Okocha was born in Enugu, Enugu State.[1]
His parents were from Ogwashi-Uku, Delta
State, Nigeria. The name Jay-Jay was actually
passed down from his older brother James,
who started playing football first. His
immediate older brother Emmanuel was also
called Emma Jay-jay, but the name stuck with
Okocha. He began playing football on the
street just like many other football stars,
usually with a makeshift ball.
In an interview with BBC Sport he said "as far
as I can remember, we used to play with
anything, with any round thing we could find,
and whenever we managed to get hold of a
ball, that was a bonus! I mean it was
amazing!" In 1990, he joined Enugu Rangers.
In his time at the club he produced many
spectacular displays including one where he
rounded off and scored a goal, against
experienced Nigerian goalkeeper William
Okpara in a match against BCC Lions. Later he
travelled to Germany to meet a friend, where
he was asked to train with his team after
impressing in training, and landed a deal with
German Third Division side Borussia
Neunkirchen.

Eintracht Frankfurt
Okocha joined Eintracht Frankfurt in 1992,
where he linked up with many well-known
players including Ghanaian international striker Tony Yeboah and later Thomas Doll. He
continued to shine for the German side, one
highlight being a goal he scored against
Karlsruhe, dribbling in the penalty box and
slotting the ball past Oliver Kahn even going
past some players twice.[2] The goal was voted Goal of the Season by many soccer magazines, and also voted as 1993 Goal of the Year by viewers of Sportschau (an ARD German TV sports program).[3] In 1995, Okocha, Yeboah and Maurizio Gaudino were all involved in a feud with manager Jupp Heynckes, which led to their departure from the club. Yeboah and Gaudino later left for England, while Okocha stayed until the end of the season when Frankfurt were relegated to the Second division, before signing for Istanbul club Fenerbahçe.

Fenerbahçe
Okocha joined Turkish club Fenerbahçe
following Eintracht Frankfurt's relegation to
Bundesliga 2. In his two seasons with the team he amassed thirty goals in sixty appearances, many of them coming from direct free kicks which had become something of a trademark for him at the club. While at Fenerbahçe, he also became a Turkish citizen as "Muhammet Yavuz." Okocha is one a prestigious few to wear the number 10 shirt, a symbol of crucial. ability required to help carry Fenerbahce to trophies.

Paris St-Germain
In 1998, French side PSG splashed around $24 million on Okocha, making him the most
expensive African player at the time. During his four-year stint with PSG, he played 84 matches and scored 12 goals. He has also served as a
mentor, at the time, for young Brazilian
footballer Ronaldinho during his time in Paris.
[4]
Bolton Wanderers
Okocha joined Bolton Wanderers on a free
transfer after leaving PSG in the summer of
2002 after the FIFA World Cup.[5] His debut
season, despite being hampered by injury,
made him a favourite with the Bolton fans, with the team printing shirts with the inscription "Jay-Jay – so good they named him twice". He steered the team away from relegation with seven goals, including the team Goal of the Season in the vital league win against West Ham United.[6] This was voted Bolton's best Premier League goal in a fans vote in 2008.[7]
The next season saw Okocha receive more
responsibility as he was given the captain's
armband following Guðni Bergsson's
retirement. As captain he led Bolton to their
first cup final in nine years where they finished
runners-up in the 2004 Football League Cup.
In 2006, he was stripped of the captaincy –
something he said he had seen coming, as
there had been a change in attitude from some staff members. This had probably been due to his proposed move to the Middle East, which had been growing in speculation. At the end of the season, he refused a one-year extension in order to move to Qatar.
Following Bolton's relegation from the Premier
League in 2012, Okocha stated that his time at the club was a waste of time, saying the club had not improved since his time there.[8]
Hull City After just one season in Qatar, Football League Championship side Hull City signed Okocha on a free transfer in 2007, after the player had been linked to Real Salt Lake and Sydney FC. It was a move he made saying that "God had told him to do so". He however was not able to contribute greatly to Hull's promotion campaign due to fitness and constant injury problems, playing only 18 games and scoring no goals. Hull still succeeded in grabbing promotion to the Premier League, for the first time in their 104-year history. At the end of the season, after changing his mind on a proposed retirement due to Hull's promotion, he was released by the club, which sent him into retirement.

International career
Okocha made his official debut for Nigeria in
their 2–1 1994 FIFA World Cup Qualifier away
loss against Ivory Coast in May 1993.It was not
until his second cap and home debut that he
became a favourite with the Nigerian
supporters. With Nigeria trailing 1–0 against
Algeria, in a match they needed to win, he
scored from a direct free kick to equalise,
before helping the team to a 4–1 win,
eventually securing qualification to their first
World Cup. In 1994, he was a member of both
the victorious 1994 African Cup of Nations
squad and the World Cup squad who made it
to the second round before they lost in a
dramatic match against eventual runners-up
Italy.
In 1996, Okocha became a member of an
arguably more successful Nigerian side, their
Olympic gold winning side at the Atlanta
Games, later nicknamed Dream Team by the
Nigerian press after the USA 1992 Olympic
gold winning basketball team. In the 1998 FIFA World Cup hosted by France, Okocha played for a disappointing Super Eagles side who failed to live up to expectations again reaching the round of 16, albeit with less impressive performances save for their 3–2 opening win against Spain. This did not destroy interest in Okocha, who had entertained fans with his trademark skills and dribbles and went on to be named in the squad of the tournament.
Okocha again joined the Super Eagles in the
2000 African Cup of Nations co-hosted with
Ghana. He scored three goals in the
tournament, two in the opening game against
Tunisia, and a left-foot blast from outside the
penalty area into the top corner in the final
against Cameroon, which equalized the score
2–2 and ultimately would send the match into
extra time. There was no change in the score
during the supplement, so the winner was
decided on penalties; Okocha converted his
shot but Nigeria lost the shootout to earn the
silver medal.
After a disappointing Nations Cup in 2002
where Nigeria ended up finishing third, Okocha was named Nigeria captain after Sunday Oliseh and Finidi George were axed from the side. His first tournament as captain came that summer in the 2002 World Cup co-hosted by Korea and Japan. Playing in Group E, the ‘group of the death’ alongside Argentina, Sweden and England, Nigeria failed to make it to the next round gaining only one point in their final game, a goalless draw against England. Okocha later led the Nigerian team to a third place finish at the 2004 African Nations Cup in Tunisia, with some breathtaking displays, scoring four goals which include a spectacular free kick against Cameroon in the quarter finals and most notably the 1000th goal in Nations Cup history against South Africa, and winning the Player of the tournament and joint Golden boot winner.
After failing to help Nigeria qualify for the 2006 World Cup, Okocha announced that he would retire from international scene after the Cup of Nations in Egypt. Injury prevented Okocha from featuring in any of Nigeria's opening fixtures and he did not regain fitness until the semi final loss against Ivory Coast. He then played in his final international appearance in a 2–1 victory in a third place playoff against Senegal, he was then given a standing ovation by the nearly 60,000 attendance when he left the field.
He made a return to the Super Eagles in his
testimonial against an African select side in
Warri. The game featured former players Daniel Amokachi, Alloysius Agu and John Fashanu, as well as current players Benjani and Sulley Muntari. Nigeria won the game 2–1 with Okocha scoring the winning goal after
appearing for the side in the second half.
In March 2004, he was named among the top
125 living footballers by Pelé. Honours

Club honours
Saarland Cup: 1990, 1992
Oberliga Südwest: 1991
Fuji-Cup: 1992
Chancellor Cup: 1998
Atatürk Cup: 1998
Trophée des Champions: 1998
UEFA Intertoto Cup: 2001
Football League Cup: Runner-Up 2004
Football League Championship play-off: 2008

International honours
African Cup of Nations: 1994
Afro-Asian Cup of Nations: 1995
Olympic Games: 1996.

Individual honours
Okocha never won the African Player of Year
award, becoming arguably the best player
never to win the award despite coming second
twice in 1998. He did however win the
inaugural BBC African Footballer of the Year
and the successive one, becoming the only
player to retain the award and win it more than once. In 2004 he was listed in football legend Pelé's FIFA 100 (a list of the greatest 125 living players of all time). In 2007 he was voted number 12 on the greatest African footballers of the past 50 years list, on a poll conducted by CAF to coincide with their 50th anniversary. 1995, 1997, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 Nigerian footballer of the year
1996 Nigerian footballer of the year runner
up 1998 African Footballer of the Year runner up 2003, 2004 BBC African Footballer of the
Year April 2003 Goal of the Month (England)
November 2003 Premier League Player of the
Month 2005 Bolton Wanderers footballer of the year FIFA 100.


Source: wikipeadia