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Super Eagles legend Emmanuel Amunike: Net Worth, Profile, Age, Wife, Cars, Achievements, Houses, How Rich is he in 2024?
Emmanuel Amunike background
Emmanuel Amunike is a Nigerian professional football manager and former professional football player who played as a winger.
Amunike won the CAF Award for the African men’s Footballer of the Year in 1994, before being voted as the BBC African Footballer of the Year in 1996.
As a player for the Super Eagles, he played as a left winger, making 45 caps for Nigeria, scoring nine goals.
Amunike was part of the team that participated at the 1994 FIFA World Cup in the United States, scoring against Bulgaria and Italy.
That same year, Amunike helped the Super Eagles win the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations in Tunisia, and was eventually voted as the African Footballer of the Year.
Emmanuel Amunike Profile
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Full name: Emmanuel Amunike
Birth date: December 25, 1970
Nationality: Nigerian
Place of birth: Eziobodo, Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria
Age: 53 years old (as of June 2024)
Position: Winger (Left)
Current Team: Unemployed
Height: 5 ft 10 in
Marital status: Married
Spouse: Fatima Amunike
Parents: Mr. and Mrs. Michael Amunike
Net worth: $300,000 (est.)
Instagram: @couch_emmanuelamunike
How old is Emmanuel Amunike? (Emmanuel Amunike Age)
Emmanuel Amunike is 53 years old as of June 2024.
Emmanuel Amunike Career
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Having been born in Eziobodo, Amunike’s footballing journey started with Osjad (now defunct), which was the first youth team he played with in Mushin, Lagos.
Back then, Amunike used to train at Ikeja Grammar School, Lagos.
Emmanuel Amunike began his professional career at Julius Berger F.C, before he was signed by Egyptian club El Zamalek for free in July 1991.
In the summer of 1994, Amunike was signed by German club MSV Duisburg for a reported fee of €850,000, after scoring 15 goals in 56 appearances for Zamalek and winning back-to-back Egyptian Premier League titles between 1991 and 1993.
In August 1994, Amunike signed for Portuguese club Sporting CP for a reported fee of €1.75 million.
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At Sporting, Amunike made 24 appearances and scored 6 goals, before he was snapped up by Spanish club Barcelona for a fee of €3 million in December 1996 - becoming the first Nigerian to play for the Catalan giants.
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With Sporting CP, Amunike won the Portuguese Cup in the 1994/95 season.
At Barcelona, Amunike found game time hard to come by, managing just 26 appearances and scoring once, before his exit from the club in 2000.
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With Barcelona, Amunike won the Copa del Rey in the 1996/97 season.
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Amunike joined Albacete from Barcelona on a free transfer with hopes of rediscovering his form.
However, he only managed four appearances for the Spanish club in his two-year stint, before leaving for the Middle East.
Amunike last played for Jordan league club Al-Wehdat SC, after joining on a free transfer from Albacete in 2003.
In the summer of the following year, Amunike retired from professional football.
Emmanuel Amunike International Career
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As stated earlier, Emmanuel Amunike played 45 times for Nigeria, scoring nine goals.
He was part of the team that participated at the 1994 FIFA World Cup in the United States, scoring against Bulgaria and Italy, also in that year, he helped the Super Eagles win the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations in Tunisia, eventually being voted African Footballer of the Year.
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Additionally, Amunike played all the games at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, scoring the winning goal in the final as the national team won the gold medal.
Knee problems kept him out of the 1998 FIFA World Cup.
Emmanuel Amunike Career Achievements
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National Team Level
Africa Cup of Nations: 1994; Runner Up: 2000
Olympic Games: 1996
Club Level: Zamalek
Egyptian Premier League: 1991–92, 1992–93
African Cup of Champions Clubs: 1993
CAF Super Cup: 1994
Club Level: Sporting CP
Taça de Portugal: 1994–95
Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira: 1995
Club Level: Barcelona
Copa del Rey: 1996–97
Managerial Level: Nigeria U17
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FIFA U-17 World Cup: 2015
Emmanuel Amunike Individual Career Achievements
African Footballer of the Year: 1994
BBC African Footballer of the Year: 1996
When did Emmanuel Amunike retire (Emmanuel Amunike retirement)?
Emmanuel Amunike retired from professional football in the summer of 2004, with his last club known to be Al-Wehdat.
He retired at the age of 33.
Emmanuel Amunike Coaching Career
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After retiring at the end of 2004, Emmanuel Amunike moved to Cantabria in 2006, where he lived with his Spanish wife, Fatima, and also was taking his coaching courses.
At the same time, Amunike was also coaching some youth teams at SD Reocín.
After a spell at Saudi club Al Hazm as an assistant coach, Amunike took charge of the local Nigerian club Julius Berger in August 2008, where he began his early career.
In December 2008, Amunike took on training duties for some teams in Nigeria, after completing two years of training courses in Europe.
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In November 2009, he was appointed as head coach of Bayelsa-based club Ocean Boys.
Years later, Emmanuel Amunike was appointed to coach the Nigeria U17 national team ahead of the World Cup in 2015.
Amunike led the Golden Eaglets to World Cup glory, and on August 6, 2018, he was appointed as the coach of the Tanzania national team.
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In November 2017, he became the coach for the Sudanese team Al Khartoum SC and left in March the following year.
Amunike managed to qualify for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, but he tendered his resignation after losing all three games at the tournament.
In November 2019, Emmanuel Amunike publicly stated he was looking for a new job.
Amunike was appointed the manager of Egyptian Premier League club, Misr Lei Makkasa in February 2021.
The following month, his role at the club was changed to director of academies.
In February 2022, Amunike became assistant coach of the Nigeria national team.
Emmanuel Amunike Coaching Style
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Emmanuel Amunike's coaching philosophy revolves around a possession-based style deeply rooted in his time at Barcelona, where he was heavily influenced by the principles of Dutch total football.
Amunike’s teams focus primarily on intricate passing sequences and fluid positional rotations.
Amunike's strategy isn't just about keeping the ball but orchestrating it with purposeful intent, with the potential for incisive attacking play while maintaining defensive solidity through structured ball circulation and intelligent movement.
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Amunike has also been previously lauded for instilling in his players not just the technique required for ball retention but also the creative freedom to express themselves on the pitch.
What is Emmanuel Amunike's Net Worth? (Emmanuel Amunike Net Worth)
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As of June 2024, Emmanuel Amunike is estimated to have a net worth of $300,000 having earned most of his fortune from playing football.
Amunike’s personal business ventures outside football remain undisclosed.
Emmanuel Amunike Personal life
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Emmanuel Amunike is the son of the late Michael Amunike.
The ex-Nigeria international, told The Punch in an interview, he grew up with his grandparents, having lived with them from the age of four till he was 10.
It was when he moved to Lagos that his football journey started. Amunike recalled that whenever he was sent on errands, he would first play football before going to buy what he was sent.
Emmanuel Amunike has two younger brothers, Kingsley and Kevin, who were also professional footballers as all three brothers also played in Portugal.
Kingsley, 43, played professionally for two clubs in Belgium and for Landskrona BoIS in the Swedish Allsvenskan.
Meanwhile, Kevin started out at S.L. Benfica and FC Porto, representing only the youth teams in the first case and the youths and the reserves in the second.
Kevin began his professional career in Sweden with Landskrona BoIS (where he played alongside brother Kingsley) and, after two years, returned to Portugal, appearing for Vitória F.C. in the Primeira Liga.
Interestingly, Kevin Amunike won two caps for Nigeria, both during the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, featuring against Rwanda and Angola in June 2005.
Emmanuel Amunike Wife
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Emmanuel Amunike’s wife, Fatima, is a Cantabrian
Not much details are known about Fatima’s identity as the Super Eagles legend keeps details of his personal life private.
The two met during his time in Spain, and since his children were born in Cantabrian, he decided to settle there permanently after retirement.
“My wife is Spanish and I met her in Santander (Spain).
"I met her when we (Nigerian team) played against Racing de Santander before the 1994 World Cup. A colleague in the team, Mutiu Adepoju, was also playing in Santander then, and it was through him I met my wife. She was a friend to Mutiu’s wife. When I eventually joined Barcelona Football Club (also in Spain), we continued our relationship. Today, we have two kids," Amunike said in an interview.
Emmanuel Amunike and his wife have sons, Joseph and Mathew.
Emmanuel Amunike House
Details of Emmanuel Amunike’s house(s) and current residence, remain unknown.
Emmanuel Amunike Social Media
Amunike is not active on social media.
His social media accounts on Instagram and X currently have barely 1,000 followers, and he has been largely inactive since the pages were set up in 2017 and 2015 respectively.
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