Below are some other facts you may never have come across about the former Nigerian number 10.
1. While he was at Fenerbahçe, Okocha became a Turkish citizen with the name Muhammet Yavuz. This was interpreted by many to mean that he had converted to Islam, which the Delta state football association chairman made little or no fuss about.
2. He was not the first to bear the name ‘Jay-Jay’ with his other names. His brothers, James and Emmanuel, who also played football, had been called by that nickname before they passed it on to their younger sibling.
The name however stuck to the former Bolton FC captain, as he became more popular than his older siblings, who both dropped football much earlier than Okocha did.
4. The former Eintracht Frankfurt Midfield maestro was Africa’s most expensive player when he moved to French club, PSG, in 1998.
About £14m was spent to ‘ship’ the talented player to the French capital from Fernebahce.
To cap a fantastic 2004, the Enugu Rangers upstart scored the 1000th goal in the history of the Africa Cup of Nations, hosted by Tunisia.