John Ogu

John Ogu

Ogu training with Nigeria at the 2018 FIFA World Cup
Personal information
Full name	Ugochukwu John Ogu [1]
Date of birth	(1988-04-20) 20 April 1988 (age 36)
Place of birth	Lagos, Nigeria
Height	1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) [1]
Position(s)	Midfielder
Team information
Current team	Maccabi Jaffa
Number	30
Youth career
	Akwa Starlets
2004–2005	Akwa United
2005–2006	Flying Sports Academy
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2006–2010	Drava Ptuj	97	(8)
2010–2011	Atlético CP	0	(0)
2011	Almería B	0	(0)
2011–2012	Leiria	17	(3)
2012–2014	Académica	27	(1)
2014–2019	Hapoel Be'er Sheva	151	(13)
2020	Al-Adalah	7	(0)
2022	Hapoel Nof HaGalil	9	(0)
2022–	Maccabi Jaffa	34	(1)
International career‡
2013–2019	Nigeria	26	(1)
Medal record Africa Cup of Nations 2019 Egypt
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 5 June 2023 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 11:09, 17 July 2020 (UTC)

Ugochukwu John Ogu (born 20 April 1988) is a Nigerian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Israeli club Maccabi Jaffa.

Club career

Early career

Ogu began playing football at the youth departments of Akwa Starlets, Akwa United and the Flying Sports Academy. On 23 September 2006, he began his senior career in Slovenia when he signed with Drava Ptuj from the Slovenian PrvaLiga. In his four-year stint, Ogu scored eight goals in 97 appearances.

In Portugal

In the summer of 2010, Ogu moved to Atlético Clube de Portugal, which then played in the Terceira Divisão in Portugal. After six months, he moved to neighboring Spain and signed for Almería, but played only in Almería B of the third division. In November 2011 Ogu returned to Portugal and joined Leiria, but at the end of the season the team dropped to the second division.

In July 2012, Ogu moved to Académica from Primeira Liga. Ogu scored his first goal in the third round of the Portuguese Cup against Ponte da Barca. He scored his first league goal against Vitória de Setúbal in a decisive win that ensured the team remain in the top division. ^[2] All in all, Ogu played two years at Académica and scored one goal in 27 league appearances.

Hapoel Be'er Sheva

In the 2014–15 season, Ogu arrived in Israel and on 2 September 2014 made his debut in Hapoel Be'er Sheva in a 0–0 draw against Maccabi Petah Tikva in the Toto Cup. On 7 September, he signed a four-year contract with Hapoel Be'er Sheva. ^[3] Five days later, he made his debut in the Israeli Premier League when he opened the team against Beitar Jerusalem at Vasermil Stadium and on 29 November scored his first goal in Hapoel Be'er Sheva in a 4–0 home win over Maccabi Netanya. In the first season of the team, and at the end of the season reached the finals of the Israel State Cup, losing to Maccabi Tel Aviv.

In the 2015–16 season he competed with Hapoel Be'er Sheva in the UEFA Europa League qualifying and even scored a goal against FC Thun from the Swiss Super League, but the team was eliminated in both games. Later in the season he scored four goals and assisted five, was part of the team's winning the State Championship and was among the candidates for the title of footballer of the season.

Entering the 2016–17 season, Ogu was ranked on Walla Sports web site as the number 1 footballer in Israel by 60 sports journalists and professionals. On 11 August 2016, Ogu won the Israel Super Cup with Hapoel Be'er Sheva after winning 4–2 against Maccabi Haifa. Later on, he faced the UEFA Champions League qualifying team and reached the playoff stage in which he was eliminated against Celtic, and as a result fell to the UEFA Europa League stage. On 28 December, Ogu and Hapoel Be'er Sheva won the Toto Cup after a 4–1 win over Ironi Kiryat Shmona in the final game. On 29 April 2017, Ogu scored the winning goal in the championship game against Maccabi Tel Aviv helping Hapoel Be'er Sheva to win the league championship for the second time in a row.

Al-Adalah

In January 2020, Ogu signed for Al-Adalah on a six-month contract. He left the club having made seven appearances. ^[4]

Hapoel Nof HaGalil F.C.

On 2 February 2022, Ogu returned to Israel to join newly promoted club H. Nof HaGalil until the end of the season. ^[5]

Maccabi Jaffa

On 30 May 2022, signed for Maccabi Jaffa. ^[6]

International career

In March 2013, Ogu was called up to the Nigerian national side for a 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifier. He debuted against Kenya in a 1–1 draw, where he was used as a substitute to replace an injured Victor Moses. ^[7] On 31 May, Ogu scored his first international goal against Mexico in a friendly game which took place at the Reliant Stadium in Houston. On 9 June, Nigerian coach Stephen Keshi selected Ogu as one of 23 players to participate in the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup. ^[8]

On 18 March 2015, he was called up with 27 other players for the proposed friendly matches against Bolivia and South Africa. ^[9]

In May 2018 he was named to Nigeria's preliminary 30-man squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. ^[10] He was included in the 23-man squad to AFCON 2019. ^[11]

Career statistics

Club

As of 1 July 2023

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			National cup		League cup		Europe		Other		Total		Ref.
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Drava Ptuj	2006–07	Slovenian PrvaLiga	16	0	0	0	0	0	–		–		16	0	[12]
	2007–08		27	2	1	0	0	0	–		–		28	2	[12]
	2008–09		25	4	1	0	0	0	–		–		26	4	[12]
	2009–10		29	2	2	1	0	0	–		–		31	3	[12]
	Total		97	8	4	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	101	9	–
Atlético CP	2010–11	Campeonato de Portugal	0	0	1	0					–		1	0	[13]
Almería B	2010–11	Segunda División B	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	–		0	0	[14]
	2011–12	Segunda División B	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	–		0	0	[14]
	Total		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	–
Leiria	2011–12	Primeira Liga	17	3	0	0	0	0	–		–		17	3	[13]
Académica	2012–13	Primeira Liga	20	1	2	0	3	0	5	0	1	0	31	1	[13]
	2013–14		7	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	–		8	0	[13]
	Total		27	1	3	0	3	0	5	0	1	0	39	1	–
Hapoel Be'er Sheva	2014–15	Israeli Premier League	34	4	6	0	1	0	–		–		41	4	[13]
	2015–16		34	4	3	0	5	0	2	1	–		44	5	[13]
	2016–17		30	1	0	0	0	0	13	1	1 [lower-alpha 1]	0	44	2	[13]
	2017–18		29	3	2	0	4	0	10	1	1 [lower-alpha 1]	0	46	4	[13]
	2018–19		24	1	2	0	1	0	5	2	1 [lower-alpha 1]	0	33	3	[13]
	Total		151	13	13	0	11	0	30	5	3	0	208	18	–
Al-Adalah	2019–20	Saudi Professional League	7	0	1	0	0	0	–		–		8	0	[13]
Hapoel Nof HaGalil	2021–22	Israeli Premier League	9	0	0	0	0	0	–		–		9	0	[13]
Maccabi Jaffa	2022–23	Liga Leumit	34	1	0	0	0	0	–		–	–	34	1	[13]
Career total			342	26	22	1	14	0	35	5	4	0	417	32	–

1. Appearances in the Israel Super Cup

International

As of 16 July 2019 ^[15]

Appearances and goals by national team and year

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Nigeria	2013	10	0
	2014	0	0
	2015	2	0
	2016	0	0
	2017	3	1
	2018	7	0
	2019	3	0
	Total	25	1

As of 1 June 201 ^[15]

Scores and results list Nigeria's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Ogu goal.

List of international goals scored by John Ogu

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	10 November 2017	Stade Mohamed Hamlaoui, Constantine, Algeria	Algeria	1–0	1–1	2018 FIFA World Cup qualification

Honours

Hapoel Beer Sheva

• Israeli Premier League: 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18
• Israel Super Cup: 2016, 2017
• Toto Cup: 2016–17

References

1. "2018 FIFA World Cup Russia – List of Players" (PDF). FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 4 June 2018. p. 19. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 June 2018. Retrieved 4 June 2018.
2. "V. Setúbal 0–1 Académica". ZeroZero.pt. Retrieved 8 July 2015.
3. "Ogu signed contract for Hapoel Be'er Sheva". SoccerLaduma. Archived from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 8 July 2015.
4. Adewoye, Gbenga (10 September 2020). "Ogu: Nigeria midfielder's emotional farewell message as Covid-19 ends Al-Adalah career". goal.com. Retrieved 31 March 2021.
5. Iyanda, Niyi (23 January 2022). "Nigerian midfielder John Ogu returns to Israel, joins Hapoel Nof Hagalil". Pulse Nigeria. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
6. Goldstein, Igal (30 May 2022). "פרסום ראשון: ג'ון אוגו חתם במכבי יפו". The Sport Channel (in Hebrew). Retrieved 30 May 2022.
7. "Nigeria VS Kenya". Fifa.com. Archived from the original on 20 April 2014. Retrieved 8 July 2015.
8. "Nigeria to take new-look squad to Confederations Cup". BBC. Retrieved 8 July 2015.
9. "Ogu Happy To Be Recalled To Nigeria Set-Up". SoccerLaduma. Retrieved 8 July 2015.
10. Crawford, Stephen (4 June 2018). "Revealed: Every World Cup 2018 squad - Final 23-man lists". Goal. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
11. "Nigeria: Super Eagles' Team List for Afcon 2019". allAfrica.com. 12 June 2019. Retrieved 9 August 2019.
12. "30 John Ugochukwu Ogu". Prva liga Telekom Slovenije (in Slovenian). Retrieved 16 July 2019.
13. John Ogu at Soccerway
14. John Ogu at FootballDatabase.eu
15. John Ogu at National-Football-Teams.com