Emmanuel Olisadebe (; born 22 December 1978) is a professional footballer who plays as a striker for Klasa A club KS Kłopotów-Osiek. Born in Nigeria, an indigene of Ibusa in present day Delta State, he played for the Poland national team. He scored 11 international goals in 25 caps between 2000 and 2004, and participated in the 2002 FIFA World Cup. In 2001, he won the Polish Footballer of the Year Award.
Olisadebe began his career with Jasper United in his native Nigeria, before signing with Polish top flight club Polonia Warsaw in 1997. At Polonia, he became a first team regular, and helped the club to the Ekstraklasa title, the Polish League Cup and the Polish Super Cup. After meeting the residency requirements, Olisadebe became a Polish national in 2000 making him available for selection for the Poland national team. He was subsequently called up, and in the process became the first black player to represent Poland at senior level.
After leaving Poland, he went on to play in Greece, Cyprus, England and China before retiring. In September 2026, he returned to football, joining amateur club KS Kłopotów-Osiek.
Club career Polonia Warsaw Olisadebe began playing for Polonia Warsaw during the 1997–98 Ekstraklasa season where in his first season he played in 13 league games. During his time in the Polish capital, he helped them secure their first championship title in 50 years in the 1999–2000 season, scoring 12 goals in the process. He also won the League Cup and the Super Cup that season.
Panathinaikos Olisadebe moved to Panathinaikos in January 2001, where he scored 24 goals in 74 matches. In 2004, he helped the club win the title for the first time in 7 years by scoring all the winning goals in the last three of four games of the championship. He also won the cup that year, making it a double. However, during his time at Panathinaikos he suffered an injury that required surgery in Greece.
Portsmouth On 4 January 2006, he joined Portsmouth until the end of the 2005–06 season. He made his debut ten days later, replacing Richard Hughes after 61 minutes of an eventual 1–0 Premier League defeat to Everton at Fratton Park. A week later, he made his only other appearance for the club, playing the final 37 minutes of a 5–0 defeat at Birmingham City, this time in place of Vincent Péricard.
His contract was terminated after four months, at which point he moved to Skoda Xanthi, where he played for nine matches.
APOP Kinyras Peyias Olisadebe then featured for APOP Kinyras Peyias, where he played in the 2007–08 season, making 17 appearances and scoring six goals.
Henan Construction In 2008, Olisadebe was offered a deal with Chinese Super League club Henan Construction. In his second match with Henan, the third round of 2008 Chinese Super League against Liaoning, he scored two goals. In first season at Henan, he scored 12 goals in 26 league games.
On 27 September, Olisadebe scored the opening goal for Henan in a 2–0 win over Shanghai Shenhua to regain lead in the league less than ten minutes before injuring his knee. Initial diagnosis showed that he had torn his cruciate ligament of the left knee, and the injury could end his career. Further results confirmed that he injured his patellar ligament and would only miss the rest of the season. He was nominated for the MVP awards two years consecutively only to be 2nd in both occasions. Due to his performance, he was granted a Henan province citizenship by the government.
International career Though Nigerian by birth, Olisadebe became a Polish citizen in 2000 and was selected by the Poland national team. He scored eight goals in ten qualification matches as coach Jerzy Engel's team reached the 2002 FIFA World Cup, their first since 1986, gaining one vote for 2001 FIFA World Player of the Year. He netted their second of three goals in a victory over Norway on 1 September which confirmed qualification.
Olisadebe scored Poland's first goal of their 2002 FIFA World Cup campaign in a 3–1 victory against the United States in Daejeon in the last group match. However, Poland did not progress to the second round and Olisadebe would not score again for Poland. Jerzy Engel, the national coach who brought Olisadebe into the fold, resigned following Poland’s exit from the World Cup, and, barring a handful of sporadic appearances, his resignation ended Olisadebe’s association with the national team as well.
Personal life Olisadebe supported the "Let's Kick Racism out of the Stadiums" campaign, organised by the Polish Never Again Association. He married a Polish woman, Beata Smolińska, in 2001 and they remained married until 2017; they parted on friendly terms. Olisadebe retired from football in 2012 and eventually moved back to Nigeria. Although he admits to sometimes missing Poland, he prefers life Nigeria, where he now works in housing construction.
Career statistics Club + Appearances and goals by club, season and competitionClubSeasonLeagueNational cupLeague cupContinentalTotalDivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsJasper United1996Nigeria Professional League3217———32171997Nigeria Professional League83———83Total4020———4020Polonia Warsaw1997–98Ekstraklasa13120——1511998–99Ekstraklasa16400—311951999–2000Ekstraklasa241241414136152000–01Ekstraklasa133122163229Total662073621359230Panathinaikos2000–01Alpha Ethniki8410—00942001–02Alpha Ethniki19951—10234122002–03Alpha Ethniki19821—9430132003–04Alpha Ethniki9321—201342004–05Alpha Ethniki130——311612005–06Alpha Ethniki60——2282Total74241030026911036Portsmouth2005–06Premier League20———20Skoda Xanthi2006–07Super League Greece5030—1090APOP Kinyras Peyias2007–08Cypriot First Division176———176Henan Construction2008Chinese Super League2612———26122009Chinese Super League1810———18102010Chinese Super League192———192Total6324———6324Veria2011–12Football League (Greece)91———91Career total27695206624014342117
International + Appearances and goals by national team and yearNational teamYearAppsGoalsPoland200053200187200281200330200410Total2511
Scores and results list Poland's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Olisadebe goal.
+ List of international goals scored by Emmanuel OlisadebeNo.DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition116 August 2000 Stadionul Cotroceni, Bucharest, Romania 1–11–1Friendly22 September 2000Olympic Stadium, Kyiv, Ukraine1–03–12002 FIFA World Cup qualification32–1428 February 2001Antonis Papadopoulos Stadium, Larnaka, Cyprus1–0 4–0Friendly524 March 2001Ullevaal Stadion, Oslo, Norway1–03–2 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification62–0728 March 2001Stadion Wojska Polskiego, Warsaw, Poland2–04–02002 FIFA World Cup qualification82 June 2001Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, Wales1–12–12002 FIFA World Cup qualification91 September 2001Stadion Śląski, Chorzów, Poland2–03–02002 FIFA World Cup qualification106 October 2001Stadion Śląski, Chorzów, Poland1–01–12002 FIFA World Cup qualification1114 June 2002Daejeon World Cup Stadium, Daejeon, South Korea1–03–12002 FIFA World Cup
Honours Polonia Warsaw Ekstraklasa: 1999–2000 Polish Super Cup: 2000 Polish League Cup: 1999–2000
Panathinaikos Alpha Ethniki: 2003–04 Greek Cup: 2003–04
Individual Polish Footballer of the Year: 2001 Fourth-best Polish sportsman of the Year: 2002 Nominated for the FIFA World Player of the Year: 2002
References
External links Player profile for the 2002 World Cup at BBC Sport
Player stats at Sohu.com (Chinese)