Junior Agogo

Manuel "Junior" Agogo was a Ghanaian striker who scored 143 goals in a professional career across England, the United States, Egypt, Cyprus and Scotland. For Ghana he scored 12 goals in 27 games, including three at the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations as the Black Stars finished third.

Early life

He was born on 1 August 1979 in Accra, one of 11 children of the businessman Emmanuel Agogo, and was a nephew of Jerry John Rawlings. He attended Ridge Church School before the family moved to the UK, where he discovered football playing with his siblings. He returned to Ghana for three years at St Augustine's College in Cape Coast, where he represented the school in dance competitions rather than football.

Club career

He started at Sheffield Wednesday in 1995 and had loan spells at Oldham, Chester, Chesterfield and Lincoln before moving to Major League Soccer in 2000. He was top scorer at Colorado Rapids with 10 goals in his first season and won the MLS Cup with San Jose Earthquakes in 2001. Back in England he played for QPR and Barnet, then spent 2003 to 2006 at Bristol Rovers, his longest spell, scoring more than 40 goals in 140 games. At Nottingham Forest he was top scorer in 2007 to 2008 with 13 goals as the club won promotion to the Championship. He later played for Zamalek in Egypt (2008), Apollon Limassol in Cyprus (2009) and Hibernian in Scotland (2011 to 2012).

International career

He scored his first Ghana goal against Australia in November 2006. At the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations in Ghana he scored the only goal against Namibia, the late winner in the quarter-final against Nigeria and a goal in the third-place win over Côte d'Ivoire, finishing as Ghana's joint top scorer with Sulley Muntari.

Later life and death

After retiring in 2012 he ran a fitness training business. He died on 22 August 2019, aged 40, after a long illness.