# Julius Aghahowa

Julius Efosa Aghahowa (born 12 February 1982) is a Nigerian former professional footballer who played as a striker.
Aghahowa played in Ukraine, England and Turkey during his career. Known for his pace and acrobatic goal celebrations, he performed six consecutive backflips after scoring a goal against Sweden at the 2002 FIFA World Cup.

## Club career
### Early career

Born in Benin City, Aghahowa began his career with the Police Machines, a local police team, and went on to Bendel Insurance. He signed for Danish lower division team Herning Fremad before the 1999 African Youth Championship, but performed so well there that he wanted to play for a bigger club. He ended up with the Tunisian champions, Espérance, when he procured a contract with the Tunisians which predated the Herning Fremad contract.

### Shakhtar Donetsk

In the middle of the 2000–01 season, Aghahowa transferred to Shakhtar Donetsk, who soon won the Ukrainian league championship. Aghahowa won the game for Shakhtar in the 2006 Ukrainian Championship against Dynamo Kyiv, heading the winner in extra-time, 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 over six years for Shakhtar Donetsk, Aghahowa left for Wigan Athletic.

### Wigan Athletic

His work permit was passed and on 30 January 2007, he signed for Wigan Athletic for an undisclosed fee, playing his first Premiership match for them against Portsmouth on 3 February. Aghahowa did not score for Wigan in one and a half years and on 20 June 2008, he signed for Kayserispor.

### Return to Shakhtar Donetsk

On 4 July 2009, Shakhtar Donetsk signed Aghahowa on a free transfer after he was released by Kayserispor. He had already played for Shakhtar from 2000 to 2007 and declared a great desire to play for his old club. However, he could not find himself as a regular starter and was loaned out to Sevastopol at the beginning of the 2010–11 season. He was released at the end of the 2011–12 season, announcing his retirement from the game in April 2013.

## International career

Although he played for the U-20 team at the FIFA World Youth Championship in 1999, Aghahowa had never played for the Senior side prior and was a surprise inclusion for the 2000 African Nations Cup co-hosted by Ghana and Nigeria. He had a fairytale introduction to International Football scoring on his debut barely 35 minutes upon coming on as a substitute for a misfiring Benedict Akwuegbu and producing the now iconic backflip goal celebration for the first time. Aghahowa played 32 matches and scored 14 goals for the Nigeria national team, including their only goal at the 2002 World Cup against Sweden. He became Nigeria's top goalscorer at the 2002 African Nations Cup. He also played at the 2000 Summer Olympics.

## Career statistics
### Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition :
| Club | Season | League | League | League | National cup | National cup | League cup | League cup | Continental | Continental | Other | Other | Total | Total | Ref. |
| Club | Season | Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Ref. |
| Shakhtar Donetsk | 2000–01 | Vyshcha Liha | 8 | 7 | 2 | 1 | – | – | 0 | 0 | – | – | 10 | 8 | |
| Shakhtar Donetsk | 2001–02 | Vyshcha Liha | 17 | 7 | 2 | 1 | – | – | 6 | 2 | – | – | 25 | 10 | |
| Shakhtar Donetsk | 2002–03 | Vyshcha Liha | 10 | 1 | 4 | 1 | – | – | 3 | 1 | – | – | 17 | 3 | |
| Shakhtar Donetsk | 2003–04 | Vyshcha Liha | 17 | 6 | 6 | 2 | – | – | 4 | 2 | – | – | 27 | 10 | |
| Shakhtar Donetsk | 2004–05 | Vyshcha Liha | 15 | 8 | 5 | 3 | – | – | 13 | 5 | – | – | 33 | 16 | |
| Shakhtar Donetsk | 2005–06 | Vyshcha Liha | 13 | 0 | 2 | 1 | – | – | 5 | 0 | – | – | 20 | 1 | |
| Shakhtar Donetsk | 2006–07 | Vyshcha Liha | 9 | 3 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 7 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 18 | 3 | |
| Shakhtar Donetsk | Total | Total | 89 | 32 | 22 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 38 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 150 | 51 | – |
| Wigan Athletic | 2006–07 | Premier League | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | – | – | 6 | 0 | |
| Wigan Athletic | 2007–08 | Premier League | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | – | – | 14 | 0 | |
| Wigan Athletic | Total | Total | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 0 | – |
| Kayserispor | 2008–09 | Süper Lig | 29 | 6 | 4 | 0 | – | – | – | – | 1 | 0 | 34 | 6 | |
| Shakhtar Donetsk | 2009–10 | Ukrainian Premier League | 9 | 1 | 3 | 0 | – | – | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 18 | 1 | |
| Shakhtar Donetsk | 2010–11 | Ukrainian Premier League | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Shakhtar Donetsk | 2011–12 | Ukrainian Premier League | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Shakhtar Donetsk | Total | Total | 10 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 19 | 1 | – |
| Sevastopol (loan) | 2010–11 | Ukrainian Premier League | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | – | 10 | 1 | |
| Career total | Career total | Career total | 158 | 40 | 29 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 43 | 10 | 3 | 0 | 233 | 59 | – |
* ↑ One appearance in Ukrainian Super Cup
* ↑ One appearance in UEFA Super Cup

### International

Appearances and goals by national team and year :
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
| Nigeria | 2000 | 4 | 3 |
| Nigeria | 2001 | 5 | 2 |
| Nigeria | 2002 | 12 | 7 |
| Nigeria | 2003 | 0 | 0 |
| Nigeria | 2004 | 5 | 1 |
| Nigeria | 2005 | 2 | 1 |
| Nigeria | 2006 | 3 | 0 |
| Nigeria | 2007 | 1 | 0 |
| Total | Total | 32 | 14 |
Appearances and goals by national team and year :
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
| Nigeria Olympic | 2000 | 4 | 1 |
| Total | Total | 4 | 1 |
    Scores and results list Nigeria's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Aghahowa goal.
List of international goals scored by Julius Aghahowa :
| No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
| 1 | 3 February 2000 | National Stadium, Lagos, Nigeria | Morocco | 2–0 | 2–0 | 2000 African Cup of Nations |
| 2 | 7 February 2000 | National Stadium, Lagos, Nigeria | Senegal | 1–1 | 2–1 | 2000 African Cup of Nations |
| 3 | 7 February 2000 | National Stadium, Lagos, Nigeria | Senegal | 2–1 | 2–1 | 2000 African Cup of Nations |
| 4 | 1 July 2001 | Al-Merrikh Stadium, Omdurman, Sudan | Sudan | 3–0 | 4–0 | 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification |
| 5 | 7 October 2001 | St Mary's Stadium, Southampton, England | Japan | 2–2 | 2–2 | Friendly |
| 6 | 21 January 2002 | Stade du 26 Mars, Bamako, Mali | Algeria | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2002 African Cup of Nations |
| 7 | 28 January 2002 | Stade Baréma Bocoum, Mopti, Mali | Liberia | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2002 African Cup of Nations |
| 8 | 7 February 2002 | Stade Amary Daou, Ségou, Mali | Senegal | 1–1 | 1–2 | 2002 African Cup of Nations |
| 9 | 14 April 2002 | Pittodrie Stadium, Aberdeen, Scotland | Scotland | 1–1 | 2–1 | Friendly |
| 10 | 14 April 2002 | Pittodrie Stadium, Aberdeen, Scotland | Scotland | 2–1 | 2–1 | Friendly |
| 11 | 16 May 2002 | Lansdowne Road, Dublin, Republic of Ireland | Republic of Ireland | 1–0 | 2–1 | Friendly |
| 12 | 7 June 2002 | Kobe Wing Stadium, Kobe, Japan | Sweden | 1–0 | 1–2 | 2002 FIFA World Cup |
| 13 | 5 September 2004 | National Sports Stadium, Harare, Zimbabwe | Zimbabwe | 1–0 | 3–0 | 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification |
| 14 | 26 March 2005 | Liberation Stadium, Port Harcourt, Nigeria | Gabon | 1–0 | 2–0 | 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification |
    Scores and results list Nigeria Olympic's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Aghahowa goal.
List of international goals scored by Julius Aghahowa :
| No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition | Ref. |
| 1 | 16 September 2000 | Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney, Australia | Australia | 2–0 | 3–2 | 2000 Summer Olympics | |

## Honours

Espérance
* Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1: 2000
Shakhtar Donetsk
* Ukrainian Premier League: 2002, 2005, 2006, 2010
* Ukrainian Cup: 2002, 2004