Julius Aghahowa

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Personal information
Julius Aghahowa
Date of birth	February 12, 1982
Place of birth	Benin City, Nigeria
Height	1.79m
Position	striker
Club information
Current club	Shakhtar Donetsk
Professional clubs*
Years	Club	Apps (goals)
1997-1999 1999-2000 2000-	Insurance Espérance Shakhtar Donetsk	6 (4) 85 (32)
National team**
1999-	Nigeria	32 (14)
* Professional club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 31 October 2006. ** National team caps and goals correct as of 02 June 2006.

Julius Aghahowa (born February 12, 1982) is a football striker from Nigeria. He has played 32 matches and scored 14 goals for the Nigerian national team, including their only goal at the 2002 FIFA World Cup. He became Nigeria's top goalscorer at the 2002 African Nations Cup. He also played at the 2000 Summer Olympics.

He began his career with the Police Machines, a local police team, and went on to Bendel Insurance FC. He signed for Danish lower division team Herning Fremad before the 1999 African Youth Championship, but Aghahowa performed so well there that he wanted to play for a bigger club. He ended up with the Tunisian champions, Espérance, when he procured a contract with the Tunisians which predated the (inferior) Herning Fremad contract^[1]. In the middle of the 2000-01 season he transferred to Shakhtar Donetsk, which soon won the Ukrainian league championship. He is famous for his acrobatic goalscoring celebrations.

Aghahowa singlehandedly won the game for Shakhtar in the 2006 Ukrainian Championship against Dynamo Kyiv, heading the winner in extra-time and being named man of the match. His performance in the final has been widely seen as the "saving grace" of his career at Shakhtar, with his future at the club looking bleak earlier in the season.

[edit] Footnotes

↑ Lars Bøgeskov, "Jyder snydt for supertalent", Politiken, August 27, 1999

[edit] External links

	Nigeria squad - 2002 FIFA World Cup
1 Shorunmu \| 2 Yobo \| 3 Babayaro \| 4 Kanu \| 5 Okoronkwo \| 6 West \| 7 Ikedia \| 8 Adepoju \| 9 Ogbeche \| 10 Okocha \| 11 Lawal \| 12 Ejide \| 13 Afolabi \| 14 Udeze \| 15 Christopher \| 16 Sodje \| 17 Aghahowa \| 18 Akwuegbu \| 19 Ejiofor \| 20 Obiorah \| 21 Utaka \| 22 Enyeama \| 23 Opabunmi \| Coach: Onigbinde