Nwankwo Kanu

Lore & Background

Kanu began his career at Federation Works before moving to Iwuanyanwu Nationale. He was signed by Ajax in 1993 and made his debut that year, scoring 25 goals in 54 appearances. He came on as a substitute in Ajax's 1995 UEFA Champions League final win and started the 1996 final loss. In 1996, he was sold to Inter Milan for around $4.7 million. That summer he captained Nigeria to Olympic gold and was named African Footballer of the Year. After a heart defect was discovered, Inter president Massimo Moratti kept him and paid for surgery. Kanu returned in April 1997. In February 1999, after just twelve league games and one goal for Inter, he signed for Arsenal for approximately £4.15 million. He played 197 games for Arsenal, scoring 44 goals, and won two Premier League titles (2001–02 and 2003–04) and two FA Cups (2001–02 and 2002–03). In summer 2004, he moved to West Bromwich Albion on a free transfer, making 58 appearances and scoring nine goals. After his contract expired, he signed for Portsmouth on a one-year deal in 2006, finishing as the club's top scorer with 12 goals in his first season. He won a third FA Cup with Portsmouth in 2008, scoring in the semi-final and final. He also won an Intercontinental Cup, three Eredivisie titles, and two African Player of the Year awards.

In Their Own Story

The Highbury end was going quiet, the way it does when the match has settled into a rhythm. Seventy minutes in, Arsenal were pressing high, Vieira barking instructions from the centre. Then the ball fell loose in the box — a scramble, a body in the way. Kanu, who had started the game as a centre-half, tracked the cross with his eyes, timed his jump, and met it with a header that didn't so much beat the keeper as erase him from the equation. The net rippled. The end erupted. He didn't celebrate wildly. He just turned, jogged back toward the centre circle, and nodded to the full-back beside him: *you're good, I'll cover the run.* That was Kanu. The goal was incidental. The fact that he could have been anywhere on that pitch and still been the best version of the team was the whole story.

Reader's Guide

Kanu is one of few players to have won the Premier League, FA Cup, Champions League, and an Olympic gold medal. He is a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and African brand ambassador for StarTimes. He founded the Kanu Heart Foundation to help African children with heart defects.

Did You Know?

• Kanu scored a hat-trick in fifteen minutes against Chelsea in October 1999 to turn a 2–0 deficit into a 3–2 victory.
• He was voted 13th in Arsenal's 'Gunners' Greatest 50 Players' poll in 2008.
• Kanu scored the winning goal in Dennis Bergkamp's testimonial match at the Emirates Stadium in 2006.
• He wore the number 25 shirt during his time at Arsenal.