Anthony Ujah retires as Union welcome the new Taiwo Awoniyi?

Anthony Ujah announced an emotional retirement from football over the weekend. The 34-year-old Benue-born footballer had an illustrious career that saw him light up the Bundesliga with Mainz 05, FC Cologne and Werder Bremen.

He also had a stint in China with Liaoning Whowin before returning to the Bundesliga for the second time with Mainz and FC Union, and then moving down to the 2. Bundesliga, where he played for Eintracht Braunschweig and finally retired in Bulgaria at Botev Plovdiv.

Enormous injuries had slowed him down, and it was fitting to draw the curtain on his career and face the future with renewed zest.

“Today, I make the toughest decision of my life, retiring from professional football,” Ujah wrote on his Instagram page.

“First of all, I want to thank Almighty God for the gift of this talent, for guiding me through every step of my football journey, and for giving me the strength to face both the good days and the difficult ones.

“To my family, your love, prayers, and sacrifices have been my foundation. Without you, none of this would have been possible.

“I also want to thank every club i have played for, every coach who believed in me, and every teammate who fought beside me on the pitch. Together, we’ve shared victories that will forever warm my heart and defeats that taught me resilience.

“Fulfilling a childhood dream of playing for my country (SUPER EAGLES) is one i will forever live to cherish.

“Football has been more than a game for me, it has been my passion, my identity, my home,” he wrote.

The Goat of Cologne

I first got to know about Ujah when I was Chief Editor of Goal.com Nigeria in 2015, when he grabbed the headlines by the horns. In celebrating a goal against Eintracht Frankfurt, he grabbed the horns of Cologne’s mascot goat. It left some fans unhappy, and he had to issue an apology via social media.

I reached out to him at the time, and we exchanged emails. He explained the emotions and why.

A few weeks later, a friend of his reached out with a press release about an end-of-season football event in the Benue town of Oturkpo that the footballer’s foundation was sponsoring. It was good to see that he was giving back to the young people of his community through grassroots football.

Years later, in 2022, I stood pitchside inside the Alte Förterei as FC Union gave him a final farewell at the end of his contract in Berlin. He was, alongside Nigerian player Suleiman Abdullahi, given a decent send-off.

I would later hear glowing praise of his from Taiwo Awoniyi, the Nigerian striker who succeeded him at Union. Awoniyi told me of how Ujah had welcomed him to the club and also gave him life lessons about investing his football income into ventures that would sustain him long after the game. It was a great insight into the personality of Ujah.

As he retires, one wishes him all the best for the future. It is a new experience that I am certain he has prepared himself for and will surely excel at. The world ahead of him has limitless possibilities for someone of his experience.

Has Union found the new Taiwo Awoniyi?

On the opening day of the Bundesliga season, Union Berlin won their home game against VfB Stuttgart through a brace by Ilyas Ansah, a German-born striker of Ghanaian origin.

It reminded me of Awoniyi’s final game for the Eisern, where he also scored a brace against Freiburg to hand the club a spot in the Europa League.

Ansah has all the markings of a star player and could yet emerge as a top finisher in the league. My neighbour, Andreas, a Union fan, spoke highly about the hopes of the club after they barely escaped relegation last season, following their Champions League sojourn two years ago.

Union need all the goals they can get this season, and Ansah, who wears the number 10 shirt, will be expected to deliver them. Awoniyi scored a club record 15 goals in the 2021/22 Bundesliga season. Can Ansah top that? He's now got 13 more to go.