Francis Odinaka Uzoho is a Nigerian professional footballer who plays for Spanish club Deportivo de La Coruña as a goalkeeper. He is known for his special skills as a goalkeeper and one who is always on top of the game.
Born on October 28, 1998 in Nwangele, Francis joined Qatari Aspire Academy at the age of 14; initially as a forward, he was converted into a goalkeeper after being deemed “too slow”. In 2016, he made an impressing appearance on a tournament in Barcelona, and after that he joined Deportivo de La Coruña’s Juvenil squad.
In January 2017, he signed a contract with Dépor and shortly after signing his contract, he started to train with the first team. Francis was promoted to the reserve team ahead of the 2017–18 season, he made his senior debut on 10 September by starting in a 3–0 Segunda División B home win against Real Madrid Castilla.
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On 15 October 2017, he made his first team and La Liga debut starting in a 0–0 away draw against SD Eibar. At the age of 18, he became the youngest ever foreign goalkeeper to debut in La Liga, and the second-youngest player to appear in the league during the campaign, only behind Real Madrid’s Achraf Hakimi
He is also plays an international and has represented Nigeria under-17 at the 2013 FIFA U-17 World Cup as an immediate backup to Dele Alampasu. In October 2017 Francis received his first call-up to the Nigerian senior squad. He made his full international debut on 14 November, replacing Daniel Akpeyi in a 4–2 friendly win against Argentina.
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He was named in Nigeria’s 23-man squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia and was at that time considered Nigeria’s first-choice goalkeeper.
