If Christian Chukwu had not become a footballer, he would have been a plantain merchant or a big businessman in the country. The parents of the Green Eagles legend forced him to sell big trays of plantain after school to discourage him from playing football with his friends.
The young Christian Chukwu obeyed his parents, sold plantain after school, and played football with his friends, nevertheless. His love for the game was pure and genuine, just like the average Nigerian male child who grew up in the barracks or on the streets.
Unlike these days, where parents take their kids, whether talented or not, to football academies or soccer schools, parents back in the days tended to discourage their kids from playing football, but the dogged ones like Christian Chukwu and the generation of talents that followed – Jay Jay Okocha, Victor Ikpeba, Emmanuel Amunike and the likes defied the odds and rose to greatness.
Think of Franco Baresi, Paolo Maldini, Franz Beckenbauer, and the likes, Christian Chukwu also belongs to the category of fearless defenders who aren’t about tackles and interceptions or aerial defense but also marshal the defense and exude fear in the minds of attackers or wingers.
Christian Chukwu is a household name in the history of Nigerian football and the greatest Nigerian defender of all time arguably. He led the then Green Eagles to its first Africa Cup of Nations success in front of a packed National Stadium, under the floodlights in Lagos in 1980. He also led Enugu Rangers to local and continental success.
This post highlights how Christian Chukwu rose from selling plantain on the streets of Enugu to leading Enugu Rangers to multiple titles and lifting Nigeria’s first-ever Africa Cup of Nations trophy.
Christian Chukwu Background and Education
The Green Eagles defender was born in Uwani, Enugu South Local Government Area, Enugu State. He attended Christ Church Primary School Uwani, and National Secondary School. Chukwu captained the school team and led them to many wins. Chukwu’s fame spread across the town when he led the East Central State Academicals and won the National Cup. He also played for Highlanders.
It was at this point that his parents started taking him seriously and gave him full support to pursue his dream of becoming a professional footballer. Christian Chukwu played at the famous Ngwo Park in Enugu known for producing stars that featured for the Green Eagles, Enugu Rangers and other football clubs in the country and outside.
Christian Chukwu revealed in an interview with The Vanguard how Enugu Rangers’ first coach Dan Anyiam came to warn his father to stop discouraging him playing football.
It was until I was playing for National Grammar school Nike and later Highlanders that my mum started taking me serious. Some of her friends at Christ church Anglican Church would tell her we heard your son’s name and she started protecting me from my father.
My father joined the bandwagon when Dan Anyiam came to warn him to leave me alone or I would be expelled from school.
Dan Anyiam Influence on Christian Chukwu
Christian Chukwu worked with a handful of coaches during his career, but he revealed that former national team coach, player, and team selector Daniel Amobi Amadi Anyiam had the biggest influence on him.
Dan Anyiam knew me well. He started seeing me when I was a teenager rocking Uwani Enugu. He came to see a street match at Ngwo Park, Enugu and hugged me after the duel and encouraged me to continue. He had such a likeness for me that I couldn’t explain or understand. He said I played his in his position. He once came to our house to talk to my father who refused me from playing.
Anyiam made a lot of impact in my life as a player. Tiko was also good. He was part of a nine member Yugoslav coaches distributed to top Nigerian teams by the soccer managers of Nigeria at the time to boost our game. Tiko first joined us at Rangers. He saw many talented players in Rangers and put his interest and hard work and we all loved his style. We also gave him victory at the regional competition and this victory must have improved his profile to be called up to Green Eagles.
How old is Christian Chukwu?
Christian Chukwu is 74 years old as of March 2025. The former Green Eagles captain and Super Eagles coach was born on 4 January 1951.
Career with Enugu Rangers
Christian Chukwu, like his friend and former Green Eagles teammate Segun Odegbami, only played for one team. While the latter played for IICC Shooting Stars, Chukwu played for Enugu Rangers and led the team to a handful of titles including a continental title in 1977. Christian Chukwu started his career in 1975 with Enugu Rangers and rose to the position of captain.
The veteran defender played a warrior on the pitch as he led his team for the back which earned the moniker “Chairman.” He made tireless runs, marshalled the defense and maintained a high level of discipline on the pitch. In the local parlance, Christian Chukwu was a “no nonsense defender.”
He led Enugu Rangers to four Challenge Cup titles as captain of the side in 1975, 1976, 1981 and 1983. He holds the record as the only club captain to have the prestigious Challenge Cup on four occasions. The Challenge Cup is now known as the President’s Federation Cup.
In 1977, he captained Enugu Rangers to its continental success as it won the Africa Cup Winners’ Cup with a 5-2 aggregate score win over Canon Yaoundé. Enugu Rangers won the first leg 4-1 and played a one-all draw in Yaounde.
Christian Chukwu and Green Eagles AFCON 1980 Success
The heroics of the defender with Enugu Rangers earned him a place in the national team. He made the team to the 1976 and 1978 Africa Cup of Nations squad where the team finished in third place respectively. However, Chuwkwu featured in the matches as the Green Eagles beat the Desert Foxes of Algeria 3-0 to win its first Africa Cup of Nations title in 1980 as captain of the team.
In a 2023 interview, he recalls how relaxed the team was and what helped them en route to winning the tournament.
Remember that before that match, we had become so solidified as a team. We started in Ethiopia in 1976 by winning the Bronze. We then won Bronze again in Accra Ghana in 1978. This solidity of the team contributed in our winning the cup in 1980. On the eve of the match, I recall that we slept very well because we had been playing together. We were relaxed. I recall that top government officials came to address us and made promises. When we entered the pitch on that day, we were at our very best and God on our side we hammered Algeria. That is just that.
Chukwu featured for the Green Eagles during the qualifiers of the 1982 FIFA World Cup but the team did not qualify for the tournament, unfortunately, and he retired from active football afterwards.
Coaching Career
Christian Chukwu started his coaching career in Lebanon after taking courses in Germany. He applied for a Super Eagles job but didn’t get the job. He went on to coach in Lebanon but left after a year to contend for the national team, but missed out again due to politics, according to him.
“The Super Eagles had a vacancy for a coach and I was invited. It was keenly contested and I lost it. I quickly answered the call of Lebanon and went there. After one year, I left Lebanon and answered the national call again. Yet I lost it and was full of regret for leaving my job in Lebanon after only one year to answer a patriotic call. I lost it to politics. They couldn’t have invited someone, making him dump his job only to deny him the job and begin to talk about me being an assistant.”
The former Green Eagles captain went on to coach the national team of Kenya between 1998 and 2000. Christian Chukwu led the Harambee Stars to the East African Games Cup triumph and also developed a feeder team for the country before leaving. He revealed how he missed Kenya but had to leave because his family wanted him back home.
Thanks to God, Kenya invitation came for me to take up the Harambe stars of Kenya immediately after.My stay in Kenya was memorable and I know that they were still talking about me in Nairobi many years after I left. I reorganised Kenyan football. My first observation was that Kenya did not have feeder teams like the under-17, under-19, under 20. I was worried and created the teams to feed the national teams. They understood with me and we created them and the difference was clear to them.
Soon we won the East African Games Cup. After two years, my family started getting worried saying I must return. That was how I left Kenya. I love Kenya so much. I again returned to Nigeria to join Rangers, my first-ever dream team. After Rangers, I told myself I have had enough. I took a rest which I am still enjoying today.
Christian Chukwu became the head coach of the Super Eagles in 2002 after the World Cup and led the team to the semi-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations in 2004 where the team finished third. However, he was suspended during the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification series as Nigeria failed to qualify for the World Cup. Christian Chukwu was accused of poor coaching and management of the team.
He went to coach Rangers between 2008 and 2009 and led the team to a sixth-place finish that season. He was relieved of his duties as coach but was later appointed as General Manager and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the club by the former Governor of the state, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi.
Career Achievements
Enugu Rangers
- Africa Cup Winners’ Cup – 1977
- Challenge Cup – 1975, 1976, 1981, 1983.
Nigeria
- Africa Cup of Nations – 1980
Individual
- National Award of Member of the Order of the Niger (MON).
Christian Chukwu Net Worth
His net worth is unknown at this point, but the Green Eagles legend lives a comfortable life having been involved as a football administrator after his career as a footballer and coach.
Family
Christian Chukwu has been married for more than two decades and is blessed with four children, two boys and two girls. The former Super Eagles coach says he is grateful to his wife for being patient with him and managing the home and taking care of the kids in his absence. He added his children also love football, but not the way he loves the game, and encouraged them to pursue their respective dreams.
This thing is God’s doing. My children love soccer but not like I did and still do. I encourage them to follow their mind and pursue the career after their heart. God gave me four children; two boys and two girls.
Christian Chukwu book
The legendary Green Eagles defender published his book “The Field Marshal” in 2023 where he detailed his life and experiences before, during and after his career. Former Presidential candidate of Labour Party in the February 2023 Elections, and former Governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi, Christian Chukwu’s former teammates Segun “Mathematical” Odegbami, Slyvanus Okpala among other dignitaries attended the event.
Christian Chukwu on why he decided to write a book on his life and career,
I feel very happy that this is an everlasting document and children upon children would grow to see it. It seems like the first time such a book is being written about a Nigerian footballer. People before us like Dan Anyiam, Onyeanwuna and a host of others do not have any books on them.
You just hear about them. I am very happy about it and commend the author. The book has been presented in Enugu and we are going to Lagos and then Abuja to make it nationwide. It is expected to be found in major libraries in schools and even the Nigerian Institute of sports. This keeps the subject alive forever. That was why I was very open when the author suggested it to me and gave him all that I knew and still remember about my football life.
Christian Chukwu’s Health and the intervention Femi Otedola
Following his active years in football management and administration, Christian Chukwu fell ill. The Nigeria Football Federation announced plans to pay the medical bills of former Green Eagles captain in April 2019 while popular businessman Femi Otedola pledged to also pay for his treatment as well. He was treated in a London hospital where he recovered.
Christian Chuwku revealed how he met Femi Otedola in an interview with The Vanguard in 2023.
He is the son of former Lagos state Governor who loved sports. I didn’t know him then but he knew me maybe because of my playing career and fame. When I came to know him very well was when I was sick a few years back. When he heard that I was sick, he transported me to London and gave me first class treatment. May be by now I wouldn’t have been granting you this interview.
You would have been writing history about when this man was alive. It was after this treatment that I came closer to him and we knew each other very well. I am indeed very grateful to him. God used him to save my life. Do you know what it means to transport me from here, forget all the hospital bills and every other thing and put me in a hospital where I was given proper treatment and came back better?. So if you ask me after God I think he is next.
Social Media
Christian Chukwu seems not to be on any social media platform, but connects with the fans at football events, live matches of Enugu Rangers and some other platforms.
