Prince Ikpe Ekong

Prince Ikpe Ekong (born 5 October 1978) is a Nigerian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He is best remembered for representing Reggiana, Shenyang Ginde, Xiamen Lanshi, GAIS, and Djurgårdens IF during his career. A full international between 2001 and 2004, he won nine caps for the Nigeria national team.

Prince Ikpe Ekong

Personal information
Date of birth	(1978-10-05) 5 October 1978 (age 46)
Place of birth	Lagos, Nigeria
Height	1.79 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s)	Midfielder
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1995	Julius Berger
1995–2003	Reggiana	63	(1)
1995–1996	→ Koper (loan)	16	(0)
1996–1998	→ Tecos UAG (loan)
1998–1999	→ AC Bellinzona (loan)
1999–2000	→ UTA Arad (loan)
2003–2004	Shenyang Ginde	43	(1)
2005	Xiamen Lanshi	21	(5)
2006–2008	GAIS	46	(1)
2008–2011	Djurgårdens IF	53	(3)
2012–2013	Väsby United	23	(1)
2016	Märsta IK	16	(3)
International career‡
2001–2004	Nigeria	9	(0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 5 December 2012 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 28 April 2011

Career

After the 1994 World Cup a series of Nigerian players was brought to the European top leagues, and Ikpe Ekong was signed by Italian club Reggiana, then coached by Carlo Ancelotti.^[1]

Reggiana

Due to Italian rules regarding non-EU players, he could not play for the first team in Serie A, he ended up going on a loan to FC Koper from Slovenia,^[2] when he returned to Italy he was loaned out again to Tecos UAG of Mexico, then AC Bellinzona from Switzerland and FCM UTA from Romania. It would not be until 2000 when Prince Ikpe Ekong returned to Italy to play for A.C. Reggiana. However Reggiana had fallen to Serie where no non-EU players were allowed, and this led to Ikpe Ekong filing a lawsuit against the Italian FA, which he won, allowing him to play in the Italian league Serie.

Allsvenskan

In 2003, he moved to China and Changsha Ginde and later Xiamen Lanshi. In 2006 four clubs were interested in signing him because of his midfield talent in a defending and playmaker, French club CS Sedan, Maccabi Tel Aviv from Israel, Gençlerbirliğ from Turkey and GAIS from Sweden. He chose GAIS after he visited the club and then visited a local church where he heard God tell him to settled in Sweden. In 2008, he left GAIS to sign for Allsvenskan rivals Djurgårdens IF, one of the biggest team In Sweden, a rich team.^[3][4] He was bought out of his contract with Djurgården in November 2011 after losing interest as a full-time professional player, he was studying in sports management and phycologist .^[5] In 2016, Prince played for Märsta IK in the fifth tier of the Swedish Football League for fun and to keep fitness, he also help to start up a div 7 team, Afrikans FC Stockholm, he scored so many goals, took the team from div 7, to div 4. system.^[6]

Personal life

Ekong is the father of professional footballer Emmanuel Ekong.^[7]

Honours

Xiamen Lanshi

• China League One: 2005^[8]