AUSTIN: Isaac Promise, who captained the Nigeria team who won football silver at the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008,  has died at 31.

His United Soccer League club, Austin Bold, said that Promise was found dead on Wednesday night but offered no explanation as to the cause. Promise had spent much of his career in Turkey and also had a brief spell in Saudi Arabia with Al-Ahli.

Born on December 2, 1987, Promise made a teenage reputation with second division Grays International. He came to Europe for trials with a number of clubs, including Manchester United – alongside John Obi Mikel – and Feyenoord and eventually joined Turkish club Genclerbirligi in 2005 at 17.

His 12 goals in the 2006-07 season earned a transfer to Trabzonspor and then a loan followed by a permanent transfer to Manisaspor when he was appointed captain of the Nigerian squad which had qualified for the Beijing Games.

Here Promise scored Nigeria’s first goal against the United States in a 2-1 group stage win. They beat Ivory Coast and Belgium in the knockout rounds before losing to Argentina in the Bird’s Nest Stadium in the gold medal final.

He scored one goal in three appearances for the senior Nigerian national team.

Promise continued his club career in Turkey with Antalyaspor, Balıkesirspor, Karabukspor and Giresunspor and a short spell with Al Ahli in 2014-15 before moving to the United States with Georgia Revolution in 2018. He joined Austin early this year.

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