Nigerian retired footballer who played as a central defender Uchechukwu Alozie Okechukwu was born September 27, 1967 in Lagos. He is popularly known as the foreign player who played in Turkey for the longest period of time (13 years), going on to obtain Turkish citizenship under the name Deniz Uygar.
Okechukwu started his career playing for Flash Flamingoes and Iwuanyanwu Nationale, winning the 1988 and 1989 Nigeria Premier League with Iwuanyanwu Nationale. In July 1990 he moved abroad to join Danish club Brøndby IF. He helped the team win the 1990 and 1991 Danish championship, and was one of the mainstays of the squad that reached the semifinals of the 1990–91 UEFA Cup and was named the 1992’s Brøndby IF Player of the Year.
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Okechukwu represented the nation in two World Cups and as many Africa Cup of Nations, winning the latter tournament once. After appearing in the 1992 African Cup of Nations, Okechukwu was linked to Turkish side Fenerbahçe SK for half a year, until he was bought in a DKK 8 million transfer deal in November 1993.
At Istanbul, he formed a defensive duo with former Brøndby teammate Jes Høgh, helping the club to its first Süper Lig championship in seven years in 1996. Okechukwu played a further four seasons with Fenerbahçe, repeating league accolades in 2000–01. After nearly 250 official games he moved to fellow league team İstanbulspor AS, returning in 2007 to Nigeria first with Ocean Boys F.C. then with Bayelsa United FC and retired shortly after at the age of 41.
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