Sani_Kaita
Sani Kaita
Nigerian footballer
Sani Haruna Kaitapronunciationⓘ (born 2 May 1986) is a Nigerian former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder.
 Kaita with Kuban Krasnodar in 2009 | ||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Sani Haruna Kaita | |||||||||||||
| Date of birth | (1986-05-02) 2 May 1986 (age 38) | |||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Kano, Nigeria | |||||||||||||
| Height | 1.79 m (5 ft 10 in) | |||||||||||||
| Position(s) | Defensive midfielder | |||||||||||||
| Youth career | ||||||||||||||
| 0000–2003 | Kano Pillars | |||||||||||||
| Senior career* | ||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | |||||||||||
| 2004–2005 | Kano Pillars | |||||||||||||
| 2005–2008 | Sparta Rotterdam | 22 | (0) | |||||||||||
| 2008–2011 | Monaco | 3 | (0) | |||||||||||
| 2009 | → Kuban Krasnodar (loan) | 17 | (0) | |||||||||||
| 2009 | → Lokomotiv Moscow (loan) | 3 | (0) | |||||||||||
| 2010 | → Alania Vladikavkaz (loan) | 6 | (0) | |||||||||||
| 2010 | → Metalist Kharkiv (loan) | 6 | (0) | |||||||||||
| 2011 | → Iraklis (loan) | 6 | (0) | |||||||||||
| 2011–2012 | Tavriya Simferopol | 7 | (0) | |||||||||||
| 2012–2013 | Olympiakos Nicosia | 2 | (0) | |||||||||||
| 2014 | Enyimba | 1 | (1) | |||||||||||
| 2014 | Saxan | 12 | (0) | |||||||||||
| 2015 | Ifeanyi Ubah | 4 | (0) | |||||||||||
| 2016 | JS Hercules | 7 | (0) | |||||||||||
| 2017 | Rovaniemen Palloseura | 11 | (1) | |||||||||||
| International career | ||||||||||||||
| 2005–2010 | Nigeria | 22 | (0) | |||||||||||
Medal record
| ||||||||||||||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | ||||||||||||||
Kaita was born in Kano, Nigeria. He joined Sparta Rotterdam in the 2005–06 season from Kano Pillars FC. Kaita moved to AS Monaco FC in September 2008.[1]
Kaita left Monaco on 13 January 2009 and joined FC Kuban Krasnodar on loan through 31 December 2009.[2] On 25 August 2009, he signed for Lokomotiv Moscow on loan from Monaco until December.[3] On 25 February 2010 Alania Vladikavkaz signed the midfielder on loan.[4] On 31 May 2010 FC Metalist Kharkiv signed Kaita on loan. On the last day of the 2011 winter transfer window, Kaita moved to Greek Superleague side Iraklis on a six-month loan deal.[5]
In April 2014, Kaita was back in Nigeria training with Enyimba F.C.[6] He made his debut against Sharks F.C. on 7 May and spent a three-month loan with the Aba side. The loan was part of the League Management Company's elite initiative for foreign based professionals. He signed for Ifeanyi Ubah in the Nigeria premier league for the season 2015, but played only few matches for the team.
In 2016, he joined a Finnish club, JS Hercules, which was coached by his former national team coach Daniel Amokachi.[7]
For the 2017 season, Kaita signed for Veikkausliiga team RoPS.[8] He made his debut for the team on 28 January 2017 in a Suomen Cup 3–0 win against HauPa.[9] He scored his first goal on 22 April against Ilves Tampere in the 79th minute, after being brought in three minutes earlier for injured team captain Antti Okkonen.[10][11] At the end of the year he was released after featuring sporadically in the second half of the season. After the season, his signing was publicly called a poor bargain by club president Risto Niva.[12]
Kaita caught the eye of Sparta when playing all seven matches for Nigeria U-20 at the 2005 FIFA U-20 World Cup in the Netherlands.[13]
He was also a member of the senior Nigeria national team making his debut in a 3–0 friendly loss against Romania in November 2005.[citation needed] Kaita was sent off in a match against Greece on 17 June 2010, in their second 2010 FIFA World Cup match for kicking Vasilis Torosidis.[14] This made him the first Nigerian player to be sent off in a World Cup match. Greece went on to score their first World Cup goals, and win their first match in the World Cup.[15]
Nigeria
- African Cup of Nations: bronze medalist 2006, 2010
- Olympic Games: runner-up 2008
Nigeria U20
- FIFA U-20 World Cup: runner-up 2005
- Sani Kaita at National-Football-Teams.com
- Player profile – Sparta Rotterdam
- Career stats – Voetbal International (in Dutch)
- Sani Kaita at Soccerway
- Sani Kaita vertrekt naar Monaco Archived 14 September 2008 at the Wayback Machine Sparta Rotterdam
- "Sani Kaita loaned to FC Kuban from Monaco - - the Offside - Russian Football Federation Blog". Archived from the original on 19 July 2010. Retrieved 13 January 2009.
- "IRAKLIS F.C. signed Sani Kaita". Iraklis FC Official site. 31 January 2011. Retrieved 31 January 2011.[permanent dead link]
- Sani Kaita Back In Nigeria With Enyimba International Archived 20 April 2014 at the Wayback Machine 9jafootball.com
- "Sani Kaita joins Hercules". JS Hercules official site. 21 August 2016. Retrieved 21 August 2016.
- "Sani Kaita ja RoPS sopimukseen kaudesta 2017" (in Finnish). Veikkausliiga official site. 21 October 2016. Retrieved 26 January 2018.
- "Official match report". Retrieved 26 January 2018.
- "Wedstrijd: Ilves - RoPS Rovaniemi" (in Dutch). 22 April 2017. Retrieved 26 January 2018.
- "RoPS:lle kauden avausvoitto (Ilves-RoPS 0-2)" (in Finnish). 22 April 2017. Retrieved 26 January 2018.
- "Yleisömäärät olivat RoPS:lle iso pettymys: "Nyt on mietinnän paikka"" (in Finnish). 1 November 2017. Retrieved 26 January 2018.
- Musa, Tansa (23 October 2011). "Kaita's red card brings thousand death threats from Nigeria fans". The Independent. Retrieved 19 July 2021.
- Norrish, Mike (17 June 2010). "Greece v Nigeria: live". The Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 27 October 2010. Retrieved 17 June 2010.