‘So good they named him twice’- FIFA celebrates Super Eagles legend Jay-Jay Okocha

Jay-Jay Okocha remains one of the greatest players Africa has ever produced, and was duly applauded by FIFA. 

World football governing body, FIFA, celebrated former Super Eagles star Austin Jay-Jay Okocha. 

FIFA Celebrates Okocha at 52

The former Nigeria and Bolton captain is one of the gifted players football has ever seen, and FIFA was quick to acknowledge that. 

In a post on its 2026 World Cup page on X, formerly known as Twitter, the world football governing body praised Okocha, who was celebrating his 52nd birthday on Thursday. 

The post read: ‘So good they named him twice’- a popular phrase gotten from his moniker (Jay-Jay), but used to quantify Okocha’s talents. 

Okocha's celebrated career

Okocha, during his playing career, was a magician on the ball. He was known for his dribbling skills, trickery and set-piece delivery. 

Although he did not win a lot of trophies, his talents took him places and made him arguably the most popular Nigerian footballer. 

Okocha started his club career in Europe at Borussia Neunkirchen before moving to Eintracht Frankfurt. 

During his time at Frankfurt, he scored one of the greatest Bundesliga goals of all time against German legend Oliver Kahn. 

Following his time at Frankfurt, Okocha moved to Fenerbahce, where he spent two years before moving to Paris Saint-Germain for a then-African record fee. 

He spent four years at PSG before moving to Bolton Wanderers, where he became a club icon and was named the best player to play at the Reebok Stadium. 

Okocha would later go on to have short spells at Qatar SC and Hull City before announcing his retirement. 

On the international scene, he was part of Nigeria’s golden generation that won the Africa Cup of Nations in 1994 and reached the second round of the FIFA World Cup the same year. 

Okocha represented the Super Eagles at three World Cups and holds the honour of scoring the 1000th goal in AFCON history.