Nwankwo Kanu

Nwankwo Kanu (born 1 August 1976) is a Nigerian football player. He plays for Portsmouth and Nigeria national team.

Nwankwo Kanu

Kanu in a friendly in 2017
Personal information
Full name	Nwankwo Kanu[1]
Date of birth	(1976-08-01) 1 August 1976 (age 48)[2]
Place of birth	Owerri, Nigeria
Height	1.97 m (6 ft 6 in)[3]
Position(s)	Forward[2]
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1992–1993	Iwuanyanwu Nationale	25	(15)
1993–1996	Ajax	54	(25)
1996–1999	Inter Milan	12	(1)
1999–2004	Arsenal	119	(30)
2004–2006	West Bromwich Albion	53	(7)
2006–2012	Portsmouth	143	(20)
Total		406	(98)
National team
1993	Nigeria U17	6	(5)
1996	Nigeria U23	6	(3)
1994–2011	Nigeria	87	(12)
Honours Men's Football Representing  Nigeria Olympic Games 1996 Atlanta Team Competition Africa Cup of Nations Runner-up 2000 Ghana-Nigeria FIFA U-17 World Cup Winner 1993 Japan
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Personal Life

Nwankwo Kanu is married to fitness enthusiast, Amara Kanu and they have 3 children together. Two sons and one daughter.

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			National Cup		League Cup		Continental		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Iwuanyanwu Nationale	1992–93[4]	Nigerian Premier League	25	15							–		25	15
Ajax	1993–94	Eredivisie	6	2	0	0	–				–		6	2
	1994–95	Eredivisie	18	10	1	1	–		7[a]	1	–		26	12
	1995–96	Eredivisie	30	13	0	0	–		9[a]	0	3[b]	0	42	13
	Total		54	25	1	1	0	0	16	1	3	0	74	27
Inter Milan	1996–97[5]	Serie A	0	0			–		0	0	–		0	0
	1997–98[5]	Serie A	11	1	2	0	–		5[c]	0	–		18	1
	1998–99[5]	Serie A	1	0	1	0	–				–		2	0
	Total		12	1	3	0	0	0	5	0	0	0	20	1
Arsenal	1998–99[6]	Premier League	12	6	5	1	0	0	0	0	–		17	7
	1999–2000[6]	Premier League	31	12	2	0	1	1	15[d]	3	1[e]	1	50	17
	2000–01[6]	Premier League	27	3	1	0	0	0	14[a]	2	–		42	5
	2001–02[6]	Premier League	23	3	5	2	2	1	9[a]	0	–		39	6
	2002–03[6]	Premier League	16	5	1	0	1	0	8[a]	1	–		26	6
	2003–04[6]	Premier League	10	1	3	0	4	2	7[a]	0	–		24	3
	Total		119	30	17	3	8	4	53	6	1	1	198	44
West Bromwich Albion	2004–05[6]	Premier League	28	2	2	1	0	0	–		–		30	3
	2005–06[6]	Premier League	25	5	1	0	2	1	–		–		28	6
	Total		53	7	3	1	2	1	0	0	0	0	58	9
Portsmouth	2006–07[6]	Premier League	36	10	2	2	0	0	–		–		38	12
	2007–08[6]	Premier League	25	4	5	2	1	1	–		–		31	7
	2008–09[6]	Premier League	17	1	2	0	1	0	5[c]	1	–		25	2
	2009–10[6]	Premier League	23	2	1	0	4	2	–		–		28	4
	2010–11[6]	Championship	32	2	1	0	1	0	–		–		34	2
	2011–12[6]	Championship	10	1	0	0	1	0	–		–		11	1
	Total		143	20	11	4	8	3	5	1	0	0	167	28
Career total			406	98	35	9	18	8	79	8	4	1	542	124

1. Appearances in UEFA Champions League
2. One appearance in 1995 Intercontinental Cup, one appearance in 1995 UEFA Super Cup, one appearance in 1995 Dutch Supercup
3. Appearances in UEFA Cup
4. Appearances in UEFA Champions League and UEFA Cup
5. One appearance in 1999 FA Charity Shield

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year^[7]

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Nigeria	1994	3	0
	1995	2	1
	1996	0	0
	1997	1	0
	1998	5	1
	1999	0	0
	2000	10	1
	2001	6	2
	2002	11	0
	2003	4	3
	2004	7	0
	2005	6	2
	2006	8	0
	2007	6	2
	2008	6	0
	2009	5	0
	2010	5	0
	2011	1	0
Total		86	12

Scores and results list Nigeria's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Kanu goal.^[source?]

List of international goals scored by Nwankwo Kanu

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	21 October 1995	Pakhtakor Markaziy Stadium, Tashkent	Uzbekistan	3–1	3–2	1995 Afro-Asian Cup of Nations
2	5 June 1998	Amsterdam Arena, Amsterdam	Netherlands	1–3	1–5	Friendly
3	22 April 2000	Lagos National Stadium, Lagos	Eritrea	4–0	4–0	2002 World Cup qualifier
4	27 January 2001	Liberation Stadium, Port Harcourt	Sudan	3–0	3–0	2002 World Cup qualifier
5	5 May 2001	Liberation Stadium, Port Harcourt	Liberia	1–0	2–0	2002 World Cup qualifier
6	25 May 2003	Independence Park, Kingston	Jamaica	2–2	2–3	Friendly
7	7 June 2003	Abuja Stadium, Abuja	Malawi	3–1	4–1	2004 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier
8				4–1
9	26 March 2005	Liberation Stadium, Port Harcourt	Gabon	2–0	2–0	2006 World Cup qualifier
10	8 October 2005	Abuja Stadium, Abuja	Zimbabwe	4–1	5–1	2006 World Cup qualifier
11	24 March 2007	MKO Abiola Stadium, Abeokuta	Uganda	1–0	1–0	2008 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier
12	17 June 2007	Stade Général Seyni Kountché, Niamey	Niger	1–0	3–1	2008 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier

Honours

Iwuanyanwu Nationale

• Nigerian Premier League: 1992–93^[8]

Ajax

• Eredivisie: 1993–94, 1994–95, 1995–96^[8]
• UEFA Champions League: 1994–95;^[8] runner-up: 1995–96^[9]
• UEFA Super Cup: 1995^[8]
• Intercontinental Cup: 1995^[8]

Inter Milan

• UEFA Cup: 1997–98^[8]

Arsenal

• Premier League: 2001–02, 2003–04^[3]
• FA Cup: 2001–02,^[10] 2002–03;^[11] runner-up: 2000–01^[12]
• FA Charity Shield: 1999^[13]
• UEFA Cup runner-up: 1999–2000^[14]

Portsmouth

• FA Cup: 2007–08^[15]

Nigeria U17

• FIFA U-17 World Championship: 1993^[8]

Nigeria U23

• Summer Olympics: 1996^[8]

Nigeria

• Afro-Asian Cup of Nations: 1995^[16]
• African Cup of Nations runner-up: 2000^[17]
• African Cup of Nations Bronze: 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008^[18]

Individual

• Ajax Talent of the Year (Marco van Basten Award): 1994–95^[19]
• African Footballer of the Year: 1996, 1999^[20]
• BBC African Footballer of the Year: 1997, 1999^[21]
• FA Cup Final Man of the Match: 2008^[22]
• IFFHS Legends^[23]
• IFFHS All-time Africa Men's Dream Team: 2021^[24]

References

1. "List of Players under Written Contract Whose Registrations have been Terminated by Either Party Between 01/07/2012 and 31/07/2012". The Football Association. p. 36. Archived from the original on 23 October 2019.
2. "Nwankwo Kanu". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
3. "Kanu: Overview". Premier League. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
4. "Nwankwo Kanu". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmerman. Retrieved 5 March 2012.
5. "Nwankwo Kanu » Club matches". worldfootball.net. 15 January 2019. Retrieved 6 January 2022.
6. Nwankwo Kanu at Soccerbase
7. Nwankwo Kanu – International Appearances. RSSSF. Retrieved on 11 January 2012.
8. "Nwankwo Kanu – Career Honours". Soccerway.
9. "2. Finals" (PDF). UEFA Champions League Statistics Handbook 2016/17. Nyon, Switzerland: Union of European Football Associations. 2017. p. 1. Retrieved 22 April 2017.
10. "Arsenal lift FA Cup". BBC Sport. 4 May 2002. Archived from the original on 16 December 2002.
11. "Arsenal retain FA Cup". BBC Sport. 17 May 2003. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
12. "Owen shatters Arsenal in Cup final". BBC Sport. 12 May 2001. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
13. "Parlour gives Gunners Wembley win". BBC News. 1 August 1999. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
14. "Penalty heartbreak for Arsenal". BBC News. 17 May 2000. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
15. McNulty, Phil (17 May 2008). "Portsmouth 1–0 Cardiff". BBC Sport. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
16. "Top 10 Super Eagles of Nigeria's Most Amazing Moments". buzznigeria.com. Chuka Udeze. 31 October 2023.
17. "Africa Cup of Nations 2000". The Shot.
18. Trumpeta, Imo (2012-10-29). "'Papilo' Kanu Nkwankwo (The concluding part)". Imo Trumpeta newspaper. Retrieved 2023-11-15.
19. "Timber voted Talent of the Year". Ajax.nl.
20. "African Player of the Year". rsssf.com. 1 January 2000. Retrieved 2 July 2013.
21. Edwards, Piers (12 November 2016). "History of the BBC African Footballer of the Year award". BBC Sport. Retrieved 16 March 2017.
22. "FA Cup final: Kanu punishes Cardiff to win Cup". Telegraph. 8 May 2008. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
23. "IFFHS announce the 48 football legend players". IFFHS. 25 January 2016. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
24. "IFFHS". IFFHS. 29 May 2021. Retrieved 31 May 2021.