Emmanuel Adebayor Adebayor was also eligible to play for Nigeria but chose to represent the country of his birth, Togo. Adebayor helped Togo qualify for the 2006 Africa Cup of Nations after scoring 11 goals in the qualifiers, more than any other player in the African qualifiers. On 10 February 2009, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) picked Adebayor as the African Footballer of the Year for 2008 at an awards ceremony held in Lagos, Nigeria. Adebayor beat final nominees Mohamed Aboutrika of Egypt and Ghana's Michael Essien in a vote that involved the national team coaches of CAF's 54 member-nations. It
Orok Essien then made his professional debut for the side the next day on 21 September against Sporting Goa in which he started and played the whole match as Mumbai drew 1–1. Orok Essien Orok Orok Essien (born 25 January 1992) is a Nigerian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Bhawanipore F.C. in the Indian League. As a youth,Orok played for Audu Babes and Mozico. He then went on to play for amateur clubs Calabar Rover, Anantigha Warriors, and Anambra United. He then went on a short loan to Kenkre F.C. in the I-League 2nd Division in India before playing