Landmark is level 2 of 4 in the Nigeria Hall of Fame: a first that opened a door, or the pre-eminent figure of their generation in this country. See how the levels work.
Why they are here
A player people paid to watch regardless of the result — Africa Cup of Nations winner in 1994, Olympic champion in 1996, and the most gifted Nigerian ever to play the game.
Augustine Azuka Okocha left Enugu for Germany as a teenager and announced himself at twenty with a goal for Eintracht Frankfurt against Karlsruhe in which he beat four defenders and the goalkeeper — Oliver Kahn — twice in the same move, in a box the size of a room. It is still shown.
He won the Africa Cup of Nations with Nigeria in 1994 and Olympic gold at Atlanta in 1996, where the Nigerian side beat Brazil and then Argentina — the first African country to win the football tournament, and a result that changed how African teams were regarded.
He played for Fenerbahçe, Paris Saint-Germain — where he was briefly the most expensive African footballer in the world and shared a dressing room with a young Ronaldinho, who has said Okocha was his idol — and then Bolton Wanderers, where he captained a modest side to a League Cup final and made himself beloved in England. The chant was that he was so good they named him twice.
He captained Nigeria at two World Cups and was named African Footballer of the Year twice. What he is remembered for is not a trophy count but a way of playing: he did things with a football for their own sake, and a generation of Nigerian players grew up trying them in the street.
He won the Africa Cup of Nations with Nigeria in 1994 and Olympic gold at Atlanta in 1996, where the Nigerian side beat Brazil and then Argentina — the first African country to win the football tournament, and a result that changed how African teams were regarded.
He played for Fenerbahçe, Paris Saint-Germain — where he was briefly the most expensive African footballer in the world and shared a dressing room with a young Ronaldinho, who has said Okocha was his idol — and then Bolton Wanderers, where he captained a modest side to a League Cup final and made himself beloved in England. The chant was that he was so good they named him twice.
He captained Nigeria at two World Cups and was named African Footballer of the Year twice. What he is remembered for is not a trophy count but a way of playing: he did things with a football for their own sake, and a generation of Nigerian players grew up trying them in the street.
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