Odion Ighalo – Net Worth, Salary, Stats, Wife, Houses

Odion Ighalo – Net Worth, Salary, Stats, Wife, Houses
Credit: Icon Sport

He has played for some of the top clubs in the world, but who is Odion Ighalo – net worth, and what has he achieved?

On this plate is Odion Ighalo – net worth and other achievements in football and beyond.

Once upon a time, Odion Ighalo was a sensation with the Super Eagles. He was so vital to the team that Super Eagles fans get worried when he is absent.

These days, Odion Ighalo may be just a footnote to many who did not see him play in his prime in Europe.

From his goals to philanthropy and charity, he has endeared himself to millions of Nigerians and Africans. However, many people want to know more about the man Odion Ighalo – Net worth and achievements.

This is a presentation of everything we could lay our hands on about the 2019 AFCON top scorer, Odion Ighalo – Net worth and achievements.

Odion Ighalo profile

Odion Ighalo is a Nigerian professional football player who plays as a striker for Saudi Pro League side Al-Wehda. He also played for the Nigerian senior men's football team – the Super Eagles.

He was born on 16 June 1989 in Ajegunle, Lagos State, the town sometimes referred to as ā€˜the Nigerian favelaā€™ because of the amount of football, entertainment and entrepreneurial talents it produces.

In 2000, he joined Prime FC (now known as Osun United FC) where he trained as an academy player until 2005. He only spent one year in their senior team before returning to Lagos to play for Julius Berger FC (now known as Bridge FC) in 2006.

While at Julius Berger (now Bridge FC), the infamous football agent Marcelo Houseman took an interest in him and facilitated a move for Ighalo to Norwegian side Lyn 1896 in 2007.

Odion Ighalo club career

Odion Ighalo played for Lyn for one year after Marcelo Houseman intervened in his football career, which also changed his financial fortunes.

Being born to a petty trader and a father who provided for his family via blue-collar jobs like construction site labouring, informal security and cleaning, the move abroad was a big game-changer for the Ighalo family.

It was also the first time he would be separated from his elder sister (now late) and his twin. At Lyn, he impressed enough to earn a move to Italian Serie A side Udinese where he stayed on their books for six seasons.

However, he did not get the chance to play many games with the club because he was sent on loan to other clubs in Italy (Cesena) the Spanish La Liga (Granada) and England (Watford).

He had a good run in Spain with Granada, and it convinced Watford, a team affiliated with Udinese, to take a chance on him, first on loan and then on a permanent transfer in 2014.

Ighalo became a cult hero at Watford and was one of the best mid-table strikers in the Premier League. The Hornetsā€™ fans still talk about his time at the club to this day and fans on social media have classified him as one of the players who the ā€œstreets wonā€™t forgetā€.

In 2017, he began his sojourn in China, where he also gained cult hero status. Changchun Yatai was his first stop and Shanghai Shenhua was his last one, which earned him a loan move to Manchester United, the club he supported as a boy on the streets of Ajegunle.

The move made Odion Ighalo the first Nigerian in history to put on a Manchester United jersey and line up as a player for the Red Devils in an official match.

Odion Ighalo - Net worth, playing for Manchester United
Credit: Icon Sport

In the six months at Old Trafford, Ighalo gave a good account of himself and Nigerian players before moving to Saudi Arabia, first to play for Al Shabab and then Al-Hilal.

Odion Ighalo plays for Al Wehda following his departure from Saudi champions Al Hilal.

At Al Hilal, he won the Saudi Pro League (2021ā€“22), and the King Cup (2022ā€“23). He was also AFC Champions League runner-up (2022) and FIFA Club World Cup runner-up the same year.

As far as Nigeria Super Eaglesā€™ players go, not many are as popular worldwide as Ighalo. The man, however, has famously stated that he plays football firstly as a job to provide for his family and dependents and will go where the money is good.

He also insinuates that trophies and team achievements are secondary to him but he will work to help any team he plays for achieve their goals for each set season.

It is the reason he is also considered one of the best Nigerian football professionals.

SEE ALSO | Top 5 Football Clubs With The Most Fans In Nigeria

Odion Ighalo national team career

Odion Ighalo made his Nigeria national football team debut for the first time in 2015 when then-newly appointed Super Eagles interim coach Daniel Amokachi selected him for the first time.

He missed the opportunity to play his first official tournament for Nigeria when he was dropped from the final list of players who travelled to Brazil for the 2016 Olympic Games, where Nigeria bagged the bronze medal.

Nigeria failed to qualify for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations so his first tournament with the team would be the 2018 FIFA World Cup which was held in Russia. Nigeria exited the 2018 World Cup in the group stages and Nigerian fans were not kind to him on that outing, with some going as far as sending his family death threats because he failed to score a goal at the World Cup.

Ighalo scored seven goals in the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualification campaign, the most by any player, to help Nigeria qualify for the tournament in Egypt later that year (Victor Osimhen has matched that record in the AFCON 2023 qualifiers).

Ighalo would go on to participate in the 2019 AFCON where he would score five goals to become the tournamentā€™s top scorer as Nigeria finished with the bronze medal. He retired from the Super Eagles after that tournament but rescinded his decision in 2021. He remains available for national team selection at the time of writing.

He is one of the Super Eaglesā€™ top ten goalscorers of all time, with 16 goals from 37 official caps.

SEE ALSO |Ā  Super Eagles All-Time Top Goalscorers: Listed From 1971

Odion Ighalo – Net worth, earnings, house, family

Odion Ighalo's earnings

When Odion Ighalo earned Ā£70,000 to Ā£90,000 a week at Al Hilal, he was regarded as Nigeria's highest-earning footballer but was eclipsed by his successor in the Super Eagles – Victor Osimhen.

The former Watford striker also earned the same figure at Al Shabab, but it was in China that he hit his biggest payday, earning over Ā£10,000,000 annually.

The former Super Eagles forward also pocketed Ā£180,000Ā per week at Manchester United.

Odion Ighalo – Net Worth. It might be a mystery to many, but it is estimated at around $40 million – a healthy amount to help a footballer in retirement.

Odion Ighalo – Net worth and houses

When you've had a career and earned like Odion Ighalo, chances are that you'd live it up.

Odion Ighalo – Net worth is bumped up and allows him to acquire some of the top luxuries in the world. The Lagos State-born striker has several houses in Lagos and other countries.

However, the house known to many is his palatial Lekki, Lagos mansion that was opened in 2019.

The house has a gaming room, viewing room, fitness centre, and a football pitch. The Lekki mansion is where he spends most of his time with family and friends any time he is in Lagos.

Odion Ighalo – Net worth and businesses is now something the world knows about.

SEE ALSO | AFCON All-Time Top Scorers: All Records And Stats Included

Odion Ighalo's personal life: Odion Ighalo's wife, kids, twin sister, late sister

Odion Ighalo's wife, kids

Odion Ighalo married Adesuwa Sonia in 2009 and she bore three children whose names are Samuel, Bernice, and Daniel. In 2019, however, there was trouble in paradise and both parties had a messy fallout as a result. They have since separated and Sonia has custody of his children.

However, in 2021, Sonia revealed that the former Lyn striker has two more children from different women, bringing the number of children with his blood and DNA running through their veins to five. The revelation came after it was rumoured that Ighalo and Nollywood actress Lilian Esoro were in a relationship. There is no information about the said relationship, however, as Ighalo keeps most of his romantic life away from social media.

Their separation continues to be messy as Sonia takes every opportunity to call out what she perceives as wrongdoing from the Al-Hilal frontman while he ignores her and only talks about his siblings, parents, work (football), philanthropy and children.

Odion Ighalo family

In the culture of the Esan people of Edo State, Nigeria, the name Odion is given to twins, regardless of gender. Odion is the name given to the first twin while Akhere is the name given to the second twin.

This proves that Odion Ighalo is a twin whose name is Akhere Ighalo. Akhere Ighalo, now known as Akhere Ighalo-Emmanuel is married and living with her husband and three children abroad.

Odion and Akhere are two of five children born to Paul and Martina Ighalo. The striker has two brothers, Austin and Moses, and had two sisters, Akhere and Mary.

Mary slumped and died at the age of 43 in 2020 when she was preparing her children for school in Canada. He and his family pay tributes to her, every year, as she was the first child and a second mother to the rest of the Ighalo children.

This article was most recently revised and updated 10 months ago
Chooka Izuegbuna
Chooka Izuegbuna is a Sports Journalist with 20 years of experience in print, TV and Radio. He has worked with some of the top media houses in Nigeria, including NTA Network, Channels TV, TVC, Silverbird TV and MITV. Chooka broke his sports reporting teeth with The Game Football Weekly in 2003 as a cartoonist and reporter. Chooka has a passion for football and has been a fan of Enugu Rangers (over 30 years) and Real Madrid (Since 1996).
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