at the 2013 FIFA U-17 World Cup. Aged only 14, he was an immediate backup to Dele Alampasu.[9][24]

In October 2017 Uzoho received his first call-up to the Nigerian senior squad.[25] He made his full international debut on 14 November, replacing Daniel Akpeyi in a 4–2 friendly win against Argentina.[26]

He was named in Nigeria's 23-man squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.[27] By that time he was considered Nigeria's first-choice goalkeeper.[28]

He withdrew from the national squad in November 2018 due to injury.[29] He was a squad member at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations.[30] Uzoho was in goal for Nigeria in the 3rd place match against Tunisia, which they won.[31]

In October 2019 he suffered a ligament injury in a friendly match against Brazil,[19] and underwent surgery in November 2019.[32]

On 25 December 2021, he was shortlisted in 2021 AFCON Nations Cup by caretaker coach Eguavoen as part of the 28-Man Nigeria squad.[33]

On 29 March 2022, Uzoho was in goal for Nigeria in a World Cup qualifier against Ghana. He suffered criticism for his performance, as an error on his behalf led to a goal for Ghana, and ultimately cost his team entry to the World Cup.[34] He tendered an apology, mentioning "I wanted to take my nation to Qatar but rather did the opposite".[35] National teammates and ex-internationals, such as Alex Iwobi and Vincent Enyeama, showed support for Uzoho.[36]

Career statistics

Club
As of match played 11 March 2023[1]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National Cup Continental Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Deportivo B 2017–18 Segunda División B 260——260
Deportivo La Coruña 2017–18 La Liga 2000—20
Elche (loan) 2018–19 Segunda División 7010—80
Anorthosis (loan) 2018–19 Cypriot First Division 30000030
Omonia (loan) 2019–20 Cypriot First Division 5000—50
APOEL 2020–21 Cypriot First Division 1806000240
2021–22 1000—10
Total 1906000250
Omonia 2021–22 Cypriot First Division 9 0 2 0 4 0 15 0
2022–23 17 0 1 0 4 0 22 0
Total 26 0 3 0 8 0 37 0
Career total 880100801060

    International
    As of match played 27 March 2023[37]
    Appearances and goals by national team and year
    National teamYearAppsGoals
    Nigeria 201710
    2018110
    201940
    202000
    202120
    2022100
    2023 2 0
    Total300

    Honours

    Omonia

    References
    1. "F. Uzoho: Summary". soccerway.com. Retrieved 29 March 2023.
    2. "Profile" (in Spanish). Deportivo La Coruña. Retrieved 23 October 2017.
    3. "FIFA WORLD CUP DEBUT FOR FORMER ASPIRE FOOTBALL DREAMS KEEPER UZOHO". aspire.qa. Aspire Academy. 16 June 2018. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
    4. "Francis Uzoho: "A veces extraño jugar en punta"" [Francis Uzoho: "Sometimes I miss playing up front"] (in Spanish). La Voz de Galicia. 30 August 2017. Retrieved 23 October 2017.
    5. "El Dépor ficha al nigeriano Francis Uzoho" [Dépor sign the Nigerian Francis Uzoho] (in Spanish). Riazor. 16 January 2017. Retrieved 23 October 2017.
    6. "Una promesa nigeriana se entrena con el primer equipo del Deportivo" [A Nigerian prospect trains with the first team of Deportivo] (in Spanish). La Voz de Galicia. 17 January 2017. Retrieved 23 October 2017.
    7. "El Castilla sucumbe ante el Depor en tan solo veinte minutos" [Castilla fall against Depor within only twenty minutes] (in Spanish). Diario AS. 10 September 2017. Retrieved 23 October 2017.
    8. "Eibar-Dépor will be remembered for Francis' debut". Deportivo La Coruña. 15 October 2017. Retrieved 23 October 2017.
    9. Oluwashina Okeleji (16 October 2017). "Nigerian Uzoho revels in historic La Liga debut". BBC Sport. Retrieved 18 October 2017.
    10. "El portero del Deportivo Francis Uzoho entra en la historia de LaLiga" [Deportivo goalkeeper Francis Uzoho goes into LaLiga's history] (in Spanish). Marca. 17 October 2017. Retrieved 23 October 2017.
    11. "Francis renueva su contrato con el Dépor por 3 temporadas" [Francis renews his contract with Dépor for 3 seasons] (in Spanish). Deportivo La Coruña. 24 August 2018. Retrieved 26 August 2018.
    12. "Francis jugará esta temporada cedido en el Elche" [Francis will play this season on loan at Elche] (in Spanish). Deportivo La Coruña. 24 August 2018. Retrieved 26 August 2018.
    13. "Nigeria goalkeeper Francis Uzoho joins Anorthosis Famagusta on loan - Goal.com". www.goal.com.
    14. "Francis Uzoho: Nigeria keeper moves for first-team football". BBC Sport. 1 February 2019. Retrieved 4 February 2019.
    15. "Francis Uzoho: Nigeria keeper caught up in Cyprus 'health certificate' probe". BBC Sport. 9 February 2019.
    16. "Francis Uzoho: Cypriot club Anorthosis to appeal points penalty". BBC Sport. 19 February 2019.
    17. "Uzoho wins appeal against one-match ban". BBC Sport. 24 February 2019.
    18. "Francis Uzoho encuentra nuevo equipo en Chipre". 4 July 2019.
    19. "Nigeria keeper Uzoho facing long injury lay-off". 15 October 2019 – via www.bbc.co.uk.
    20. OmonoiaFC (1 September 2021). "Ποδοσφαιριστής της ΟΜΟΝΟΙΑΣ ο Φράνσις Ουζόχο!". Omonoia FC. Retrieved 29 August 2022.
    21. "Francis Uzoho: Omonia Nicosia keeper and boyhood Man Utd fan stars at Old Trafford". BBC Sport. 13 October 2022.
    22. efosataiwo@vanguardngr.com (14 October 2022). "Uzoho nominated for two Europa League awards after heroics". Vanguard News. Retrieved 14 October 2022.
    23. "9th Nigeria Pitch Awards: Osimhen Crowned King of Football As Oshoala Emerges Queen". The Crest. 27 March 2023. Retrieved 28 March 2023.
    24. "Nigerian-born teenage goalkeeper, Francis Uzoho makes La Liga debut". Daily Post. 16 October 2017. Retrieved 23 October 2017.
    25. Oluwashina Okeleji (5 November 2017). "Deportivo goalkeeper Uzoho delight at Nigeria call-up". BBC Sport. Retrieved 6 November 2017.
    26. "Argentina 2-4 Nigeria World Cup 2018 friendly match: match report, goals, action". AS.com. 24 January 2019. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
    27. "World Cup 2018: Arsenal's Iwobi in Nigeria's 23-man squad". BBC Sport. 3 June 2018.
    28. "World Cup 2018: Nigeria's Uzoho still on a 'learning curve'". BBC Sport. 11 June 2018.
    29. "Injury forces Francis Uzoho to withdraw from Nigeria squad". BBC Sport. 6 November 2018.
    30. "Nigeria: Super Eagles' Team List for Afcon 2019". 12 June 2019 – via AllAfrica.com.
    31. "Bronze for Nigeria as Super Eagles beat Tunisia 1-0 to win 3rd-place game of AFCON 2019". www.pulse.ng. 17 July 2019. Retrieved 9 August 2019.
    32. "Francis Uzoho: Nigeria keeper says knee operation 'a success'". 15 November 2019 – via www.bbc.co.uk.
    33. Football, CAF-Confedération Africaine du. "Eguavoen announces Nigeria final TotalEnergies AFCON squad". CAFOnline.com. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
    34. "Francis Uzoho's error cost Nigeria World Cup ticket against Ghana – Henry Nwosu". Footballghana. Retrieved 29 August 2022.
    35. "World Cup howler: It's worst time of my life, says Uzoho". Punch Newspapers. 5 April 2022. Retrieved 29 August 2022.
    36. Eludini, Tunde (5 April 2022). "Enyeama, others react as Uzoho apologises for World Cup miss". Premium Times Nigeria. Retrieved 29 August 2022.
    37. "Francis Uzoho". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmermann. Retrieved 23 June 2018.
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