BORN TODAY: KANU PAPILO, THE DARLING OF MANY FOOTBALL FANS
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Joseph Omoniyi
Former Super Eagles player, Kanu Nwankwo, one of the most celebrated and decorated African footballer celebrates his birthday today and Twitter has been buzzing with accolades and memories of Papilo both for his magnificent record for the Nigerian national team and also for the various European clubs he graced during his playing days.
No doubt, Kanu remains one of the most loved Nigerian sportsman both past and present, for his contribution and achievement to the history of the game in his nation and clubs. He is one of the few to have won Nigerian Premier League, UEFA Champions League medal, UEFA Super Cup, Intercontinental Cup, a UEFA Cup medal, Eradivise, Copa Italia, English Premier League, three FA Cup Winners Medals, FA Community Shield and two African Player of the Year awards, Olympic Gold medal.
Kanu wrote his name on the tablet of Nigeria’s heart when he scored 2 late goals miraculously give Nigeria a 4-3 semi-final win against almighty Brazil, after going 1-3 down in the 1996 Olympic football tournament. The team went ahead to also beat Argentina in the final to win the gold.
One of the most notable sides he played for in Europe is English Premier League club, Arsenal, where he is till today, regarded as a legend, voted as the 13th of “The Greatest 50s” of the club.
The child of Nkwo, which is the origin of his name “Nwankwo” won the hearts of The Gunners fans in 1999 single-handedly bringing the team from 2-nil down against league rivals, Chelsea who had never lost nor conceded at home in the season at that time, to to a 3-2 win after he scored a hattrick at the Stamford Bridge. He went on to be a magical substitute, coming off the bench 118 times to score and win games for the London club many times.
His professional career began with Iwuayawun Nationale before he caught the fancy of Deutch sides, Ajax and then later he moved to Inter Milan in Italy, where he could only play 12 games, scoring one goal after suffering from a heart problem that almost crippled his career. He underwent a medical examination at Inter, which revealed a serious heart defect; he underwent surgery in November 1996 to replace an aortic valve and did not return to his club until April 1997.
Kanu’s experience also led to his founding the Kanu Heart Foundation, an organisation that helps predominantly young African children who suffer heart defects and whose work was expanded to provide aid for homeless children in 2008
But he bounced back bigger and better after he joined Arsenal.
Today, he has become an ambassador for the Nigerian and indeed African football, UNICEF, Cable TV, Startimes.
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