Stephen Eze
Nigerian professional footballer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Stephen Eze ⓘ (born 8 March 1994) is a Nigerian professional footballer who plays as a defender for Indian Super League club Jamshedpur.
|
Eze with Lokomotiv Plovdiv in 2018 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 8 March 1994 | ||
| Place of birth | Makurdi, Nigeria | ||
| Height | 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) | ||
| Position | Centre-back | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Jamshedpur | ||
| Number | 66 | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2012–2014 | Lobi Stars | ||
| 2014–2016 | Sunshine Stars | 63 | (3) |
| 2017 | Ifeanyi Ubah | 29 | (0) |
| 2017 | Kano Pillars | 0 | (0) |
| 2018–2019 | Lokomotiv Plovdiv | 57 | (3) |
| 2020 | Tobol | 0 | (0) |
| 2020–2021 | Jamshedpur | 20 | (4) |
| 2022 | NK Solin | 1 | (0) |
| 2022–2023 | Queen's Park | 22 | (3) |
| 2023–2024 | Quang Nam | 25 | (2) |
| 2024– | Jamshedpur | 27 | (6) |
| International career‡ | |||
| 2015–2018 | Nigeria | 11 | (0) |
|
* Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 16:44, 6 March 2026 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals as of 28 July 2019 | |||
He has 11 caps with the Nigeria national team.
Club career
In Nigeria
Eze started his professional career at Lobi Stars. He played regularly during two seasons, before moving to Sunshine Stars in September 2014.[1]
After two seasons with Sunshine, Eze joined Ifeanyi Ubah where he won Nigeria Super Cup in early 2017. On 9 November 2017, Eze joined Kano Pillars.[2]
Lokomotiv Plovdiv
Two months later, on 18 January 2018, Eze joined Bulgarian First League club Lokomotiv Plovdiv, signing a two-year contract.[3] On 18 February, he made his league debut for Lokomotiv, coming on as a substitute for Asen Georgiev against Pirin Blagoevgrad.[4] On 16 April 2019, Eze scored his first goal for Lokomotiv in a Bulgarian Cup match against Septemvri Sofia, which Lokomotiv won 4–0.[5]
Tobol
On 21 January 2020, Eze joined Kazakhstan Premier League club FC Tobol.[6] An injury sustained in a pre-season friendly match meant he never got to feature in an official game for the team, as he had to undergo an operation in Turkey. Eze parted ways with Tobol in July 2020.[7]
Jamshedpur FC
On 10 September 2020, Eze joined Indian Super League side Jamshedpur.[8] After his one year contract was completed, on 1 July 2021, Eze left Jamshedpur FC and became a free agent.[citation needed]
NK Solin
On 17 February 2022, Eze joined Croatian First League club NK Solin. He made his debut coming off the bench in a 3-0 loss against NK Dugopolje.[citation needed]
Queen's Park
After a year with Croatian club NK Solin, Eze signed for Scottish club Queen's Park in August 2022.[9] In June 2023, Stephen Eze departed the club by mutual consent [10]
Return to Jamshedpur FC
After leaving Quang Nam FC, Eze re-joined Jamshedpur. On 17 January 2025, Eze scored a stunning equalizer against Mohun Bagan SG. Picking up a pass from inside his own half, he dribbled past multiple Mohun Bagan Super Giant players, entered the penalty area, dribbled past three Mohun Bagan defenders, before finding the bottom right corner.[11] The goal was nominated by the ISL for the Fan's Goal of the Week award as well.[12]
International career
Eze was invited to play for the Nigeria national team. He was named in the Super Eagles' 23-man A' team which played in the Caf CHAN 2016, led by coach Sunday Oliseh. Eze played all the group games, but the team was eliminated in the first round. His performances led to an invitation to the full Nigeria team. He was also in the A' team in the 2018 African Nations Championship where results improved, Nigeria progressing to the final before losing to the hosts Morocco.[13][14]
In May 2018 he was named in the preliminary 30-man squad for the 2018 World Cup in Russia;[15] however, he did not make the final 23.[16]
Career statistics
Club
As of 22 September 2019[update]
| Club | League | Season | League | Cup | Continental | Other | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | |||
| Lokomotiv Plovdiv | First League | 2017–18 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 13 | 0 | ||
| 2018–19 | 25 | 0 | 6 | 1 | — | — | 31 | 1 | ||||
| 2019–20 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1[a] | 0 | 15 | 1 | ||
| Career statistics | 48 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 59 | 2 | ||