Oguchi Onyewu

Oguchialu Chijioke Onyewu (born May 13, 1982) is an American former soccer player who is the secretary-general of R.E. Virton. He was previously the sporting director for Orlando City B.

During his professional career, he played as a defender for clubs in France, Belgium, England, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and the United States. Onyewu earned over 60 caps with the United States men's national soccer team and played for the United States at the 2006 and 2010 World Cups. He is the most recent male defender to win the U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year award.

Club Career

College soccer and move to Europe

Onyewu grew up in the Washington, D.C. suburbs of Silver Spring and Olney, Maryland, where he attended St. Andrew Apostle School and Sherwood High School. Onyewu enrolled in the U.S. residency program in Bradenton, Florida, before returning to Sherwood to graduate. He then played two years of college soccer at Clemson University in South Carolina. He moved to Europe in 2002, signing with Metz of Ligue 2 in France. In 2003, he was loaned out to La Louviere in Belgium.

Standard Liege and Newcastle

Onyewu was loaned to Standard Liege in 2004. The move to Liege was made permanent for the 2004–05 season. After the season, he was named to the Belgian league's Best XI as well as Foreign Player of the Year for 2005. Having been the subject of many transfer rumors regarding clubs throughout Europe, Onyewu finally completed a loan deal with Newcastle United in January 2007, covering the remainder of the 2006–07 season. He made his debut for Newcastle against Fulham on February 3, and his home debut a week later, alongside Titus Bramble, in a 2–1 victory over Liverpool. The two formed an ill-fated partnership, making a number of costly mistakes which was ultimately to cost Onyewu his place.

This page also has a version in other languages :  Огучи Оньеву (russian)