Ugo Ehiogu

Football player infobox
playername = Ugo Ehiogu


fullname = Ugochuku Ehiogu
nickname = Ugo
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1972|11|3
cityofbirth = London
countryofbirth = England
currentclub = Sheffield United
clubnumber = 33
position = Centre Back
height = height|m=1.92
years = 1989–1991
1991–2000
2000–2007
2006–2007
2007–2008
2008–

clubs = West Bromwich Albion
Aston Villa
Middlesbrough
→ Leeds United (loan)
Rangers
Sheffield United
caps(goals) = 002 0(0)
237 (12)
126 0(7)
006 0(1)
009 0(1)
014 0(0)
nationalyears = 1992–1993
1994
1996–2002
nationalteam = England U21
England B
England
nationalcaps(goals) = 015 0(1)
001 0(0)
004 0(1)
pcupdate = 09:21, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

Ugochuku "Ugo" Ehiogu (born November 3 1972 in Homerton, London) is an English football player who currently plays for English side Sheffield United.

Club career

West Brom and Aston Villa

Ehiogu (pronounced "Ec-hee-og") began his career at West Bromwich Albion as a trainee, turning professional in 1989. After just a few games for Albion in the Second Division, Ron Atkinson brought him to First Division Aston Villa for £40,000 in August 1991. By 1994, he had replaced Shaun Teale as the main central defensive partner to Paul McGrath.

He remained at the club for nine years, making over 300 appearances in all competitions. He was part of the Villa team that won the 1996 League Cup as Villa beat Leeds 3–0. Ehiogu also won a runners-up medal when Villa lost 1–0 to Chelsea in the 2000 FA Cup Final. He joined Middlesbrough from Villa in November 2000 for, at the time, a club record fee of £8 million. 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. [cite news
title =Villa agree Ehiogu sell-on fee
url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/879335.stm
publisher = BBC Sport
date = 2000-08-13
accessdate = 2007-08-16]

Middlesbrough

His career at Boro got off on the wrong foot when he was forced to limp off four minutes into his debut with a hamstring injury which kept him out for months. Whilst at Middlesbrough, Ugo quickly became a mainstay in the central defence since joining the club and rejoining his former team mate Gareth Southgate in central defence. He missed the start of the 2003–04 season with a knee injury but returned to play his part in Boro's Carling Cup success against Bolton Wanderers. This knee injury returned in the 2004–05 season and again he was forced to miss many important games, although Boro still managed to scrape into the UEFA Cup for a second successive season.

He agreed a move to West Bromwich Albion, the club where he had started as a 16 year-old, during the January transfer window of 2006, [cite news
title = Ehiogu poised for Baggies return
url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/w/west_bromwich_albion/4595156.stm
publisher = BBC Sport
date = 2006-01-09
accessdate = 2007-08-16] but this move was cancelled when a number of Middlesbrough players became injured. On 23 November 2006 he moved to Leeds United on loan for two months until January. Ehiogu was a regular in Leeds' starting lineup during his loan move, usually alongside Matt Heath in central defence. He scored one goal and one own goal during his spell at Leeds which expired on 1 January 2007 after he admitted to manager, Dennis Wise that he could not play two matches in three days.

Rangers

Ehiogu was released from his contract at Middlesbrough and started talks with Rangers over a proposed transfer to the Scottish Premier League club. On 22 January, 2007, he signed an 18-month contract with Rangers after completing a medical. Once the technicalities of the transfer were concluded, Ehiogu officially joined Rangers three days later.cite news
title = Ehiogu completes move to Rangers
url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/r/rangers/6286283.stm
publisher = BBC Sport website
date = 2007-01-25] His first goal for Rangers came with a spectacular overhead kick in his first Old Firm game, giving Rangers a 1–0 win. On April 16 2007 Ehiogu's goal against Celtic was voted Rangers' "Goal of the Season" at an award ceremony as voted for by the club's fans.cite news|url=http://www.rangers.premiumtv.co.uk/page/News/NewsDetail/0,,5~1011888,00.html|title=Hemdani Named Player Of The Year|publisher=Rangers official website|date=April 16, 2007]

Ehiogu found his first team opportunities limited at the start of the 2007-08 season, with Carlos Cuéllar and David Weir being preferred by manager Walter Smith.

heffield United

On 16 January 2008 it was reported that Sheffield United were interested in signing Ehiogu.cite news
title = Blades interested in Ehiogu move
url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/s/sheff_utd/7190284.stm
publisher = BBC Sport website
date = 2008-01-16] The next day he was released by Rangers and travelled down to Sheffield for talks with club manager Bryan Robson.cite news
title = Ehiogu in Blades talks
url = http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11788_3055960,00.html
publisher = Sky Sports website
date = 2008-01-17] He completed the move on 18 January 2008.cite news
title = Ehiogu completes move to Blades
url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/s/sheff_utd/7190284.stm
publisher = BBC Sport website
date = 2008-01-18]

Ehiogu made his first team debut for the Blades in a 1–1 home draw with Watford at the end of January,cite news
title = Sheffield Utd vs Watford
url = http://www.sufc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/MatchReport/0,,10418~39024,00.html
publisher = Sheffield United F.C.
date = 2008-01-29
accessdate = 2008-02-04] cite news
title = Blades 1-1 Watford
url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_1/7210577.stm
publisher = BBC Sport website
date = 2008-01-29
accessdate = 2008-02-04] and was used a defensive cover for the remainder of the season.

International career

He was called up for his first England international game in 1996 against Italy. He went on to win another three caps and scored once for his country, in a 3-0 victory over Spain.

References

External links

* [http://www.sufc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/ProfilesDetail/0,,10418~5501,00.html Ugo Ehiogu player profile] at sufc.co.uk
* [http://www.rangers.co.uk/page/Squad/Profiles/0,,5~5501,00.html Ugo Ehiogu player profile] at rangers.co.uk
* [http://www.mfc.co.uk/page/Squad/ProfilesDetail/0,,1~5501,00.html Ugo Ehiogu player profile] at mfc.co.uk
*soccerbase|2297|Ugo Ehiogu

Persondata
NAME=Ehiogu, Ugo
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=Ehiogu, Ugochuku
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Footballer
DATE OF BIRTH=November 3, 1972
PLACE OF BIRTH=Homerton, London, England
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=