Carl Ikeme

Early career

Ikeme progressed through Wolverhampton Wanderers' academy and made the first team squad in their 2003–04 Premier League season. Due to Matt Murray's long-term injury, he was promoted to the substitutes' bench for a string of games but never played. He moved on a month-long loan to Conference Premier side Accrington Stanley on 14 October 2004, to fill the gap in their team caused by Jon Kennedy's broken leg. He made his senior debut on 16 October when he played the first of four games for them, keeping a clean sheet in a goalless draw at Aldershot Town. He finally made his Wolves debut the following season, in a 5–1 win over Chester City in the League Cup second round on 23 August 2005. He also had a further loan move to Stockport County in late 2005 which was cut short due to a hand injury. On 26 August 2006, he made his league debut for Wolves when he appeared as a late substitute in a 1–0 home win over Luton Town, replacing Murray for the final three minutes. Ikeme suffered a knee injury during the 2006–07 season and had to undergo surgery, which kept him out of contention until late 2007. After recovering, he was an unused substitute or only employed in reserve team fixtures. It was not until September 2008 that he got his chance to return to Wolves' first team after regular keeper Wayne Hennessey was suspended. He enjoyed his longest run of games in a Wolves shirt until injury ruled him out for the remainder of the season, during which the club went…

Ikeme was born in Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands, and was eligible to represent England or Nigeria at international level, choosing the latter. He was first called up to the "Super Eagles" squad in March 2007 by new manager Berti Vogts, who named a 37-man provisional squad for a 2008 Africa Cup of Nations qualification match against Uganda that introduced other foreign-born players such as Gabriel Agbonlahor, Victor Anichebe and Toto Tamuz. He made his international debut for Nigeria on 5 September 2015 against Tanzania in a 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualification game. Ikeme made three appearances early on in Nigeria's successful qualification campaign for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, but could not go to the final tournament due to his cancer treatment, which manager Gernot Rohr called his greatest regret.

Club

International

Ikeme is a practitioner of Brazilian jiu-jitsu and has reached the rank of blue belt, along with winning the British Open and earning a bronze medal at the IBJJF European Championship.