About Stanley

Fact File
Full name: Stanley Uwadiegwu Ezemonye Anyanwu Festus
Nickname: Stan
Date of Birth: 19th August 1982
Position: Attacker
Height: 1.83m
Weight: 78kg
Civil Status: Married
Nationality: Nigerian
Languages: English, Igbo, Finnish, French
Driver’s licence: Yes
Education: Upper secondary School (high school diploma)
Motto: “it may not be your fault for being down, but it has got to be your down for not getting up”
Bonus: Finnish Champion in Christmas tree Hunting Competition -05, World Champion -06, and Judge -07.


Biography
Stanley Uwadiegwu Ezemonye Anyanwu Festus was born 19th August, 1982 in Lagos, Nigeria, to a family of twelve. As is well-know of African kids, he also started playing street soccer at a very young age along with his mates from the neighbourhood. This was only to realise later, at the age of 14 that being an athlete was something that he wanted to do for a living. Being a professional in playing soccer became his goal.

In the beginning his father was against playing football professionally, and wanted Stanley to pursue for a university degree. Against his father’s wish, Stanley decided to follow his elder brother's footsteps and stubbornly went on practicing and playing. On the side he attended upper secondary school. Although Stanley’s older brother, Kennedy stopped playing and became an accountant, he will still remain as Stanley’s number one mentor in football. In other parts of life, Stanley’s mother, teacher Mrs. Victoria Anyanwu, is being his greatest inspiration.

After playing in Western Africa, Stanley was handed an opportunity to move and play professionally in Asia. As he wanted to gain experience and exposure to international football he took on the chance and moved to India. After playing in India and Maldives, Stanley realised that his qualities deserves better challenges so then decided it was time to embark on something new, and seek for a transfer to Europe. Stanley had connections to Ukraine, Finland and Sweden. He decided to move to Finland, where he is currently residing.

In Finland Stanley joined FC Raahe for a few games, and soon transferred to Sepsi-78. He played in Seinäjoki for the remaining half of the season 2005, after which he moved to Oulu and entered into a contract with Oulun Palloseura, OPS. He played with OPS for one season, and after the contract ending, he moved to Southern Finland in beginning of 2007.

Very social and soft spoken, Stanley is a motivational speaker and has visited secondary schools talking about the life of a professional athlete and representing his motherland Nigeria, and its rich cultural heritage. Stanley has taken part and volunteered with OPS, where he was instrumentally involved in the coaching of the OPS-soccer juniors’ summer camp program. Stanley’s infectious love of sport and strong emphasis on fair play, setting of personal goals and believing in oneself enough to achieve one’s dreams, makes him an outstanding role-model throughout the community.

Stanley is very interested in sports psychology and the development of athletes and sportsmanship. Fields such as advancement of junior coaching and the prospects of soccer players’ equality and fair management, are topics towards which he will contribute in future. He is determined to introduce a whole new coaching mentality and various theories of improved practicing for the future footballers.

A talented footballer and former runner, Stanley Festus is an outstanding representative of goodwill, athletic expertise and dedication. Through his cheerful smile, big heart, positive attitude, genuine sincerity, honesty, willingness to learn and determination to excel, Stanley has gained both the respect and admiration of all those who know and has worked with him. He has experienced the joys and tribulations of high performance sport both in Finland and beyond.

Over the past years Stanley has invested countless hours in improving his personal skills and expertise in all the fields in football, from techniques to junior coaching. He is dedicated to continue these efforts and in future he sees himself moving onward with his career in playing; to higher positions, and he also plans his latter career as a personal trainer, soccer coach and sports manager. Stanley is also a member of Jalkapallon Pelaajayhdistys, and has been playing along the JPY team in various events, such as Fireball.

Currently Stanley lives in Vantaa and is seeking for a Veikkausliiga team to join. To keep up his fitness, he has practiced with local 2nd division teams and coached a junior-level team. He has also set his goals to find a quality league in Europe where he could then play and prove himself to be one of the best strikers in the world.