Paul Onuachu

Ebere Paul Onuachu (born 28 May 1994) is a Nigerian professional footballer who plays for Belgian club Genk and the Nigeria national team, as a forward.[1]

Paul Onuachu

Personal information
Full name	Ebere Paul Onuachu[1]
Date of birth	28 May 1994
Place of birth	Owerri, Nigeria[1]
Height	2.01 m (6 ft 7 in)[1]
Position(s)	Forward
Club information
Current team	Genk
Number	18
Youth career
	Ebedei
2012	Midtjylland
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2012–2019	Midtjylland	134	(51)
2015	→ Vejle (loan)	13	(5)
2019–	Genk	46	(31)
National team^‡
2019–	Nigeria	9	(1)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 22:49, 30 January 2021 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 13 November 2020

Club career

Onuachu moved to Danish club FC Midtjylland in 2012, on a scholarship, from their affiliate team in Nigeria, Ebedei.[2] He was a prolific scorer for their youth team, and made his first-team debut in the Cup later that year, before making his league debut in December 2012.[2] In June 2013 he signed a new three-year contract with the club,[3] before extending it for a further three-years in August 2015.[4] In early 2015 he was loaned to Vejle BK, before returning to FC Midtjylland ahead of the 2015–16 season.[5]

In August 2019 he signed for Belgian club Genk.[6]

International career

Onuachu was called up to the Nigerian under-23 national team in February 2015.[7] In March 2019 he received his first call-up to the Nigerian senior team.[8]

On 26 March 2019, Onuachu scored his first goal for Nigeria in a friendly match against Egypt. The goal was scored within the first ten seconds of the game, and the fastest ever scored for Nigeria.[9] Following the goal Onuachu was heralded as the "toast of Nigerian football", with "his coach, team-mates, journalists and fans talking about him".[10] He was selected to the Nigeria squad for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations.[11] He played in Nigeria's 1–0 win over Burundi.[12]

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 30 January 2021.[1]

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			Cup		Continental		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Midtjylland	2012–13	Danish Superliga	1	0	1	0	—		—		2	0
	2013–14		11	0	1	0	—		—		12	0
	2014–15		10	1	2	2	2	0	—		14	3
	2015–16		25	6	2	1	10	2	—		37	9
	2016–17		35	17	3	3	6	2	1	1	45	23
	2017–18		22	10	3	3	6	4	—		31	17
	2018–19		30	17	4	3	6	2	—		40	22
	Total		134	51	16	12	30	10	1	1	181	74
Vejle (loan)	2014–15	Danish 1st Division	13	5	0	0	—		—		13	5
Genk	2019–20	Belgian First Division A	22	9	1	1	5	0	—		28	10
	2020–21		24	22	0	0	—		—		24	22
	Total		46	31	1	1	5	0	—		52	32
Career totals			193	84	17	13	35	10	1	1	245	107

International

As of match played 13 November 2020.[13]

Nigeria
Year	Apps	Goals
2019	7	1
2020	2	0
Total	9	1

International goals

Scores and results list Nigeria's goal tally first.[13]

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	26 March 2019	Stephen Keshi Stadium, Asaba, Nigeria	Egypt	1–0	1–0	Friendly

Honours

Midtjylland[14]

• Danish Superliga: 2017–18
• Danish Cup: 2018–19

Nigeria

• Africa Cup of Nations: third place 2019[15]

References

1. Paul Onuachu at Soccerway. Retrieved 22 August 2019.
2. "Profile" (in Danish). FC Midtjylland. Retrieved 18 February 2016.
3. "FCM forlænger med unge boblere" (in Danish). Bold. 6 June 2013. Retrieved 18 February 2016.
4. Martin Dons (4 August 2015). "FC Midtjylland forlænger med Onuachu" (in Danish). FC Midtjylland. Retrieved 18 February 2016.
5. Kenneth Jensen (16 October 2015). "FCM-træner: Angriber kan blive et af FCM's største salg nogensinde" (in Danish). Tipsbladet. Retrieved 18 February 2016.
6. "Officielt: Onuachu slutter sig til Joakim Mæhle". bold.dk.
7. Kolade Oni (17 February 2015). "Siasia picks 21 players for Gabon game". Tipsbladet. Retrieved 18 February 2016.
8. Oluwashina Okeleji (4 March 2019). "John Mikel Obi: Nigeria captain left out of Super Eagles squad". BBC Sport. Retrieved 5 March 2019.
9. "Nigeria's fastest international goal helps them beat Egypt". BBC Sport. 27 March 2019. Retrieved 27 March 2019.
10. Oluwashina Okeleji (27 March 2019). "The spotlight in Nigeria falls on Paul Onuachu after his 10 second goal". BBC Sport. Retrieved 28 March 2019.
11. "AFCON 2019: Onuachu happy to make Super Eagles squad". 16 May 2019.
12. Silas, Don (23 June 2019). "Nigeria vs Burundi: Why I didn't start Ighalo in Super Eagles' 1-0 win - Rohr". Daily Post Nigeria. Retrieved 9 August 2019.
13. "Paul Onuachu". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmerman. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
14. "Soccer-Dal Hende fires Midtjylland to Danish title". Reuters. Retrieved 15 December 2018.
15. "Tunisia 0–1 Nigeria". BBC. 17 July 2019. Retrieved 18 July 2019.