| Personal information | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Sunday Ogochukwu Oliseh | |||||||||||||
| Date of birth | (1974-09-14)14 September 1974 (age 51) | |||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Abavo,Delta State, Nigeria | |||||||||||||
| Height | 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) | |||||||||||||
| Position(s) | Defensive midfielder,Midfielder,Centre back | |||||||||||||
| Youth career | ||||||||||||||
| 1989–1990 | Julius Berger | |||||||||||||
| 1990–1991 | RFC Lüttich | |||||||||||||
| Senior career* | ||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | |||||||||||
| 1990 | Julius Berger | |||||||||||||
| 1991–1994 | RFC Liège | 75 | (3) | |||||||||||
| 1994–1995 | Reggiana | 29 | (1) | |||||||||||
| 1995–1997 | 1. FC Köln | 54 | (4) | |||||||||||
| 1997–1999 | Ajax | 54 | (8) | |||||||||||
| 1999–2000 | Juventus | 8 | (0) | |||||||||||
| 2000–2005 | Borussia Dortmund | 53 | (1) | |||||||||||
| 2003–2004 | →VfL Bochum (loan)[2][3] | 32 | (1) | |||||||||||
| 2005–2006 | Genk | 16 | (0) | |||||||||||
| Total | 321 | (18) | ||||||||||||
| International career | ||||||||||||||
| 1993–2002 | Nigeria[note 1] | 55 | (4) | |||||||||||
| Managerial career | ||||||||||||||
| 2007 | Eupen (sports director) | |||||||||||||
| 2008–2009 | Verviétois | |||||||||||||
| 2015–2016 | Nigeria | |||||||||||||
| 2017–2018 | Fortuna Sittard | |||||||||||||
| 2022 | SV 19 Straelen | |||||||||||||
Medal record
| ||||||||||||||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | ||||||||||||||
Sunday Ogochukwu Oliseh (born 14 September 1974) is a Nigerianfootball manager and former footballer who played as adefensive midfielder. Physical yet technically gifted, he played for top European clubs includingAjax,Borussia Dortmund andJuventus. He is widely regarded as one of the best African midfielders of all time.
Oliseh played 55 international matches and scored 4 goals forNigeria,[4] and played at the1994 and1998FIFA World Cups. Oliseh was also part of Nigeria's Olympic gold medal winning team of1996.
Oliseh was voted Africa's third best footballer in 1998 by CAF.
He is mostly remembered for scoring the winning goal in the group stage match againstSpain in the 1998 World Cup, as Nigeria prevailed 3–2. A throw-in deep in the Spanish half was headed clear byFernando Hierro – Oliseh ran and fired an explosive shot from 25 yards and took SpanishgoalkeeperAndoni Zubizarreta completely by surprise.[5] Despite captaining Nigeria during the2002 African Cup of Nations, Oliseh was omitted from his country'sWorld Cup squad later that year for disciplinary reasons. After missing out on World Cup selection, Oliseh retired from international football in June 2002, demanding unpaid allowances and dues owed to be paid.[6]
In March 2004, Oliseh was sacked byBorussia Dortmund after headbutting teammateVahid Hashemian while on loan atVfL Bochum allegedly over racial remarks.[7][8]
In January 2006, at the age of 31, Oliseh retired from professional football after playing a half season forBelgian First Division A top clubK.R.C. Genk.[9]
Oliseh started his coaching career in Belgium with youth teams in the Belgian 3rd Division Verviers, notably the Under 19 team. He graduated to the first team as chief coach of Verviers in the 2008–09 season. During the 2014–15 season, he was appointed as the Chief Coach and Club Manager of RCS VISE in the Belgium 3rd Division.
In 2015–16, was appointed by the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) the National Team Chief Coach of Nigeria (Super Eagles of Nigeria) where he made an impressive statistic of; 14 Games (Only 2 losses) 19 Goals scored, 6 conceded.
He qualified Nigeria to the CHAN tournament in Rwanda, qualified Nigeria to the Group phase of the 2018 world cup Qualifiers and on his first game as Chief Coach of Nigeria in an AFCON qualifier managed a draw in Tanzania.He resigned as Nigeria's national coach at about 2:28am on 26 February 2016 exactly a month to the team's encounter with the Pharaohs of Egypt in the AFCON qualifiers. He was barely 8 months into his stay as manager due to contract violations, lack of support, unpaid wages and benefits to his players, Asst. Coaches and himself.[10]On 27 December 2016, it was announced that Oliseh had been appointed as the new manager ofFortuna Sittard.[11] He was fired on 14 February 2018,[12] and claimed the reason he was fired was because he refused to participate in illegal activities at the club.[13] In January 2024, former Nigerian captain and Chelsea playerJohn Mikel Obi, described Oliseh as easily the worst coach he ever played under because he had no clue what he was doing and ruined the unity of players within thenational team which led toVincent Enyeama leaving the national team.
After two years without a club, in March 2020, Oliseh stated that he had turned down "two jobs from Belgian clubs", but that he waited for the right offer.[14]
In June 2022, he was appointed as the new head coach of German clubSV 19 Straelen.[15][16] In August 2022, after just two months in charge, he quit his position after the team suffered five losses in five games.[17]
Oliseh was a physical yet technically gifted midfielder.[18] Although he essentially played as a defensive midfielder throughout his career,Jonathan Wilson noted in a 2013 article forThe Guardian that he was an early example of a morecreative interpreter of this role, who focussed more on ball retention and passing rather than solely looking to win back possession.[19]
His younger brothers,Azubuike andEgutu, are also professional footballers; another brother isChurchill Oliseh and his nephew isSekou Oliseh.
| Club | Season | League | Cup | Continental | Other | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Liège | 1990–91 | Belgian First Division | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | ||||
| 1991–92 | 16 | 1 | — | 16 | 1 | |||||||
| 1992–93 | 30 | 2 | — | 30 | 2 | |||||||
| 1993–94 | 26 | 0 | — | 26 | 0 | |||||||
| Total | 75 | 3 | — | 75 | 3 | |||||||
| Reggiana | 1994–95 | Serie A | 29 | 1 | 4 | 0 | — | — | 33 | 1 | ||
| 1. FC Köln | 1995–96 | Bundesliga | 24 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 24 | 0 | ||
| 1996–97 | 30 | 4 | 1 | 0 | — | — | 31 | 4 | ||||
| Total | 54 | 4 | 1 | 0 | — | — | 55 | 4 | ||||
| Ajax | 1997–98 | Eredivisie | 29 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 8 | 1 | — | 42 | 6 | |
| 1998–99 | 25 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 34 | 3 | ||
| Total | 54 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 13 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 76 | 9 | ||
| Juventus | 1999–2000 | Serie A | 8 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 1 |
| Borussia Dortmund | 2000–01 | Bundesliga | 22 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | — | 24 | 0 | ||
| 2001–02 | 18 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 31 | 2 | ||
| 2002–03 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | ||
| 2004–05 | 11 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | — | 15 | 1 | |||
| Total | 53 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 15 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 72 | 3 | ||
| Bochum (loan) | 2002–03 | Bundesliga | 11 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — | 12 | 0 | ||
| 2003–04 | 21 | 1 | 0 | 0 | — | 1 | 0 | 22 | 1 | |||
| Total | 32 | 1 | 1 | 0 | — | 1 | 0 | 34 | 1 | |||
| Genk | 2005–06 | Belgian First Division | 16 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 19 | 0 | |
| Career total | 321 | 18 | 20 | 1 | 40 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 383 | 22 | ||
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nigeria | 1993 | 1 | 0 |
| 1994 | 12 | 0 | |
| 1995 | 3 | 1 | |
| 1996 | 1 | 0 | |
| 1997 | 4 | 1 | |
| 1998 | 7 | 1 | |
| 1999 | 3 | 0 | |
| 2000 | 10 | 1 | |
| 2001 | 7 | 0 | |
| 2002 | 7 | 0 | |
| Total | 55 | 4 |
Ajax
Juventus
Borussia Dortmund
Nigeria U23
Nigeria
As reported by Sports Extra, Oliseh says he is yet to receive the right offer having turned down two jobs from Belgian clubs. The 45-year-old has been without a club for the last two years since parting ways with Dutch club Fortuna Sittard in 2018.
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Nigeria captain 1998–2002 | Succeeded by |
Nigeria squads | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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