Stefano Okaka Chuka
Encyclopedia
Stefano Chuka Okaka is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
) is an Italian
Italian people
The Italian people are an ethnic group that share a common Italian culture, ancestry and speak the Italian language as a mother tongue. Within Italy, Italians are defined by citizenship, regardless of ancestry or country of residence , and are distinguished from people...
footballer who currently plays as a striker for Italian Serie A
Serie A
Serie A , now called Serie A TIM due to sponsorship by Telecom Italia, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and has been operating for over eighty years since 1929. It had been organized by Lega Calcio until 2010, but a new...
club Roma
A.S. Roma
Associazione Sportiva Roma, commonly referred to as simply Roma, is a professional Italian football club based in Rome. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma have participated in the top-tier of Italian football for all of their existence but one season in the early 50s...
.
Club career
Born in Castiglione del LagoCastiglione del Lago
Castiglione del Lago is a town in the Province of Perugia of Umbria , on the southwest corner of Lake Trasimeno. Orvieto is 59 km south, Chiusi is 21 km to the south west, Arezzo is 56 km to the north west, Cortona is 21 km to the north and Perugia is 47 km to the south...
, Umbria
Umbria
Umbria is a region of modern central Italy. It is one of the smallest Italian regions and the only peninsular region that is landlocked.Its capital is Perugia.Assisi and Norcia are historical towns associated with St. Francis of Assisi, and St...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
to Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
n parents who later obtained Italian citizenship, Okaka joined the Roma
A.S. Roma
Associazione Sportiva Roma, commonly referred to as simply Roma, is a professional Italian football club based in Rome. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma have participated in the top-tier of Italian football for all of their existence but one season in the early 50s...
youth system in 2004. He was part of the team that won the U-20 national title
Trofeo Giacinto Facchetti
The Campionato Nazionale Primavera – Trofeo Giacinto Facchetti, is an Italian football competition played by youth teams of all Serie A and all Serie B clubs, and organized by the Football League. All players must be under 20, but two overaged are allowed in eliminatory rounds...
in 2005 and scored goals against Juventus in the semi-final and Atalanta in the final.
On 29 September 2005, he made his debut with the first team in the UEFA Cup
UEFA Cup
The UEFA Europa League is an annual association football cup competition organised by UEFA since 1971 for eligible European football clubs. It is the second most prestigious European club football contest after the UEFA Champions League...
, playing against Aris
Aris Thessaloniki F.C.
Aris Football Club , also known as God of war and the Yellows, is a Greek football club based in the city of Thessaloniki, Macedonia. Formed in 1914, the club was a founding member of Macedonian Football Clubs Association as well as the Hellenic Football Federation, they currently compete in...
. He thus became the youngest footballer to debut in an international competition for an Italian team. Okaka scored with a powerful run from midfield and a precise shot to the left of the goalkeeper his first official goal for Roma in a Coppa Italia
Coppa Italia
The Coppa Italia is an Italian football annual cup competition. Its first edition was held in 1922, but the second champions were not crowned until 1936. Roma and Juventus lead the way with nine wins. Roma has contested more finals, 16, while Torino and Juventus follow with 13...
match against Napoli
S.S.C. Napoli
Società Sportiva Calcio Napoli, commonly referred to as Napoli, is a professional Italian football club based in Naples and founded in 1926. The club has spent most of its history in Serie A, where it currently plays its 2011–12 season....
on 8 December 2005. He has since appeared a number of times for the senior squad, scoring his first Serie A
Serie A
Serie A , now called Serie A TIM due to sponsorship by Telecom Italia, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and has been operating for over eighty years since 1929. It had been organized by Lega Calcio until 2010, but a new...
goal on 17 September 2006, the last of three Roma goals in a 3–1 win over Siena
A.C. Siena
Associazione Calcio Siena is an Italian football club based in Siena.The club currently plays in Serie A, having gained promotion from Serie B at the end of the 2010-2011 season....
.
He was subsequently loaned to Serie B
Serie B
Serie B, currently named Serie bwin due to sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It is contested by 22 teams and organized by the Lega Serie B since July 2010, after the split of Lega Calcio that previously took care of both the...
side Modena
Modena F.C.
Modena Football Club is an Italian football club based in Modena, Emilia-Romagna. The club was formed in 1912 and currently plays in Italian Serie B, after being relegated from a two year period in Serie A in the year 2004. The team's previous stay in Italy's top division ended in 1964. The team...
for the 2007–08 season in order to gain some first team experience. After returning to Roma, he signed a new contract which will last until 30 June 2012. As a part of it, he earned a gross annual salary of €0.6M in the first 2 seasons, which then increased to €0.7M and €0.9M. He also spent a six-month loan period at Brescia
Brescia Calcio
Brescia Calcio , known simply as Brescia, is the largest football club in the Lombard city of Brescia, where it was founded in 1911.In the 2009–10 season, in the return leg of the Serie B playoff final, they defeated Torino 2-1 at home , returning to Serie A after a 5-year absence...
from January to June 2009.
On August 2009, he scored his first goal with Roma in a continental competition, the final goal in a 7–1 result defeat of Gent in the second leg of the 2009–10 UEFA Europa League third qualifying round. He scored again in the Europa League in Roma's 2–0 win over CSKA Sofia and in Roma's 2–1 win over Fulham. His last goal with Roma was an 88th minute winner against Siena.
On 1 February 2010, he joined Fulham on loan until the end of the season. He made his debut for Fulham in the 1–0 win over Portsmouth
Portsmouth F.C.
Portsmouth Football Club is an English football club based in the city of Portsmouth. The club is nicknamed Pompey. Portsmouth's home matches have been played at Fratton Park since the club's formation in 1898. The team currently play in the Football League Championship after being relegated from...
on 3 February 2010. He scored his first goal for the club on 14 February 2010 in a 5th round FA Cup
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...
tie at home to Notts County. He scored his first league goal for the club against Wigan Athletic on 4 April 2010.
In January 2011, he scored his first goal for A.S. Bari
A.S. Bari
Associazione Sportiva Bari is an Italian football club founded in 1908, they are based in Bari, Apulia and plays in Serie B. The club have spent many seasons bouncing between the top two divisions in Italian football, Serie A and Serie B....
against US Lecce for 1-0 win. In this game he and Kamil Glik
Kamil Glik
Kamil Jacek Glik is a Polish footballer who plays as a central defender for Torino, in a co-ownership deal with Palermo.- Club career :...
marking their debuts for Bari.
During August 2011, Stefano was attacked by Roma fans after a training session for not wishing to sign autographs.
International career
After gaining Italian citizenship in 2007, Okaka was been selected for the Italian Under-19Italy national under-19 football team
The Italy national under-19 football team is the national under-19 football team of Italy and is controlled by the Italian Football Federation.The team competes in the UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship, held every year....
side. He made his debut for the Italy U-20 team in 2008, scoring two goals.
On 17 November 2009, he made his debut with the Italy U-21
Italy national under-21 football team
The Italy national under-21 football team is the national under-21 football team of Italy and is controlled by the Italian Football Federation.The team competes in the UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship, held every two years...
squad in a match against Luxembourg
Luxembourg national under-21 football team
The Luxembourg national under-21 football team is the national representative under-21 football team of Luxembourg. Controlled by the Luxembourg Football Federation , the team feeds into Luxembourg's full national team....
.