His name defined creativity on the football pitch and brought joy to African football. A true legend, whose artistry with the ball inspired a generation and made the world fall in love with Nigerian football. From the streets of Enugu to dazzling crowd on the world stage, Austin JJ Okocha remains the gold standard of skill, discipline and pure showmanship. In this interview anchored by Femi Soneye and Joycelyn Ella Keche Adah, on The Exchange Podcast, and monitored by the Sunday Tribune, Okocha reveals that beyond the dribbles, cheers and a robust football career is a fecund mind and outstanding man behind the magic.

Everyone knows you as one of the most skillful footballers that Africa, and probably the world, has produced and you’ve gone on to be very successful. If football had not worked out for you, what do you think you’ll be doing?

Well, I think… I’m not sure, but I should be in the business world I think.

Doing business…?

Yeah, probably because the environment where I grew up.

So, you would have been doing marketing and all those importing and exporting?

Yes, whatever to make money. You know, as long as it is legit.

Everyone knows you for your dazzling footwork. We know you’re good at that, but what is the one thing you are actually bad at, not on the football pitch now, just generally?

Hmm … I’m very bad at remembering people. I don’t know if it’s because I meet a lot of people. So, if I’ve not been with you for a while, I struggle to remember because I meet a lot of people every day. So, sometimes, it’s difficult to remember people that you met only once, especially when you’ve not had any conversation or whatever with them. So, yeah, I’m very bad at that.

You make football look like art, especially with your step-overs and take-ons. Some people, your opponents, sometimes even fall to the ground and all those things. The question is, at what point in your career did you realise that you can actually entertain people while playing football?

Well, it is not until later that I realised that I was entertaining people. You know, I saw it as my identity, because I believe that we all need an identity, especially when I travelled abroad. I realised that I was different and I had to bring something new to the table. I had to add value to what they’ve got already.