Julius Aghahowa Biography and Net Worth

Julius Efosa Aghahowa popularly known as Julius Aghahowa is a famous Nigerian football player, investor, entrepreneur and a philanthropist. He is currently one of the best, greatest and most outstanding football players Nigeria has ever produced and also one of the most successful footballers in Africa.

He was a retired Nigerian footballer who played as forward striker for the Nigerian national team “Super Eagles” and English Premier League club “Wigan Athletic”. He was born on 12th February 1982 in Benin City, Edo State in the south southern part of Nigeria. He is currently 36 years old.

Julius Aghahowa was known for his pace and his back-flips when he scored goals. He became the first international footballer outside the former Soviet Union who was among the best scorers in the Ukrainian Premier League 2000-2001 season.

Julius Aghahowa was born in Benin City in Edo State, Nigeria, which also happens to be his hometown. He began his career with the Police Machines, a local police team in Benin City and went on to Bendel Insurance. He was later signed to Danish lower division team “Herning Fremad” before the 1999 African Youth Championship, where he performed so well that he wanted to be signed by bigger clubs.

He later ended up with the Tunisian champions “Esperance” when he procured a contract with the Tunisians which predated the Herning Fremad contract. Julius Aghahowa played in Ukraine, England and Turkey during his career.

He was famous for his acrobatic goal celebrations, where he performed six consecutive perfect backflips after scoring a goal against Sweden at the 2002 World Cup.

In the middle of the 2000–2001 seasons, Julius Aghahowa was transferred to Shaktar Donetsk, where he later won the Ukrainian league championship. He also won the game for Shakhtar in the 2006 Ukrainian Championship against Dynamo Kyiv, where he came in during extra time and turned the match around to the victory of his club and was named man of the match.

His performance in the final has been widely seen as the “saving grace” of his career at Shakhtar, with his future at the club looking bleak earlier in the season. After playing for over six years for Shakhtar Donetsk, Julius Aghahowa left for Wigan Athletic. 

He started his career with Wigan Athletic on 30th January 2007, and signed a contract with the club for an undisclosed fee, playing his first Premiership match for them against Portsmouth on 3rd February 2007. Julius Aghahowa did not score any goal for Wigan in one and half years and on 20th June 2008, he was signed to Kayserispor.

On 4th July 2009, Shakhtar Donetsk signed Julius Aghahowa again on a free transfer after he was released by Kayserispor. He had already played for Shakhtar from 2000 to 2007 and later declared his great desire to play for his old club. However, he could not find himself as a regular starter and was loaned out to PFC Sevastopol at the beginning of the 2010–2011 seasons. He was released at the end of the 2011-2012 seasons, announcing his retirement from the game of football in April 2013.

Julius Aghahowa played 32 matches for the Nigerian national team “Super Eagles” and scored 14 goals, including their only goal at the 2002 World Cup against Sweden. He later became Nigeria’s top goals corer at the 2002 African Nations Cup.

Julius Aghahowa is currently one of the richest and most influential football player in Nigeria with an estimated net worth of $50 million.

Austine Ikeru
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