Nigeria’s football wonder dribbler of the 1950s and 1960s, Albert Onyeawuna died yesterday aged 78 years.
Family sources confided in THISDAY last night that Onyeawuna who has been ill for several months now passed on at a clinic in FESTAC Town, Lagos late last night.
He debuted for Nigeria’s national team then called the Red Devils on October 30, 1955 and played his last game for the country on March 26 1964. He scored seven goals in 26 games.
He was the star of the Port Harcourt team in the 1950s and scored twice as they beat Kano 4-1 in the 1955 Challenge Cup. He again shone as his team won the Challenge Cup beating Federal United 6-1 in 1958. Onyeawuna played in Nigeria’s first ever African Cup of Nations in Ghana in 1963.
Onyeawuna retired from the game and invested very well but at his old age, he had serious challenges with his sight. Payments for eye surgeries from an auto accident practically wiped out all his investments.
While he said he will appreciate Nigeria coming to his aid, he refused to beg anyone, not the country he served well, nor his state government for help.
