Innocent Emeghara

Innocent Nkasiobi Emeghara (born 27 May 1989) is a Swiss professional footballer who plays as a striker for the swiss club FC Winterthur.

Club Career

Born in Lagos, Nigeria, Emeghara moved to Switzerland at the age of 13 (two years after his mother), and started playing football as a means to "cope with the language barrier and cold temperatures". He began his senior career with FC Zurich's reserves aged only 17, going on to represent FC Winterthur and Grasshopper Club Zurich; on 20 August 2011, whilst at the service of the latter, he scored a hat-trick in a 4–3 away win against Servette FC, which meant he led the Super League's scoring charts at five in only six games.

On 31 August 2011, Emeghara was sold to FC Lorient in France. He made his debut in Ligue 1 on 10 September, coming on as a substitute for Mathias Autret in a 1–1 draw at FC Sochaux-Montbeliard and netting the equalizer two minutes from time. He scored four more league goals until the end of his first season, adding two in the Coupe de la Ligue.

In January 2013, Emeghara moved teams and countries again, joining Italian side A.C. Siena. He scored four goals in as many matches to kickstart his Serie A career, including a brace in a 3–0 home success over S.S. Lazio on 18 February; his team, however, finally suffered relegation after ranking second from bottom.

For the 2013–2014 campaign, Emeghara continued in Italy's top flight, being loaned to A.S. Livorno Calcio. On 31 March 2014, he contributed with one goal to help the hosts come from behind to tie it 2–2 with Inter Milan.

In July 2014, Emeghara became a free agent after Siena went into liquidation. On 11 October he signed a three-year contract with Azerbaijan Premier League side FK Qarabag, but left on 5 January of the following year and began training with Winterthur, before going on trial with HSV Hamburg the following week.

This page also has a version in other languages :  Инносент Эмегара (russian)