Daniel Owefin Amokachi was born December 30, 1972. A Nigerian former professional footballer and former assistant manager of the Nigeria national football team. He is popularly known by his nickname “The Bull” which is as a result of his size and strength.
He was discovered while playing for Ranchers Bees by Nigerian national team coach Clemens Westerhof, who brought the talented player to the 1990 African Nations Cup, and soon moved to play for Club Brugge in Belgium. Amokachi competed in the new format of the Champions League, and became the first player to score in the competition, after his goal secured a 1–0 win in the opening match in the group stage against CSKA Moscow. With his great performance in Belgium and at the 1994 World Cup, Everton became interested in Amokachi and their manager Mike Walker signed him for a fee of £3,000,000 ($4,700,000).
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Amokachi remained at Everton until the end of the 1995–96 season, when he was transferred to Beşiktaş of Turkey for a fee of £1.75million. In 1999, he left Beşiktaş and moved to 1860 Munich and then Tranmere Rovers but the contract was cancelled after he failed a medical test. Afterwards, he was rejected by some other clubs due to lack of fitness and injuries.
He played many international matches for Nigeria, and was part of the team that participated in the 1994 FIFA World Cup and 1998 FIFA World Cup and won the 1994 African Nations Cup. He also helped win the Olympic gold medal in 1996, scoring in the Gold Medal game itself against Argentina.
He has been a technical director since 2006. With World Cup performances, he was third in the African Footballer of the Year award three times. Amokachi, who is also very popular and well known in his country, contributed to Nigeria’s top two tournaments to the World Cup along with his attack partner Emmanuel Amunike.
Amokachi managed Nigerian club Nasarawa United and later Enyimba Aba. In April 2007, he quit his role as assistant coach of the Nigeria national team. On 10 April 2008, Amokachi was re-appointed to Nigeria’s national team, the Super Eagles, as assistant coach to Shuaibu Amodu, and then as assistant to Stephen Keshi.
In 2015, Amokachi managed Ifeanyi Ubah, resigning after five weeks in the post. In January 2016, he became the manager of JS Hercules.
In 1995, Amokachi got married to Nadia Amokachi, a Tunisian woman and has two twin sons named Kalim and Nazim who are following their father’s footsteps in becoming footballers. Both are currently in the Besiktas youth academy.
