Ugo Ehiogu Trivia: 25 unknown facts about the footballer!

Ugo Ehiogu was an English professional footballer who played as a centre back from 1989 to 2009.

Let’s find out some interesting facts about him!

1. Ugochuku Ehiogu was born in 3 November 1972 in Hackney, London.

2. He began his career at West Bromwich Albion as a trainee, turning professional in 1989.

3. After just a few games for Albion in the Second Division, Ron Atkinson brought him to First Division club Aston Villa for a £40,000 fee in August 1991.

4. By 1994, he had replaced Shaun Teale as the main central defensive partner to Paul McGrath.

5. In the 1993-94 season Villa played Tranmere Rovers over two legs in the semi final of the league cup in which Ehiogu took part in the second leg.

6. Ehiogu was selected as a substitute and came on to replace Ray Houghton during the game helping the team to a 3-1 win leaving the two legs at 4-4 on aggregate.

7. In the following penalty shootout he went on the take the 4th penalty which he struck against the bar and missed.

8. Ron Atkinson had told The Independent newspaper that it was “the most dramatic football match” of his managerial career.

9. Villa went on to win the shoot out for a league cup showdown with Manchester United which Ehiogu missed out on.

10. In the 1994-95 season Villa competed in the UEFA Cup where in the second round second leg in a match against Turkish club Trabzonspor Ehiogu scored in the 90th minute in a 2-1 home win.

11. However this wasn’t enough as Trabzonspor won 2-2 on aggregate knocking Villa out of the competition.

12. He was part of the Villa team that won the 1995–96 Football League Cup, as Villa beat Leeds United 3–0 in the final.

13. Ehiogu also won a runners-up medal when Villa lost 1–0 to Chelsea in the 2000 FA Cup Final.

14. He remained at the club for nine years, making over 300 appearances in all competitions until November 2000 when he joined Middlesbrough from Villa for, at the time, a club record fee of £8 million.

15. The deal went ahead after negotiations between Villa and West Bromwich Albion, whose 50% sell-on clause on the player had been seen as a stumbling block to the move.

16. His career at Boro got off on the wrong foot when he was forced to limp off with a calf injury five minutes into his debut at Charlton Athletic.

17. Only into the third game at the start of 2004–05 season Ehiogu had an accidental clash with his own keeper Mark Schwarzer which resulted in knee ligament damage. Again he was forced to miss many important games, although Boro still managed to secure a place in the UEFA Cup for a second successive season.

18. Ehiogu was released from his contract at Middlesbrough and signed an 18-month contract with Scottish Premier League club Rangers in January 2007.

19. On 16 January 2008 it was reported that Sheffield United were interested in signing Ehiogu. The next day he was released by Rangers and travelled down to Sheffield for talks with club manager Bryan Robson.

20. On 3 August 2009, Ehiogu retired from football after a trial with Milton Keynes Dons.

21. On 24 August 2012 Ehiogu came out of retirement to sign for Wembley F.C., agreeing to play in the club’s FA Cup games alongside fellow former professionals Ray Parlour, Martin Keown, Claudio Caniggia, Brian McBride and Graeme Le Saux.

22. Ehiogu was an England international, with a record of 4 caps and 1 goal.

23. In 1993, playing for the England under-21 team, he became the first black player to captain an England team in a competitive match.

24. In 2012, he came out of brief retirement by signing for non-league side Wembley to participate in the club’s FA Cup games alongside other retired veteran players.

25. Ehiogu died on 21 April 2017 after suffering a cardiac arrest at Tottenham Hotspur’s training ground.