Chris Iwelumo

Early career

Born in Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire to a Nigerian father and a Scottish mother, Iwelumo started his career with Scottish Football League club St Mirren as a junior in their youth system before signing a professional contract on 5 August 1996. Iwelumo had only made nineteen appearances for St Mirren, scoring twice against Berwick in the Scottish League Cup and Dundee in the Scottish Cup, before his performances were being noticed and in early 1998, Aarhus Fremad of Denmark signed him up. Aarhus released him two years later in February 2000 and he had trials at Preston North End and Celtic – the team he supports – before signing a four-year deal with Stoke City.

Stoke City

After two years in Denmark, Iwelumo returned to the UK to join third tier Stoke City. He played as a substitute as Stoke won the 2000 Football League Trophy Final. Later that year he was sent out on loan to York City where he made eleven appearances before returning to Stoke. He remained there before being loaned out again to Cheltenham Town in February 2001. He played four times for Cheltenham Town, scoring once against Mansfield before being recalled from his loan by Stoke City where he managed to build on his appearances without actually gaining a regular place in the first team, his most notable contribution possibly being the equaliser in the Potteries derby on 21 October 2001. He signed a two-year contract extension with Stoke in March 2002. Barnsley revealed an…

Iwelumo was called up for the Scotland squad to tour South Korea in 2002 but had to withdraw as his club Stoke City were involved in the Football League Championship play-offs. In November 2007, he was named in the Scotland B team for a friendly against Republic of Ireland B, which he featured in as Scotland drew 1–1. He was called up to the full Scotland squad for a 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification match against Norway at Hampden Park on 11 October 2008. He came on as a 57th-minute substitute in that game to make his debut, but his performance was overshadowed by an open goal miss from three yards, in a match that finished 0–0. For days after, Iwelumo constantly watched video replays of the incident but was determined not to be remembered for the miss, stated "I'm a proud Scot, I love my country and it's my dream to do well for them." He was recalled for his first international start in a friendly against Argentina on 19 November 2008.

In October 2014, one day after he announced his retirement from playing, Iwelumo began working in the media department at his former club Stoke City. In July 2015, Iwelumo was appointed head coach of the under-18 team at former club Wolverhampton Wanderers. However, he quit the position less than a week later. In November 2016 he re-joined former club Chester as assistant manager to Jon McCarthy but continued to work as a pundit for Channel 5's Football League Show. In June 2017, citing concerns from fans about his absence on matchdays, he moved into the role of first-team striker coach. Iwelumo graduated from Staffordshire University in 2016 with a first-class bachelor's degree in Professional Sports Writing and Broadcasting. Iwelumo can often be heard as a co-commentator on Talksport.

Club

International