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Prince Ikpe Ekong

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Prince Ikpe Ekong
Personal information
Date of birth (1978-10-05) 5 October 1978 (age 46)
Place of birth Lagos, Nigeria
Height 1.79 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s) Midfielder
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1995 Julius Berger
1995–2003 Reggiana 63 (1)
1995–1996 → Koper (loan) 16 (0)
1996–1998 → Tecos UAG (loan)
1998–1999 → AC Bellinzona (loan)
1999–2000 → UTA Arad (loan)
2003–2004 Shenyang Ginde 43 (1)
2005 Xiamen Lanshi 21 (5)
2006–2008 GAIS 46 (1)
2008–2011 Djurgårdens IF 53 (3)
2012–2013 Väsby United 23 (1)
2016 Märsta IK 16 (3)
International career‡
2001–2004 Nigeria 9 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 5 December 2012
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 28 April 2011

Prince Ikpe Ekong (born 5 October 1978) is a Nigerian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He is best remembered for representing Reggiana, Shenyang Ginde, Xiamen Lanshi, GAIS, and Djurgårdens IF during his career. A full international between 2001 and 2004, he won nine caps for the Nigeria national team.

Career

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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.[1]

Reggiana

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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,[2] 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 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 the Italian league Serie.

Allsvenskan

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In 2003, he moved to China and Changsha Ginde and later Xiamen Lanshi. In 2006 four clubs were interested in signing him because of his midfield talent in a defending and playmaker, 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 settled in Sweden. In 2008, he left GAIS to sign for Allsvenskan rivals Djurgårdens IF, one of the biggest team In Sweden, a rich team.[3][4] He was bought out of his contract with Djurgården in November 2011 after losing interest as a full-time professional player, he was studying in sports management and phycologist .[5] In 2016, Prince played for Märsta IK in the fifth tier of the Swedish Football League for fun and to keep fitness, he also help to start up a div 7 team, Afrikans FC Stockholm, he scored so many goals, took the team from div 7, to div 4. system.[6]

Personal life

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Ekong is the father of professional footballer Emmanuel Ekong.[7]

Honours

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Xiamen Lanshi

References

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  1. ^ "Från allsvenskans bäst betalda till skuldsanering". aftonbladet.se.
  2. ^ Stats from Slovenia at PrvaLiga
  3. ^ Olof Peronius. "Världens lirare" (in Swedish). Expressen.se. Archived from the original on 15 July 2008. Retrieved 6 July 2008.
  4. ^ Mattias Balkander. "Fyra kontinenter – en Prince" (in Swedish). GP.se. Archived from the original on 19 February 2007. Retrieved 12 February 2007.
  5. ^ Holmberg, Ludvig; Kristoffersson, Daniel (8 November 2011). "Prince lämnar Dif – vill stanna i Sverige". Expressen (in Swedish). Retrieved 9 November 2011.
  6. ^ "Säsongspremiär med nya krafter". 12 April 2016. Retrieved 14 May 2018.
  7. ^ "Tackade nej till storklubbar för Empoli – nu har svenskdoldis Serie A-debuterat: "Konstigt att spela inför 30 000 människor"". fotbollskanalen (in Swedish). Retrieved 21 September 2022.
  8. ^ "厦门主场完胜夺得中甲冠军--05中甲最终积分榜". sports.sohu.com. 22 October 2005. Retrieved 6 August 2019.
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