Maduka Okoye: Biography, career, achievements, salary

Whenever the name Maduka Okoye is mentioned, many Nigerian ladies would drool over him and prefer to highlight his aesthetic features and gigantic body structure. Flip the question to Nigerian football fans, who are primarily men, and the majority of them will open or even write a book of lamentation.

So, it is different strokes for different folks regarding Okoye in Nigeria. This mixed-race individual has made quite an impact in the short time he has spent as a player of the Super Eagles, the men’s national football (soccer) team of Nigeria. The footballer elicits divergent views from Nigerians, either good or negative.

So, who is Maduka Okoye, the toast of most Nigerian ladies, yet is reportedly a thorn in the flesh of Nigerian football fans for being “error-prone”?

Table of Content hide 1Maduka Okoye Biography 2Career 2.1Club level 2.2National team 3Achievement 4Salary 5Net worth 6Family 7Is Maduka Okoye related to P-Square?

Maduka Okoye Biography

Maduka Emilio Okoye was born on 28 August 1999 in Düsseldorf, Germany. He was born to a Nigerian father from Anambra State and a German mother.

Okoye’s height is 1.97 metres, meaning he is six feet six inches tall. His tall physique and muscular frame, coupled with his fair complexion seem to be a centre of attraction for young Nigerian ladies, who take to social media to describe him as their “crush” or “perfect man”.

Career

Club level

Maduka Okoye, who is a goalkeeper, began his journey in football as a youth player. He joined DJK SC Flingern 08, a youth football team, which is based in his birth city of Düsseldorf. He then went on to join the youth team of another local football club, Fortuna Düsseldorf.

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He then left his birth city and joined the youth team of Borussia Mönchengladbach, one of the prominent football clubs in Germany, to further his football education. In 2009, he left Mönchengladbach and signed a contract with the youth team of Bayer Leverkusen, another illustrious German club. Okoye was at Leverkusen for eight years before he returned to Fortuna Düsseldorf.

On his return to Fortuna Düsseldorf, Okoye was immediately drafted to the first team and was handed his professional football debut on 14 October 2017. His first professional game was for the Düsseldorf II in the Regionalliga West against Wuppertaler SV. He came on as a substitute to replace his injured teammate, the goalkeeper, in the 43rd minute of the game. He subsequently made five appearances in the 2017/2018 season, conceded just one goal and kept four clean sheets.

Okoye became the club’s first-choice goalkeeper in the 2018/2019 season. He made 15 appearances that season, conceding 25 goals and keeping three clean sheets. He was also at the club for the 2019/2020 season. In total, he made 34 appearances for Düsseldorf II in his three-year stint with the club.

The young goalkeeper’s profile soared when in July 2020, Sparta Rotterdam, a top club in the Dutch Eredivise, signed him for free. He immediately became the club’s first-choice goalkeeper and had a decent debut season, as he kept 10 clean sheets in 28 league games during the 2020/21 season. His performance earned him Sparta’s Player of the Season award. He spent two years at the club, securing 45 caps.

His exploits at Rotterdam did not go unnoticed and this was demonstrated on 8 November 2021 when Watford, an English Premier League club, announced that it had acquired the services of Okoye on a five-and-a-half-year deal for an undisclosed fee. The goalkeeper officially joined Warford in January 2022, but was loaned back to Sparta Rotterdam for the remainder of the 2021/2022 season. He starred for the Dutch side 13 times during his loan stint.

Okoye returned to Watford, which was relegated to the Championship, in July 2022. He has been in goal for the Hertfordshire-based club in one competitive match thus far: the club’s 0-2 defeat to MK Dons in the second round of the EFL Cup.

National team

Following the forced retirement of Carl Ikeme from football, the Nigerian senior male national team, better known as the Super Eagles, have been looking for a reliable goalkeeper. Gernot Rohr, the team’s former coach, raised the prospect of Maduka Okoye becoming the team’s goalkeeper in November 2017. The goalkeeper declared his intention to represent Nigeria at the international level in February 2019.

After his inability to honour two qualifying games for the Olympic Eagles (U-23 team), popularly known as the Dream Team, in February and May 2019, respectively, due to club engagements, Okoye was invited to the Super Eagles. He made his international debut on 13 October 2019 as a substitute in a 1-1 friendly match against Brazil. He was subsequently made the team’s first-choice goalkeeper and was in goal for the majority of the 2021 African Cup of Nations qualifiers and the 2022 World Cup qualifiers.

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Okoye was listed in the 28-man squad to represent the Super Eagles at the delayed 2021 AFCON, his first international competition for Nigeria. His national team career, however, hit the rock following his underwhelming performance at the 2021 AFCON, particularly in the round of 16 game against Tunisia, in which he failed to forcefully parry the long-range shot of forward Youssef Msakni and the ball ended up in the back of the net. The goal he conceded eliminated Nigeria from the competition and angry fans took to their social media pages to vent their anger at him. However, some people took it too far as they hurled derogatory words against him.

The criticism by Super Eagles’ fans towards Okoye resumed in September 2022 after he committed another howler in a friendly game against Algeria, which ended 2-2. He tried to play out from the back, but got confused and stuck, and an Algerian player stole the ball from him and scored.

Maduka Okoye's error against Algeria Team B.

— POOJA!!! (@PoojaMedia) September 24, 2022

Okoye has had 16 appearances for the Super Eagles, so far.

Achievement

• 2020/2021 Sparta Rotterdam Player of the Season award

Salary

Maduka Okoye is reported to earn around £1,095 per week with the Hornets. His take-home pay is estimated to be around £57,021 annually.

Net worth

Maduka Okoye is, by media reports, estimated to be worth $3-$5 million. Asides from his salary, the goalkeeper has an endorsement deal with a prominent sports manufacturer.

He has been publicly seen with two cars, both of them being a Mercedes Benz. The first automobile is a wine-plated Mercedes Benz AMG, while the other car is a Mercedes-AMG GLE Coupe.

Family

Not much is known about the family of Maduka Okoye as the goalkeeper rarely talks about his parents or siblings in public. What is, however, known is that he is from Anambra State by the virtue of his father’s state of origin, and is qualified to play for Nigeria due to his paternal lineage. The footballer also has a German passport as he was born in the country and his mother also hails from there.

What is also not in doubt is that the young player is currently dating Jelicia Westhoff, a Dutch lady. Westhoff came into the spotlight of Nigerians after she consoled her boyfriend on Instagram, following the criticisms levelled against him after Nigeria’s exit from the 2021 AFCON.

Is Maduka Okoye related to P-Square?

Yes, Maduka Okoye is related to P-Square, the Nigerian music duo consisting of the twin brothers: Peter Okoye and Paul Okoye. The father of Maduka Okoye is a brother to the now-late father of P-Square.

Therefore, Maduka Okoye is a cousin to P-Square.

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