Jay-Jay Okocha

Athlete

200 Quotes

For me, there is no limit to success.

I pray a lot and it has helped me throughout my whole career to stay calm and focused.

I wanted to play in the Premier League and Bolton offered me that opportunity at that time and that was why I signed for Bolton.

In football, everything can change.

It's always nice to be among the best teams but not everyone can do that.

I knew I was in charge when with the ball. But on the toughest defenders I faced, I would say that my African brothers were the ones. We have the same mentality and thought the same way. Osei Kuffour was the toughest of them all.

I think sometimes players must have a wake-up call before they realise they are back in African football.

I felt like a prisoner. In Qatar, you need a sponsor to get a work permit and you cannot leave the country unless you have an exit permit from your sponsor.

Traditionally it's been difficult for Africans to play over here, mainly because the African calendar is very different to that in Europe. Most of the coaches over here can't accept that we have to go back home to play at the Nations' Cup for a month while the season is still on over here. That made people reluctant to sign Africans.

I always ask God if it is his will, and if so, then let it be. Whatever comes out of it I will accept it. That's the message I got and that's why I'm here at Hull.

Traditionally it's been difficult for Africans to play over here, mainly because the African calendar is very different to that in Europe. Most of the coaches over here can't accept that we have to go back home to play at the Nations' Cup for a month while the season is still on over here. That made people reluctant to sign Africans.

Education from six-year-old to 14 is compulsory in Nigeria, but the simple fact is that a lack of resources, coupled with peoples' inability to afford books and uniforms mean the reality for millions of Nigerian children is a life without education.

Stars don't necessarily make a good team and that is what we must learn.

Well of course, as a fan I think I'd love to see Neymar play.

As kids, we were used to playing football with anything that we managed to kick and whenever we got a ball, it was a bonus.

I felt like a prisoner. In Qatar, you need a sponsor to get a work permit and you cannot leave the country unless you have an exit permit from your sponsor.

Leaving the stage would pave the way for younger players to come up too.

Nobody likes it when people dribble past them, me included, but I can't tackle.

I used to say that I got to Germany as a boy but I left as a man.

I think it is also the most demanding league; the pace of the game in the EPL is something else and rightly for me is maybe the best league in the world.