Born in Enugu, Peter Utaka is a professional football player and a former Nigerian national team member. Nowadays, despite being forty years old, we can still witness his continuous performance as a striker in Japan, practically on the other side of the world.
“Utaka is definitely a very respected player in our country, partly because he has played in Japan’s football league for many years,” says Masa Sasajima, who has followed the J-League for many years as the sports betting expert and chief editor of BET IN JAPAN.
The Nigerian footballer started his football career as a professional when he moved to Croatia as a 16-year-old to join Dinamo Zagreb, after trying out for Ismaily where his older brother John was a cult figure. Then in 2003, he signed a contract with Belgian Second Division club Patro Eisden Maasmechelen, which ultimately allowed him to escalate his career to the international stage.
After a successful season there, he was pulled into a first-division club KVC Westerlo, then joined second division club Royal Antwerp FC, where he quickly became a mainstay, before moving on to Odense BK in Denmark, Dalian Arbin in China, and eventually to Japan’s J-League in 2015. In 2018, he periodically played with Vejle BK in Denmark for a short while, but only after several months, he returned to Japan’s football field.
In December 2018, his full transfer to Ventforet Kofu, his current home, was announced, where he played in 40 games and scored 20 goals in the 2019 season.
In Kofu during the 2023 AFC Champions League, Utaka scored twice in the final group stage match against Buriram, helping the team advance to the final tournament and breaking the record for being the oldest player to score in the ACL, previously held by Cristiano Ronaldo. It is a little-known fact in Nigeria that he still holds the record (39 years, 10 months, and 0 days).
