Nwankwo Kanu

From Owerri to Amsterdam

Nwankwo Kanu was born on 1 August 1976 in Owerri, Imo State, into a football family of Aro Igbo heritage; his brothers Christopher and Ogbonna also played professionally. He grew up playing for Federation Works in Owerri and made his senior debut for Iwuanyanwu Nationale in 1992, scoring 15 goals in 25 league games as a teenager.

His break came at the 1993 FIFA U-17 World Championship in Japan. Kanu scored five goals as the Golden Eaglets won the world title, and Ajax signed him the same year.

Club career

Atlanta 1996: the golden goal

Kanu captained Nigeria at the 1996 Olympic Games. In the semi-final against a Brazil side with Ronaldo, Bebeto and Rivaldo, Nigeria trailed 3-2 as the game entered its final minute. Kanu equalised, then scored the golden goal in extra time to win 4-3. Nigeria beat Argentina 3-2 in the final to become the first African nation to win Olympic football gold.

The heart that nearly ended it all

Weeks after Atlanta, Inter Milan’s medical found a serious heart defect. Kanu had aortic valve surgery in Cleveland, USA, in November 1996, paid for by Inter, and returned to play in April 1997. In 2000 he founded the Kanu Heart Foundation, a UK-registered charity that pays for heart operations for African children; hundreds have been treated.

For Nigeria

Kanu won 86 caps between 1994 and 2010 and played at the 1998, 2002 and 2010 World Cups. At the Africa Cup of Nations he was a runner-up in 2000 and won bronze in 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2008. He was CAF African Footballer of the Year in 1996 and 1999, and in July 2023 Abia State appointed him chairman of Enyimba FC.

Kanu stories

• A debut replayed: on his Arsenal debut in the 1999 FA Cup against Sheffield United, Kanu chased a ball meant to be returned to the opponents and set up the winner. Arsène Wenger offered a replay, which Arsenal also won.
• 15 minutes at Chelsea: in October 1999 he scored a hat-trick in the last quarter of an hour to turn 2-0 down into a 3-2 win, finishing from an impossible angle.
• Papilo: the nickname Nigerian fans gave him and still use today.