My favourite African player by @phenomenal1052

A very Good day to all my fellow sport lover, I hope you all doing great.
Am happy that we Africans in the group are being recognized and a very big thank you to @steem.sports for this amazing contest for everyone to talk about their favorite Africa player or club, so here is my entry for the contest. 15% goes to @steem.sports .

Growing up as a kid I always here stories about the total domination of the Nigeria professional league and the CAF champions league by the Eyinmba FC back to back in the 2002 - 2004 era, stories of how they won the CAF champions league back to back was something that still bring joy and proudness to the heart of Nigerians.
Am not here to talk about the club, but about one of the players who made a name for himself in the team and went on to become one of the Icons not only in Nigeria but in Africa at large, and the person is no other than the legendary Nigeria Goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama.
He was in kaduna Nigeria on the 29th of August 1982, to a Christian family, but he later moved to his home town in akwa ibom where he later started his football career with Ibom stars in 1999. He joined Eyinmba in 2001 and stay 3 years and was part of the team that conquered Africa football back to back in 2002 and 2004.
He moved to then Iwanyanwu National but now known as heartland Fc and spent just a year there before deciding to make a move to Europe.
He joined the isreali club Bnei yehuda Tell Aviv where he helped them to qualify for the Isreal State cup final and also finish fourth in the league to qualify for UEFA cup just in his first season.
He made a move to Hapoel Tell Aviv in 2007, the first season at the club was not too good as the team struggled from relegation but we're able to reach the state cup final. Although the 2008/2009 season was very much good for Enyeama and Hapoel Tell Aviv as he won the Player of the year and the team came close to winning the league. The 2009/2010 season was a success for the team, they won the league and also the league cup that year making it a double for them.
In the transfer window of 2011 Vincent Enyeama moved to Lille in a 3 year contract, but he couldn't find his feet well and he signed a one year contract with Isreal club Maccabi Tell Aviv where he won the Isreal premier league with them that season before moving back to Ligue one with Lille, his second move to Lille was a success he became their number one goal keeper and did a very good job, he almost broke the record for the longest clean sheets held in Ligue one as he had a 11 consecutive clean sheets before it got stopped by an own goal.
After spending an amazing 7 years in Lille, he left the club in a mutual consent, he tried finding another club but he later decided to hang his gloves in 2019 and retire.

International career

Vincent Enyeama got his first call up to international football in 2002 when he was the back up Goalkeeper for Nigeria in the world cup he made his debut too, and went on to have a 101 caps for the super eagles of Nigeria, he international football career was a success getting to lead the team to a memorable 2013 triumph in the Afcon and also having a three third place finish in the competition he also featured in 4 different world cup and he featured in the confederation cup too. He will forever be remembered has one of the best, if not the best Goalkeeper in Nigeria history, even since he retired from international football in 2015 Nigeria has felt his absence as we are still trying to get a solid replacement for the gap he left behind.

Source

lifestyle

Vincent Enyeama his a very loving, humble father and husband, he has 3 kids and he said one of the reasons he decided to retire was to have more time with his family, another thing is that he his a very principled man, he once said in a interview that top England clubs wanted to sign him as their second choice Goalkeeper he mentioned that Arsenal Arsene Wenger was interested in him but he declined because he wanted to have more playing time instead of just being a part of a big club and that he didn't regret rejecting to English club to move to Isreal league.
Although he his rich, he doesn't like flashy or showing off, he maintain a simple lifestyle.

why he his my favorite

I have lots of reasons to why he his my favorite, merely looking at his career from playing in a small club in Nigeria to winning the CAF champions league back to back and moving to Europe to become a success is really inspiring. I can still remember his little friendly drama with Lionel Messi, were he kept denying Messi and saving his shot, it got Messi really frustrated even Diego maradona praised him for that, they both challenged each other again and he said Messi won't score, but Messi was able to curl in a fast free kick on him when he was still trying to assemble his wall, the goal was contested but it was given.
There are lots of memories I can pick from is it the Afcon memories or the friendlies, he his an icon and a living legend.

@starprince1 @bishopyagi @babajunior you should come participate in this contest.