Emmanuel Ake

Early career

Ake's mother is from Kenya, and his father from Seychelles. His parents divorced and his father moved to Denmark. He started his senior career with Black Panther in the Coast Provincial League (3rd level in Kenya). He then moved to Mombasa-based Coast Stars in the Kenyan Premier League. A Dutch tourist and his son met his mother in Kenya and found out about his football-skills. In Kenya he wouldn't be able to get a living out of playing football. The Dutchman tried to give him a future and arranged a temporarily visa for Ake and invited him over to the Netherlands, to stay with them and to play a test match with FC Oss (second division of the Netherlands) (team formerly known as TOP Oss). After the unsuccessful trials he left the guest-family and travelled to his father in Denmark.

Denmark

As a 20-year-old, Ake was signed by Akademisk Boldklub, where he spent four seasons from 2000 to 2004. He then moved to FC Nordsjælland for the 2004–05 and 2005–06 seasons. Ake was loaned out by FC Nordsjælland for the second half of the 2005–06 season to Ølstykke FC. He was the club's top scorer with 14 goals. In the next seasons, Ake was loaned to second-division side Holbæk B&I, where he also emerged as the club's top scorer with 11 goals. In the 2007–08 season, Ake was on loan, this time to First Division side Hellerup IK (HIK). He scored 13 league goals, tops on the club, but the team was still relegated to Division 2. Ake then signed a three-year…

Ake was part of the Kenyan National team, the Harambee Stars, at the Tunisia 2004 African Cup of Nations. He made three appearances for the Harambee Stars. He scored the third goal against Burkina Faso, earning Kenya its first-ever win at the Nations Cup.