Bright Enobakhare

Bright Enobakhare

Personal information
Full name	Bright Enobakhare [1]
Date of birth	(1998-02-08) 8 February 1998 (age 26)
Place of birth	Benin City, Nigeria
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Position(s)	Forward, second striker
Team information
Current team	Al Bidda
Number	8
Youth career
2013–2014	Northfield Town
2014–2015	Wolverhampton Wanderers
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2015–2020	Wolverhampton Wanderers	41	(1)
2018	→ Kilmarnock (loan)	6	(0)
2019	→ Coventry City (loan)	18	(6)
2019	→ Wigan Athletic (loan)	2	(0)
2020	AEK Athens	1	(1)
2021	East Bengal	12	(3)
2021	Coventry City	0	(0)
2022	Hapoel Jerusalem	4	(0)
2022–2023	Rukh Lviv	1	(0)
2023–	Al Bidda	6	(0)
International career‡
2019	Nigeria U23	2	(0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 22 October 2022 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 23 October 2022

Bright Enobakhare (born 8 February 1998) is a Nigerian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Al Bidda.

Career

Early career

Having moved from his native Nigeria to Birmingham, England aged 14, Enobakhare started playing for Northfield Town Juniors where he was part of the team coached by Liam Bryan who won the Birmingham youth County FA cup in 2014, scoring two goals for Northfield Town as they beat Rugby Town 3–1 at Villa Park. ^[2] Following his success Enobakhare had trials at several clubs before joining the academy system at Wolverhampton Wanderers. ^[3]

Wolverhampton Wanderers

In the summer of 2015, Enobakhare signed his first professional contract with Wolverhampton Wanderers, scoring in a 3–2 friendly win over Chambly on his debut. ^[4] He scored the winner in a 4–3 friendly win over Doncaster Rovers at the Keepmoat Stadium on 2 August. ^[5] Four days later, manager Kenny Jackett stated that Enobakhare was going to play in the first team during the upcoming season, due to a shortage of other forwards. ^[6]

On 11 August 2015, Enobakhare was first included in Wolves' matchday squad, remaining an unused substitute in their 2–1 win over Newport County in the first round of the League Cup. ^[7] Two weeks later in the next round, he was given his debut as a starter, and scored within the first three minutes when set up by Adam Le Fondre. ^[8] On 29 September, he played his first game in The Football League, replacing Le Fondre for the final seven minutes of a 3–0 Championship win at Fulham. ^[9] Enobakhare scored his first league goal for Wolves in a 2–1 home win against Barnsley on 23 September 2017 ^[10] after replacing Ivan Cavaleiro in the 65th minute.

On 31 August 2018, Enobakhare was loaned to Scottish Premiership club Kilmarnock until the new year, ^[11] when he moved to League One side Coventry City on loan for the remainder of the season. ^[12]

On 8 August 2019, Enobakhare joined Championship club Wigan Athletic on loan for the season. ^[13] He played an EFL Cup game and two league matches as a substitute, trained with their youth team for several months and returned to Wolves prematurely in January. ^[14]

On 14 May 2020, Enobakhare left Wolves by a mutual agreement after a total of 49 first team appearances and 3 goals for his parent club. ^[15]

AEK Athens

On 20 June 2020, AEK Athens officially announced the acquisition of Enobakhare on a three-year deal, on a free transfer. ^[16] On 27 September 2020, he scored his first goal for the club on his debut against Lamia after coming on as a substitute 8 minutes earlier. ^[17] On 5 October 2020, Enobakhare mutually dissolved his contract with the club just a few months after reaching an agreement with them. He played just 14 minutes in the Greek Super League, in the match against Lamia. ^[18]

East Bengal

On 1 January 2021, Bright Enobakhare joined Indian Super League side East Bengal for the remainder of 2020–21 Indian Super League season. At that time, the century-old club was struggling in their very first appearance in this tournament. His inclusion in the team had an immediate impact. ^[19] On 3 January 2021, he made his debut for the club and scored his first goal in the same match and his team won their match against Odisha FC. In the very next match, Enobakhare scored a spectacular solo goal to help his team get a point against FC Goa. ^{[20] [21]} He assisted Scott Neville for a late equalizer in a 1–1 draw against Kerala Blasters.

Coventry City

On 13 July 2021, Enobakhare signed a two-year contract with Coventry City on a free transfer. ^{[22] [23]} On 1 November 2021 however, his contract was cancelled by mutual consent with Enobakhare having only made one appearance for the club that season, an EFL Cup defeat to Northampton Town. ^{[24] [25]}

Hapoel Jerusalem

On 30 January 2022 signed for Hapoel Jerusalem He was later released on the 4th of April due to missing training and being caught drunk driving. ^[26]

Career statistics

As of 21 March 2022

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			National Cup		League Cup		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Wolverhampton Wanderers	2015–16 [27]	Championship	7	0	0	0	2	1	—		9	1
	2016–17 [28]	Championship	13	0	1	0	0	0	—		14	1
	2017–18 [29]	Championship	21	1	2	0	3	1	—		26	2
	2018–19 [30]	Premier League	0	0	0	0	0	0	—		0	0
	2019–20 [31]	Premier League	0	0	0	0	0	0	—		0	0
	Total		41	1	3	0	5	2	0	0	49	3
Kilmarnock (loan)	2018–19 [30]	Scottish Premiership	6	0	—		—		—		6	0
Coventry City (loan)	2018–19 [30]	League One	18	6	—		—		—		18	6
Wigan Athletic (loan)	2019–20 [31]	Championship	2	0	—		1	0	—		3	0
AEK Athens	2020–21 [32]	Super League Greece	1	1	0	0	—		—		1	1
East Bengal	2020–21	Indian Super League	12	3	0	0	—		—		12	3
Coventry City	2021–22	Championship	0	0	0	0	1	0	—		1	0
Hapoel Jerusalem	2021–22	Israeli Premier League	4	0	0	0	0	0	—		4	0
Career total			84	11	3	0	7	2	0	0	94	13

Honours

Wolverhampton Wanderers

• EFL Championship: 2017–18 ^[33]

Individual

• Coventry City Young Player of the Year: 2018–19

References

1. "EFL: Club list of registered players" (PDF). English Football League. 20 May 2017. p. 41. Retrieved 6 October 2017.
2. "Birmingham County F.A Minor Cup 2014". Birmingham County F.A. Retrieved 11 October 2016.
3. "Bright future secured!". Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. 17 July 2015. Archived from the original on 17 July 2015. Retrieved 25 August 2015.
4. "Bright Enobakhare signs new Wolves deal". Express & Star . 17 July 2015. Retrieved 25 August 2015.
5. "Bright Enobakhare rated ready for Wolves". Express & Star. 3 August 2015. Retrieved 25 August 2015.
6. "Bright Enobakhare has a place at Wolves". Express & Star. 6 August 2015. Retrieved 25 August 2015.
7. Campbell, Darren (11 August 2015). "Wolves 2 Newport 1: Match report with pictures – Wolves escape cup shock". Birmingham Mail . Retrieved 25 August 2015.
8. Dodd, Christopher (25 August 2015). "Half-Time Report: Bright Enobakhare gives Wolverhampton Wanderers half-time lead". Sports Mole. Retrieved 25 August 2015.
9. "Fulham 0–3 Wolves". BBC Sport. 29 September 2015. Retrieved 30 September 2015.
10. "Wolves 2–1 Barnsley". BBC Sport. 23 September 2017. Retrieved 7 October 2017.
11. Brassington, Jamie (31 August 2018). "Wolves winger Bright Enobakhare joins Kilmarnock on loan". Express & Star. Retrieved 7 November 2019.
12. "Bright Enobakhare Joins Sky Blues on Loan". Coventry City F.C. Retrieved 8 January 2019.
13. "BRIGHT ENOBAKHARE SIGNS FOR LATICS ON A SEASON-LONG LOAN FROM WOLVES". www.wiganathletic.com. 8 August 2019. Retrieved 8 August 2019.
14. Edwards, Joe (2 January 2020). "Bright Enobakhare back at Wolves earlier than planned". Express & Star. Retrieved 30 January 2020.
15. "Enobakhare makes Wolves departure". Wolves. 14 May 2020. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
16. "ΑΕΚ: Ανακοίνωσε τον Ενομπακάρε". www.sport24.gr. 20 June 2020.
17. "ΑΕΚ - Λαμία 3-0: Με λάμψη Μαχαίρα το "2 στα 2" στο πρωτάθλημα". www.sport24.gr. 27 September 2020.
18. "Επίσημα παρελθόν από την ΑΕΚ ο Μπράιτ Ενομπακάρε". www.sport24.gr. 5 October 2020.
19. "SC East Bengal sign promising Nigerian forward Bright Enobakhare". sceastbengal.co. 1 January 2021. Retrieved 1 January 2020.
20. "ISL: Bright Enobakhare scores stunning solo goal as ten-man East Bengal hold FC Goa". scroll.in. Retrieved 15 July 2021.
21. "ISL 2020-21: East Bengal's Bright Enobakhare scores stunning goal against FC Goa as teams share spoils". firstpost.in. Retrieved 15 July 2021.
22. Hornby, Mark. "TRANSFER: Coventry City sign Bright Enobakhare!". Coventry City. Retrieved 13 July 2021.
23. "Coventry City fans all saying the same thing about Bright Enobakhare signing". coventrytelegraph.net. Retrieved 15 July 2021.
24. "Coventry City 1–2 Northampton Town". BBC Sport. 11 August 2021. Retrieved 1 November 2021.
25. "NEWS: Bright Enobakhare leaves Coventry City". www.ccfc.co.uk. 1 November 2021.
26. Levy, Tomer (30 January 2022). "החלוץ ברייט אנבוקארה חתם בהפועל ירושלים" (in Hebrew). The Sport Channel. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
27. "Games played by Bright Enobakhare in 2015/2016". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 8 January 2019.
28. "Games played by Bright Enobakhare in 2016/2017". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 8 January 2019.
29. "Games played by Bright Enobakhare in 2017/2018". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 8 January 2019.
30. "Games played by Bright Enobakhare in 2018/2019". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 8 January 2019.
31. "Games played by Bright Enobakhare in 2019/2020". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
32. "Games played by Bright Enobakhare in 2020/2021". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
33. Anderson, John, ed. (2018). Football Yearbook 2018–2019. London: Headline Publishing Group. pp. 386–387. ISBN   978-1-4722-6106-9.

External links

• Bright Enobakhare at Soccerbase
• Bright Enobakhare at Soccerway