Five Nigerian players with relatively successful post-retirement careers

Despite making huge sums of money from football which has become one of the most lucrative industries in the world, some players still manage to fall into poverty after hanging their boots.

Among the reasons which lead to some players living impoverished lives after retirement are divorce, poor or bad investments, gambling, and sometimes sheer wastefulness.

Meanwhile, some players are able to make good use of the fortune they earn during their active days.

Others also go into coaching and other football-related endeavours which helps keep them afloat financially.

In this piece, we look at five retired Nigerian footballers who are living relatively okay lives years after retirement.


Jay-Jay Okocha

The former Super Eagles captain has had a successful career since hanging his boots in from the beautiful.

In 2014, Okocha was added to the FIFA football game series as a "Legend" which honours his years as a great footballer.

Okocha has also served as a football pundit African sports broadcaster, Supersports since 2019, providing analysis for major tournaments, including the African Cup of Nations and the European championships.

Sunday Oliseh

The former Super Eagles defender has had a fairly successful career after retirement.

He was appointed head coach of the Super Eagles by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) in 2015.

He was in charge for a short spell managing just 14 games.

In June 2022, he was appointed as the new head coach of German club SV 19 Straelen.[14][15] In August 2022, after just two months in charge, he quit his position after the team suffered five losses in five games

Augustine Eguaveon

Augustine Eguaveon has coached the Super Eagles on three different occasions after retiring from active football.

He was appointed Nigeria's caretaker coach in 2005. He managed the Super Eagles at the 2006 AFCON in Egypt where Nigeria finished 3rd place.

He coached other clubs like Black Leopards and Enyimba International before returning as interim boss for Nigeria in 2010.

He was appointed again as interim Super Eagles boss in December 2021 following the sacking of Gernot Rohr.

Nwankwo Kanu

The former Arsenal striker is living a fairly okay life after retirement.

He is the African brand ambassador for Digital TV operator, Star Times.

He is also the owner of Kanu Sports TV, an Internet sports television company.

Emmanuel Amunike

Despite a few unsuccessful spells, Amunike is way up there among the ex-players who have been successful after retirement.

After his spell at Saudi club Al Hazm where he served as an assistant coach, he took charge of local club Julius Berger FC in 2008.

He also coached Ocean Boys before leading Nigeria to win the U-17 FIFA World Cup in 2015.

The former Barcelona forward also managed Tanzania national team and qualified the team for the 2019 Nations Cup in Egypt before resigning after losing all three group games.

WDN