.jpg) Onazi withLazio | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Ogenyi Eddy Onazi | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | (1992-12-25)25 December 1992 (age 32)[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Jos, Nigeria | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.72 m (5 ft 8 in)[2] | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Position | Midfielder | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Youth career | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| El Kanemi Warriors | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| My People | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bodens BK | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2011–2012 | Lazio | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2010–2011 | El Kanemi Warriors | 35 | (7) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2012–2016 | Lazio | 76 | (4) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2016–2019 | Trabzonspor | 69 | (6) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2020 | Denizlispor | 9 | (0) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2020–2021 | SønderjyskE | 2 | (0) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2021 | Žalgiris | 19 | (2) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2021 | Denizlispor | 11 | (0) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022 | Al-Adalah | 15 | (0) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022–2023 | Casertana | 11 | (0) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2023 | East Riffa | 0 | (0) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2023 | Kitchee | 3 | (0) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2023–2024 | Avezzano | 14 | (0) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2025 | Charlotte Independence | 0 | (0) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2025 | Acireale | 1 | (0) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| International career‡ | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2009 | Nigeria U17 | 7 | (0) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2011 | Nigeria U20 | 5 | (0) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2012–2018 | Nigeria | 52 | (1) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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| * Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 13 November 2023 ‡ National team caps and goals as of 14 October 2019 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Ogenyi Eddy OnaziMON (born 25 December 1992) is a Nigerian professionalfootballer who currently plays as amidfielder[3]
He has also played for theNigeria national team, with whom he won theAfrica Cup of Nations in 2013.
Onazi began playing football in the streets of Jos in 1998. His skills drew a lot of attention afforded him the opportunity to play in some academies in the city.
His footballing abilities came to prominence when he moved to the city ofLagos to play forMy People.[4]
Onazi joinedLazio in 2011,[5] alongside his teammate,Sani Emmanuel.[6] The pair trialled in England, Greece and Italy[4] following appearances at the2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup, in whichNigeria reached the final on home soil, losing toSwitzerland.
Onazi was first promoted to the Lazio first team during the2011–12 season after appearing at youth level.[7] He made hisSerie A debut as a substitute in the penultimate match of the season, replacingSenad Lulić in the 90th minute. Lazio recorded a 2–0 victory overAtalanta at theStadio Atleti Azzurri d'Italia inBergamo.[6][8]
In the following 2012–2013 season, Onazi was granted more playing time Under coachVladimir Petković featuring in a defensive midfielder role alongsideCristian Ledesma. Notably, he started in aUEFA Europa League match againstTottenham Hotspur atWhite Hart Lane,[6] which ended in a 0–0 draw.[9] On 7 March 2013, he scored his first goal for Lazio againstStuttgart in the last sixteen of the Europa League.[10][11] He scored his first Serie A goal in a 3–1 win overInter Milan on 8 May 2013.[12]
On 13 April 2014, he scored his second Serie A goal for Lazio in a 4–2 defeat toNapoli.[13]
On 22 September 2014, Onazi signed a two-year contract extension with Lazio until 2018. Lazio had previously received transfer enquiries in the summer transfer window by three Premier League clubsEverton,Southampton andSunderland with interest from German, French, Spanish and Russian clubs also being reported.[5] On 31 May 2015, his 88th-minute goal for the final score of 3–2 in Lazio's win over Napoli helped secure the last Champions League place for the club.[14]
On 2 August 2016, Onazi moved toTrabzonspor for €3.5 million.[15][16][17]
On 15 January 2020, Denizlispor confirmed the arrival of Onazi from Trabzonspor, another club of Turkey's top-tier football league, on a free transfer. it was said that Onazi and Denizlispor reached an agreement for a six-month contract with an option for a further one year.[18] He had a contract with Trabzonspor until May 2020.
On 4 October 2020, Onazi joinedDanish Superliga teamSønderjyskE on a deal for the 2020–21 season with an option to extend the deal with two further years.[19] He was released by the club on 5 January 2021, three months after arriving.[20][21]
On 18 February 2021, Onazi signed for Lithuanian championsŽalgiris. On 13 July 2021, he scored his first goal for the club againstLinfield in theChampions League qualifying stage.[22]
On 18 August 2021, he left FK Žalgiris.[23] In2021 A Lyga he played 19 matches and scored two goals.
On 20 August 2021, Onazi joined Turkish sideDenizlispor.[24][25]
On 19 January 2022, Onazi joined Saudi sideAl-Adalah.[26]
On 29 August 2022, Onazi returned to Italy after six years, as he officially joinedSerie D sideCasertana.[27][28]
On 12 July 2023, Onazi joinedHong Kong Premier League clubKitchee.
In December 2023 he joined Italian Serie D teamAvezzano Calcio.
On 24 April 2025,USL League One sideCharlotte Independence announced Onazi joined the squad for the remainder of the 2025 season.[3]
As a 16-year-old, Onazi represented his country at the2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup, where Nigeria finished runners-up.[4] However, he was overlooked for selection at the2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup two years later, despite participating in the training camps in Portugal and Panama.[4]
He made his debut for the seniorNigeria national team in anAfrican Cup of Nations qualification match againstLiberia. His first goal came in his second international match, a 3–1 friendly win overVenezuela in Florida.[6]
Onazi was called up to Nigeria's 23-man squad for the2013 Africa Cup of Nations.[29] He came on as a substitute in Nigeria's first match of the tournament againstBurkina Faso, whom they would eventually face again in the final, before going to on to play every minute of all Nigeria's games in the knockout phase, including thefinal.[citation needed]
He was selected for Nigeria's squad at the2013 FIFA Confederations Cup.[30] but missed out of the tournament as he suffered a slight knee knock a few weeks before the competition.[citation needed]
Onazi was named in Nigeria's final squad for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil and started in all four games as Nigeria were eliminated by France in the round of 16.[5] He was also part of the squad for the2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia,[31] though he did not figure in any of the team's three matches. Onazi was expectedly left out of the national teams provisional squad to AFCON 2019 after failing to fully recover from an Achilles injury suffered in December 2018 while playing for his club in Turkey.[citation needed]
In November 2019, Onazi said he would help pay forSani Emmanuel's medical expenses.[32]
Onazi started his football career from Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL), spark and moved his craft to Europe where he later established himself.
| Club | Season | League | National cup | Continental | Other | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Lazio | 2011–12 | Serie A | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 1 | 0 | ||
| 2012–13 | 15 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 11 | 1 | – | 28 | 2 | |||
| 2013–14 | 29 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 40 | 2 | ||
| 2014–15 | 16 | 1 | 3 | 0 | – | – | 19 | 1 | ||||
| 2015–16 | 15 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 22 | 2 | ||
| Total | 76 | 4 | 7 | 0 | 25 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 110 | 7 | ||
| Trabzonspor | 2016–17 | Süper Lig | 32 | 2 | 6 | 0 | – | – | 38 | 2 | ||
| 2017–18 | 21 | 2 | 2 | 1 | – | – | 23 | 3 | ||||
| 2018–19 | 16 | 2 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 16 | 2 | ||||
| Total | 69 | 6 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 77 | 7 | ||
| Career total | 145 | 10 | 15 | 1 | 25 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 187 | 14 | ||
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nigeria | 2012 | 2 | 1 |
| 2013 | 15 | 0 | |
| 2014 | 13 | 0 | |
| 2015 | 7 | 0 | |
| 2016 | 5 | 0 | |
| 2017 | 5 | 0 | |
| 2018 | 4 | 0 | |
| Total | 51 | 1 | |
Lazio
Trabzonspor
Nigeria
Orders
Member of theOrder of the Niger[35]
Nigeria squads | |||||||||||||||||||
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