what has happened?is nigeria what dying for?





Full name Samuel Sochukwuma Okwaraji
Date of birth May 19, 1964(1964-05-19)
Place of birth Orlu, Nigeria
Date of death August 12, 1989 (aged 25)
Place of death Lagos, Nigeria
Senior career1
Years Club App (Gls)*
1986
1986 - ?
? - ?
? - ?
Dinamo Zagreb
Austria Klagenfurt
VfB Stuttgart
SSV Ulm 01000(0)
0?000(?)
0?000(?)
0?000(?)

National team
1988-1989 Nigeria 06 000(1)

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only.
* Appearances (Goals)

Samuel Sochukwuma Okwaraji (1964 - August 12, 1989) was a professional footballer who played internationally for Nigeria. Born in Orlu, Okwaraji had a career in Europe which included playing for Dinamo Zagreb, VfB Stuttgart and SSV Ulm while finishing his education in law. In his short stay with Dinamo Zagreb, Samuel scored 3 goals in a friendly game vs NK Budućnost Hodošan . The game was played on 30.04.1986 and Dinamo Zagreb won 12:0. Samuel's only official game for Dinamo in the Yugoslavian league was as a substitute on 18.05.1986. vs FK Pristina. The game was played at Maksimir stadium in Zagreb, the 29th round of 1985/86 season. Dinamo won 4:3. He made the Green Eagles squad in 1988 and at that year's African Nations Cup he scored one of the fastest goals in the history of the championship against the Indomitable Lions of Cameroun. He played along till the final match, where the Eagles controversially lost to their perennial rivals Cameroun by a lone goal.

[edit] Last game and death

Okwaraji collapsed ten minutes from the end of a World Cup Qualifier against Angola in Lagos and died from congestive heart failure. An autopsy showed that the 24-year-old had an enlarged heart and high blood pressure. The sudden death was similar to that of Marc-Vivien Foé 14 years later.[/b]

Sam was one of the greatest players to have worn the "green and white", may his soul continue to rest with the saints.