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The empire will return: Obong Akpai on his way to a meeting with Maccabi Haifa

Roni Levy and Luzon did not want him, but when Obong Akpai came to training with a notebook, his coach in the Czech Republic fell in love and drew an unconventional compliment: "For a long time I have not coached an African who works so hard."

Five and a half years after signing with Maccabi Haifa, the Nigerian who was nicknamed "Empire", returns to Carmel with Slavia Prague

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• Obong Akpai

• Maccabi Haifa

• Slavia Prague

Walla!

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Sunday, October 17, 2021, 4 p.m.

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In mid-July 2017, Maccabi Haifa issued an official announcement according to which it sold Obong Akpai to the Czech Zelin for 210,000 euros.

The Greens were proud to have bought the Nigerian a year earlier for 100 euros and explained: "The professional team did not see the connection in the Greens squad, and after a bid came from Mazlin it was decided to sell him for double the amount he was purchased."

Thus ended the term of the Nigerian winger at Maccabi Haifa.

A term that did not really exist.

Next Thursday, if there are no surprises, Obong Akpai will arrive in Carmel from the front door.

No longer as a young footballer from the Nigerian league trying to impress the team in Kfar Galim, but as an important player in the Czech champions.

Maccabi Haifa will host Slavia Prague and the Nigerian will try to give the green fans a taste of what they could get.

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On Thursday, Akpai will arrive in Haifa from the front door. Not as a young examinee from the Nigerian league, but as an important player in the Czech championship (Photo: Adrian Herbstein)

The story of Obong Akpai and Maccabi Haifa went relatively under the radar. He was tested by the Greens in April 2016 and his signing was made close to the addition of columnist Christian Carlsen as professional manager, so most of the attention was focused on the Norwegian. Roni Levy did not want him then and the club decided to look for a team where he could accumulate mileage - but did not find in the Premier League.

When Akpai was finally loaned to Czech Slovan Liberec after being tested at her training camp in Austria, most of the media interest in Maccabi Haifa was generally around the embarrassing dismissal by Noma Kalio from the Europa League qualifiers. The Nigerian was just another young footballer who passed here for a moment, lined up knowing a much bigger story.

Akpai, then a 20-year-old footballer making his first steps in European football, landed in a city close to the Czech-Poland-Germany border triangle and happily fell into the hands of coach Eindrich Trepyszowski. The affair ignited, the love was instantaneous.

A love story with Akpai. Trapishovsky (Photo: GettyImages, Craig Williamson - SNS Group)

Akpai showed extraordinary diligence. He tried to learn Czech and came to the locker room with a notebook, in which he wrote the coach's instructions - after his teammates translated them for him from Czech to English. Trapishovsky, for his part, told local media: "For a long time I have not coached an African player who works so hard."

When he was a goal scorer, Akpai would usually run to celebrate first with the coach. He once ran towards Onzei Karpliat, who said: "He's just crazy. He's always running to the coach, why is he chasing me all of a sudden? I guess it's because I help him. He does not speak Czech and he always asks me questions and gets explanations from me. ".

In Slovan Liberec they started calling him Risa (Risha), in a Czech translation: "Empire". The sporting director, Jan Nazmar - the team's all-time top scorer - was the one who gave the Nigerian the nickname and explained: “Africans have names that the Czechs have a hard time dealing with.Sometimes we do not know what the first name is and what the last name is. Why 'Empire'? I don't know, it suited me. "

Akpai finished a European debut season with 21 appearances in all competitions, 4 goals, 3 assists and many sparks.

The loan period has ended and Maccabi Haifa has decided that he is not in the plans for next season.

Beliberz wanted him back, but Zellin made him (and the Greens) a higher offer and he moved on.

Played against Roma and Real Madrid, but as the season progressed, Akpai's minutes faded (Photo: GettyImages, Etsuo Hara)

Akpai's progress continued in the 2017/18 season, when he was no longer a Maccabi Haifa player. Baslin he scored 7 goals and cooked 4 more, found the nets of Sparta and Slavia Prague and climbed another step. Next summer, after one year in the eastern Czech Republic, Victoria Plzen was sold for about 650,000 euros.

The move to the Czech champions at the time was a big step. The Nigerian is a partner in games against Roma and Real Madrid in the Champions League, experiencing top struggles, but as the season progressed, his minutes of play shrank. Plzen lost the championship and made changes and one of them was a sending of the Nigerian on loan to Ceska Budyubice.

Everything Akpai has built in his first two years in the Czech Republic has crashed in the last two years. He suffered a long knee injury, underwent surgery and even after returning did not take off. Plzen loaned him out for another season at Bodiovice and when the decisive moment came, she decided to renew his contract.

After a season of just 10 games in the Czech Republic center-back, with no goals and no touchdowns, with a history of knee injury, the Nigerian winger appeared to have slipped to a lower place than his starting point in the old continent.

So when champions Slavia Prague signed him last summer, the Czech Republic were very surprised.

Akpai in the green uniform in 2016 (Photo: Official website, Maccabi Haifa)

Akfai's addition to Slavia Prague would not have happened had it not been for Yandirch Trepyszowski, not even in a million years. But the coach remembered the youthful kindness to the Nigerian he coached at Slovan Liberec and since he was a free agent, he had no trouble convincing the management to join him. Such a request from the coach who has led the team to absolute control of the Czech Republic for the past three years is a minor story.

The happy Akpai told the Czech champions' official website: "Trapyszowski is like my father, we understand each other. At the time when I wanted to leave Liberec, he said to me: 'Boy, you're not going anywhere. You still have to stay with me and learn.' "But I did not listen to him. Thank God we are now together again. He knows how to work with foreign footballers - and that is not something that can be said about any coach in the Czech Republic."

Whoever expected that after two sputtering years Akpai would only serve as a complementary player in Slavia Prague, was wrong.

The Nigerian has been involved in 12 games in all competitions, scoring against Legia Warsaw in the Europa League qualifiers and opening both games in the Conference League.

Next Thursday, he will return to Haifa and play against the team to which he belonged for more than a year, but which he never wore media except in training.

His place in the squad is far from guaranteed, but if he plays he will surely want to prove a thing or two.

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