Stephen Makinwa

Early career

Makinwa was born in Lagos, Nigeria. Discovered in 2000 by Reggiana while playing for Nigerian local side Ebedei alongside his childhood friend and teammate Obafemi Martins, Makinwa started his Italian football experience moving on loan to Serie D team Conegliano. In 2001, he moved to Serie B team Como squad, as Como bought 50% of the rights to the player, however, Makinwa did not play any games for the team. In 2002, he was back to Reggiana, in Serie C1, but the following season he was again in Como, but now as a regular.

Genoa and loans

Como bought the remainder of the 50% ownership rights from Reggiana in June and sold him to Genoa in August 2003. In the first half of the season, he was remained on loan at Como. In January 2004 Makinwa was loaned to Modena and made his debut in Serie A. In the 2004–05 season, he returned to Genoa and scored 6 goals in the first half of the Serie B season. That season, Genoa also owned effective strikers Diego Milito and Roberto Stellone.

Atalanta & Palermo

In January 2005 Makinwa moved to Atalanta in a joint-ownership bid, but Atalanta was relegated in June 2005, although the club decided to buy the remaining rights on 27 June. In July 2005, Makinwa joined Palermo for a reported €7.5 million transfer fee. He only remained at Palermo for a season, however he showed enough promise to suggest that he could develop into a quality Serie A player, scoring 5 goals in 23 league matches as Palermo qualified…

Makinwa played for the Nigerian national team and won 14 caps since making his debut in 2004. He played for Nigeria in the 2006 African Cup of Nations when they finished third. Two years on, he played in the side which again failed to win, losing at the 2008 African Cup of Nations to Ghana. Both Makinwa and his national teammate Obafemi Martins, are known for celebrating goals by making several consecutive somersaults.

International

Scores and results list Nigeria's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Makinwa goal.