| Nigerian footballer, forward for Spartak Moscow and the Nigerian national team. Date of Birth: 10.05.1987 Country: Nigeria |
Emmanuel Chinenye Emenike, a Nigerian footballer, was born on May 10, 1987 in Otuocha, Nigeria.
He began his career with the Delta Force team. In 2008, he signed a contract with the second division club in the Nigerian championship, Black Aces. In May of the same year, he moved to Cape Town.
In 2009, Emenike joined the second-tier Turkish club Karabükspor on loan. He scored 16 goals for the club, helping them secure promotion to the top division. Emenike was also named the best foreign player in the second division and signed a 3-year contract with an annual salary of 300,000 euros. In his first match in the top division, Emenike scored against Manisaspor.
In May 2011, a Turkish newspaper conducted its own investigation and claimed that Emenike's real age exceeded his passport data by 7 years. However, the player's representatives rejected this assumption. On May 25, 2011, Emenike signed a 4-year contract with Fenerbahçe for a transfer fee of 7 million euros. However, he did not get a chance to play much for the Turkish league leader. After a corruption scandal broke out, with Fenerbahçe being one of the main defendants, Emenike preferred to change teams. He stated, "It was not an easy decision for me, but the key moment was that I had to spend four days in prison. I felt uncomfortable after that. I really wanted to stay at Fenerbahçe, but all these events with the investigation into match-fixing in Turkish football... In general, I decided to move to a club in another country."
In the summer of 2011, Emenike transferred to Spartak Moscow for 10 million euros. He made his debut for the Nigerian national team on November 8, 2010 in a friendly match against Sierra Leone (2-1). He scored his first goal in a match against Argentina (4-0).