Nwankwo Kanu
Forward / Second Striker · Arsenal · Nigeria
About Nwankwo Kanu
Nwankwo Kanu is Nigeria's most decorated international footballer — a Champions League winner with Ajax, Olympic gold medallist at Atlanta 1996, and two-time African Player of the Year. He played through a heart condition that required corrective surgery in 1996 — and came back to win the African Player of the Year award the following year. At Arsenal, he became beloved for his goals off the bench.
Nwankwo Kanu's story
The Heart Operation
In 1996, Kanu was diagnosed with a serious heart defect — aortic regurgitation — that required emergency surgery. He was told he might never play football again. He recovered, returned to football within months, won the African Player of the Year award in 1999 — three years after the surgery. He established the Kanu Heart Foundation to provide heart surgery to children in Nigeria.
Ajax and Atlanta
Kanu won the Champions League with Ajax in 1995 aged 18 — one of the youngest players in a Champions League-winning squad. The following year, despite his heart surgery, he was part of Nigeria's "Dream Team" that won Olympic gold at Atlanta — a generation of players including Celestine Babayaro, Jay-Jay Okocha, and Taribo West that remains Nigeria's greatest.
Arsenal's Super Sub
Wenger signed Kanu in 1999 and he became the Premier League's most celebrated substitute — a player whose technical quality off the bench made him uniquely effective. He scored a famous hat-trick against Chelsea from 3-0 down — his most celebrated moment — with all three goals scored after coming on as a replacement.
Did you know?
- ❤️ He was diagnosed with a life-threatening heart defect in 1996 and told he might never play again. He had corrective surgery, recovered within months, and won the African Player of the Year award three years later — one of sport's great medical comeback stories.
- 🏠 He established the Kanu Heart Foundation — which has funded heart surgery for hundreds of Nigerian children who couldn't otherwise afford it — making him one of the most significant post-career humanitarians in African football.
- 👨👩👧👦 Married Amara; they have children. He returned to Nigeria after his career and runs the Kanu Heart Foundation, funding heart operations for children across Africa.
- 🏅 He is the only African footballer to have won the Champions League (Ajax, 1995), an Olympic gold medal (Nigeria, 1996), and an African Cup of Nations (Nigeria, 1994) — completing an international honours set unmatched on the continent.
- 🌟 Arsène Wenger said: "Kanu was one of the most technically gifted players I ever managed. His movement, his touch, his creativity — and he did all of this having had open-heart surgery four years before."
- 📊 He made 87 international appearances for Nigeria — scoring 13 goals — and captained the Super Eagles at the 2006 World Cup, when he was the face of Nigerian football.
- 🤸 At 195cm, he was one of the tallest players with elite close-control ability — capable of flicking, controlling, and finishing in tight spaces in ways that seemed physically impossible for a player of his height.
- 🇳🇱 He was part of Ajax's legendary 1994-95 youth cohort — alongside Patrick Kluivert, Edgar Davids, Marc Overmars, and Clarence Seedorf — the greatest youth-team generation in Dutch football history.
- 🏆 He won the FA Cup with Portsmouth in 2008 — aged 31, as a veteran substitute — completing a trophy collection across five decades of the sport and cementing his status as one of the great long-career professionals.
Honours
- UEFA Champions League: Ajax (1995)
- Olympic Gold Medal: Nigeria (Atlanta 1996) — "Dream Team" generation
- Africa Cup of Nations: Nigeria (1994)
- FA Cup x2: Arsenal (2002, 2003)
- African Player of the Year x2: 1996 and 1999 — despite heart surgery between the two
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