Former Olympic Eagles star wins player of the month award two months after joining Czech club

The ex-Nigerian youth international has been rewarded for a brilliant few weeks for the Stadion Střelnice landlords

Nigerian defender Joshua Oghene-Ochuko Akpudje has been named FK Jablonec’s player of the month for October after a string of excellent performances.

The 24-year-old centre-back only moved to the Czech Republic to join FK Jablonec from Latvian side BFC Daugavpils on September 5.

The former Olympic Eagles star has since featured in seven league games for his new team, helping the side to three clean sheets.

October was a frustrating month for Jablonec, with the club losing to Pardubice, Slovan Liberec, and champions Viktoria Plzen in the league and Viskov in the Czech Cup.

But Akpudje’s influence was key to helping Jablonec end the month on a high, beating České Budějovice 3-0.

And the Nigerian star’s performance has been rewarded with 38 per cent of Jablonec fans voting him their best player of October.

In appreciating the honour, Akpudje wrote on Twitter: “In less than two months in Czech Republic, I’m super excited to be nominated as the Player Of The Month for my team… Grateful to all the fans that voted for me. I will never take this for granted. I continue to work hard till we achieve our aim for the season.”

Akpudje played for MFM FC before leaving Nigeria for Latvia a few years ago.