Archive/Player Database/Emmanuel Amuneke

Player File #P00027Position: Right wingCareer: 1993—1999/00 · 7 rows filedStatus: retired · file sealed

Player File · #P00027

Amuneke: The Ledger That Lifts Its Head in Two Rows

Name: Emmanuel Amuneke · career attribute snapshot (1993—1999/00)
Creator: BallFact
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Case 013's Group D ledger credits Nigeria's 3-0 win over Bulgaria at the Cotton Bowl on 21 June 1994 to three different men: Yekini 21', Amokachi 43', Amuneke 55'. This file belongs to the third name, and its ledger has a shape unlike anything else in the archive: the overall rating reads the same figure, 82, for five consecutive rows from 1993 to 1996/97 — no rise, no fall. Turn instead to the two national-team rows (the 1994 World Cup and the 1996 row filed as Olympics) and that is where the table's priciest cells sit: sprint speed 94 appears twice, both times on those rows; the two highest finishing values (88, 84) do likewise, leaving the best club-season figure of 80 underneath.

Ledger: 1993—1999/00 · 7 rows (2 national-team) Scale 1–99 · Attributes L3 (editorial) · Facts L1 Signed: Bong Weng · Archivist

PROLOGUE

Page one of the file

Emmanuel Amuneke, born 1970, a Nigerian right winger, who stopped in 2000. BallFact has filed seven rows of his ledger: Zamalek (Egypt), Sporting CP (Portugal), two rows at Barcelona (Spain) and Busan Daewoo Royals (South Korea) — four leagues — plus two national-team rows, 1994 and 1996.

Case 013 corrected a "Yekini hat-trick" that had been retold for thirty years: the three goals of Nigeria's 3-0 win over Bulgaria at the Cotton Bowl on 21 June 1994 belong to three men — Yekini 21', Amokachi 43', Amuneke 55'. The previous file (#P00022) took the second name; this one takes the third. The two ledgers run in opposite directions: Amokachi's summit sits in a club season a year before the World Cup, while Amuneke's overall figure refuses to move for five straight rows (82) and the priciest cells in his table appear only on those two national-team rows — sprint speed 94, twice, both times there.

rows on one identical figure: 82

national-team rows — holding every priciest cell

55'

his goal in Case 013's ledger

names sharing Nigeria's 6 group goals

league countries: Cairo—Lisbon—Barcelona—Busan

PROLOGUE · A flat line with two flowers on it

This file was opened on 2026-10-05. The most recently stamped thing in the same batch is CASE 014 (2026-10-08) — one audits a claim other people left behind, this one records the numbers one man left behind, and only one thing separates the two pages: the case had an opponent; the file has only a book. 7 rows × 44 columns (308 cells), calendar years 1993—2000 with no year left blank — and 2 of those rows have an empty club field.

Start with the strangest fact in the account: The top figures in this ledger are written only on its rows without a club. The overall rating reads 82 for 5 rows running (1993, 1994, 1994/95, 1996, 1996/97). Other files in this archive have a summit shaped like a cell; this one has a summit shaped like a line. Yet the table's top figure, 94 (sprint speed), appears exactly 2 times, and both times on a row with no club — the two rows our file books by competition instead: World Cup and Olympics. The two best finishing values (88, 84) behave the same way, keeping the highest club figure, 80, under both.

The stamps sit there too: all 2 of our mark column's peak stamps (1994 and 1996) fall on those two club-less rows. Of 44 columns, 5 hold a unique maximum and every one of them is on 1994 (BIG, FIN, HGRL, LFT, RFT); another 35 columns never move at all, among them the seven-row constant of acceleration (ACC 92). The top figures in this ledger are written only on its rows without a club.

THE LEDGER

Year-by-year attribute matrix · 1993—1999/00

★ = the national-team rows as filed by this archive. Heat shading encodes absolute level only (scale 60–99); outlined cells are the ≥94 ones — exactly two, both on those rows, checked cell by cell by script. The matrix is editorial derivation (L3): anchored on audited public results and this archive's own ledger, solved from no game database. The 1994 and 1996 rows are national-team years, filed on their own per our convention. Per-season appearances, goals and standings are not held here and are never cited.

Career attribute snapshot · Scale 1–99 · L3File #P00027⬇ Download this file's CSV dataset

Season	Age	MOBILITY				TECHNIQUE												PHYSICAL				DEFENDING							MENTAL							WILL				GOALKEEPER					OVR
		ACC	SPT	AGI	OFF	FIN	LSH	PAS	THR	CRO	SET	SHD	FTO	DRI	HEA	LFT	RFT	STA	STR	DUR	AIR	D1V	MAR	POS	AGR	ZON	INT	PRS	VIS	CMP	CON	LEA	STB	WOR	SHW	HGRL	WTW	DFZ	BIG	SAV	AER	CMD	DIS	ONE	OVR
1993	22	92	92	90	86	80	74	84	84	78	76	74	84	88	48	67	79	78	64	80	60	52	44	62	54	67	56	67	83	80	72	70	75	74	88	82	77	56	79	25	25	25	30	25	82
1994	23	92	94	90	86	88	74	84	84	78	76	74	84	88	48	69	81	78	64	80	60	52	44	62	54	67	56	67	83	80	72	70	75	74	88	87	77	56	80	25	25	25	30	25	82
1994/95	24	92	92	90	86	76	74	84	84	78	76	74	84	88	48	67	79	78	64	68	60	52	44	62	54	67	56	67	83	80	72	70	75	74	88	80	77	56	79	25	25	25	30	25	82
1996	25	92	94	90	86	84	74	84	84	78	76	74	84	88	48	68	80	78	64	80	60	52	44	62	54	67	56	67	83	80	72	70	75	74	88	85	77	56	79	25	25	25	30	25	82
1996/97	26	92	92	90	86	74	74	84	84	78	76	74	84	88	48	66	78	78	64	54	60	52	44	62	54	67	56	67	83	80	72	70	75	74	88	79	77	56	79	25	25	25	30	25	82
1997/98	27	92	70	90	86	60	74	84	84	78	76	74	84	88	48	64	76	58	64	28	60	52	44	62	54	67	56	67	83	80	72	70	75	74	88	71	77	56	78	25	25	25	30	25	80
1999/00	29	92	62	90	86	50	74	84	84	78	76	74	84	88	48	62	74	48	64	25	60	52	44	62	54	67	56	67	83	80	72	70	75	74	88	66	77	56	78	25	25	25	30	25	79

How to read this table? Start at the far right: five of the seven rows read 82, so our file gives no rise and no fall — only a level. Then move to "Sprint" (SPT): 92 → 94 → 92 → 94 → 92 → 70 → 62 — the two 94s stand on 1994 and 1996, the national-team rows. "Finishing" does the same (80 → 88 → 76 → 84 → 74 → 60 → 50), keeping the best club figure of 80 underneath both. The last row settles the rest: durability 25, stamina 48, sprint 62. So the question this ledger answers is not "which year was he best" but "when was it willing to lift its head."

Shading = absolute level (dark at 60, brightest at 99)Outlined cells = the table's top value (≥ 94; 2: SPT@1994, SPT@1996)

Sprint speed (SPT) · the top figure, written twice, belonging to no club

Out of 44 × 7 = 308 cells, 94 appears exactly 2 times (SPT@1994, SPT@1996) — and the club field on both of those rows is empty in our database; the file books them by competition (World Cup and Olympics). The runner-up, 92, appears 10 times: 7 of them in the acceleration column, which does not move across all seven rows (ACC 92), and the other 3 in sprint itself (SPT@1993, SPT@1994/95, SPT@1996/97) — those three on club rows.

So the priciest cell in this file has an unusual property: it belongs to no club. At Zamalek in 1993 sprint reads 92; at Barcelona in 1996/97 it reads 92; the last two rows fall to 70 and 62. The only two places where it reaches 94 are the two rows with nowhere to play. The top figures in this ledger are written only on its rows without a club.

HOW TO CHECK IT To test "the top figure belongs to no club": take each column's maximum and look at the rows that reach it. SPT peaks at 94 twice, both on rows whose club field is blank. Then count the columns with a unique maximum: 5 of 44, and all on 1994. Everything else either ties or never moves — 35 columns are identical across seven rows (acceleration 92, off-the-ball 86). Count those two things and you will see why this page will not name a best year: the highest cells cannot be assigned to a club at all.

The top figures do not know the clubs. They know the two blank fields.

SHAPE OF THE LEDGER

Five rows unmoved, two rows lifting

Amuneke · Position-weighted overall (OVR) · all seven rowsScale 1–99

1993 · Zamalek, Egyptian top flight · age 22

1994 · national team · World Cup · age 23

1994/95 · Sporting CP, Portugal · age 24

1996 · national team · Olympics · age 25

1996/97 · Barcelona, La Liga · age 26

1997/98 · Barcelona, La Liga · age 27

1999/00 · Busan Daewoo Royals, K League · age 29

82 → 82 → 82 → 82 → 82 → 80 → 79: every figure pulled live from the stored row (never hand-typed). Five identical 82s in a row make this the only ledger in the archive that "refuses to move" — neither a Fallen Stars cliff, nor Milla's ascent, nor N'Kono's plank. What does move hides inside the single attributes: see below.

Where it moves: Sprint (SPT) and Finishing (FIN) lift only on those rowsSame scale, 1–99

SPT · 1994 national row · World Cup

SPT 94

SPT · 1996 national row

SPT 94

SPT · 1993 / 1994-95 / 1996-97 identical

SPT 92

SPT · 1999/00 final row

SPT 62

FIN · 1994 national row

FIN 88

FIN · best of the five club rows

FIN 80

The table's priciest cell (SPT 94) appears exactly twice, both on national-team rows; so do the two finishing peaks 88 and 84, both above the best club-season value 80. The one thing that never moves is acceleration — ACC 92, identical in all seven rows: from 22 to 29, his first step stayed the same.

Two figures · only one gets bookedThe counterfactual stays void

As filed · 1999/00 (age 29, Busan Daewoo Royals) reads overall 79, with durability 25 / stamina 48 / sprint 62

on the book

Counterfactual · move DUR/STA/SPT from 1994 into the final row → 82

+2.6, not extrapolated

The figure on the right was computed with this archive's own position-weighting formula (self-check first: it returns 79.4 for the last row against our stored 79). It yields 82 — and notice that it produces no new height: it lands back on the 82 that already stands across 5 rows. Allow the transplant and this file has 6 rows tied at the top, which cancels its own headline ("the ledger lifts its head only on those two rows"). It is not adopted. Three reasons, recorded in the method box: the arc is L3 editorial derivation whose anchors were deliberately placed on tournament years; moving three columns out of the 1994 cell into a Busan season produces not a season but a season that never happened; and for 1997/98 and 1999/00 this archive holds no match evidence whatever — no goal ledger, no appearances, with 2000 as the only date our file offers.

Refusing to answer is also a verdict. Two more refusals live here: the 35 constant columns are not written as "years frozen in place" (that is our convention, not his career); and the two national rows are not written as medals — our database records only the competition (World Cup and Olympics), no placement, no appearances, no honours, so this page will not use them to explain why anything rose.

The top figures in this ledger are written only on its rows without a club. The sentence cancels two ready-made stories. You cannot write "he kept improving in Europe": sprint in 1996/97 and 1997/98 reads 92 then 70. Nor can you write "he became someone else in the national team": the overall on those two rows is 82 and 82 — level with the line. What lifts on those rows is single columns, not the man.

A single column lifting is not the player rising.

SEASON CARDS

Seven rows, seven testimonies

199322RW

Zamalek, Egyptian top flight — the first row: overall 82, finishing 80, acceleration already written at ACC 92 (unchanged for seven rows). Cairo is where this European ledger begins.

199423NGA

★ National-team row · the 1994 World Cup. Case 013's ledger holds one goal under his name: 55' vs Bulgaria, the match whose three goals belong to three men and whose story was retold for thirty years as one man's hat-trick. This row carries the table's highest figures — sprint 94, finishing 88.

1994/9524RW

Sporting CP, Portugal. Overall 82, unmoved; durability takes the first refund of the file, 68 against the 80 of the row above.

199625NGA

★ National-team row · filed by this archive under its 1996 tournament. The overall stays at 82, yet sprint returns to 94 and finishing to 84: the second time this ledger lifts its head, and again not for a club.

1996/9726RW

Barcelona, La Liga — the most expensive club row on the page. Overall 82, finishing only 74: his best column never belongs to a club season.

1997/9827RW

Barcelona, second row. ✕ Overall 80 — the first time the file drops below 82 — with durability 28 and stamina 58.

1999/0029RW

Busan Daewoo Royals, K League, the final row. Overall 79; durability 25 is the table's lowest cell, 55 points below the 1996 row, sprint 62, finishing 50. Retired 2000: four countries, seven rows, no further line.

MILESTONES

Marks beyond the ledger

1993

Zamalek, Egyptian top flight — the seven-row ledger opens: overall 82, finishing 80. (BallFact player_seasons)

1994.06.21

Cotton Bowl, Dallas: Nigeria 3-0 Bulgaria (attendance 44,132). Our ledger lists Yekini 21', Amokachi 43', Amuneke 55' — three different men; his is the 55', and the machine count makes it his only goal of that group stage. (Case 013 · L1)

1994.06.30

Foxborough: Greece 0-2 Nigeria (attendance 53,001) — Finidi 45', Amokachi 90'. Counted out of the same ledger: Nigeria's 6 group goals belong to 5 names, Amokachi's 2 the squad high. (Case 013 · L1)

1994/95

Sporting CP, Portugal. The overall stays at 82 while durability steps down from 80 to 68. (BallFact player_seasons)

1996

The archive's second national-team row (filed under that year's tournament): overall unchanged at 82, sprint back to 94 and finishing to 84 — the table's highest values again. (BallFact player_attributes)

1996/97—1997/98

Two La Liga rows at Barcelona: 82 → 80. The club ledger never once gave him more than the national rows hold. (BallFact player_seasons)

1999/00

Busan Daewoo Royals, K League: durability 25 (table low), sprint 62. Retired 2000 — four countries, seven rows. (BallFact player_seasons)

ARCHIVIST'S NOTE

A ledger that will not move, and the two rows that will

BONG WENG Archivist

After this many files, ledger shapes come down to a handful: the cliff, the ascent, the long slope, the plank. Amuneke's is the harder one to write — two flowers on a flat line. Five rows read 82 and tell no story; yet the priciest cells (SPT 94) appear only in 1994 and 1996, and the two finishing peaks likewise. Those two rows share one property: neither is a club. Both are the national team.

I will not build a legend on top of them. This ledger is L3 editorial derivation, and where its anchors sit on tournaments, the derived values follow the anchors — that must be said plainly on the page. Only two things are hard here: the three names of that match (Yekini 21', Amokachi 43', Amuneke 55'), verified goal by goal in Case 013; and the acceleration, ACC 92, identical in all seven rows. As for "why is he lower at Barcelona" — no brick in this archive can be placed under an answer, so the file does not answer.

Only at the end does it become clear why this ledger is uncomfortable to read. The top figures in this ledger are written only on its rows without a club. The 82 that stands for 5 rows is our derivation refusing to move; the 94 that appears twice is our derivation moving — and every place it moves is a cell whose club field is blank. A ledger that lifts its head only in the blank spaces may be recording not the man, but the two anchors we chose for him. This page will not wipe that sentence away: it is already printed in the L3 line of the method box, and anyone can recompute it.

The case-file chain: three authors, two opposite ledgers

File #P00022 (Amokachi) keeps the 43' author, whose summit sits in a club season before the World Cup; this file keeps the 55' author, whose ledger stays flat for five rows and lifts only on the national ones. Both men share a match misremembered as one hat-trick; each gets a file of his own. Yekini holds no file in this archive. The 1994 cluster meets at the "America 1994" focus page.

— Bong Weng · Archivist · BallFact

Note: club/league assignments and per-row attributes come from the BallFact database (attributes L3, editorial derivation); the 1994 goal, its minute, the scores and attendances are taken from the published Case 013 and its public CSV ledger, counted out of that file by this script rather than typed. The two national-team rows register competition only — this archive files no medals, appearances or placements for them and asserts none. Per-season appearances, goals and standings are likewise not filed and not asserted; club honours and similar claims absent from BallFact-audited cases are neither used nor cited.

Five rows of one flat figure; the ledger lifts its head in two.

METHOD

Data basis and confidence grading

L1 · HighThe published Case 013 Group D ledger (FIFA group table and match reports): Nigeria 3-0 Bulgaria (21 June 1994, Cotton Bowl, attendance 44,132) scored by Yekini 21', Amokachi 43', Amuneke 55', the 55' credited to Amuneke; Greece 0-2 Nigeria (attendance 53,001) by Finidi 45', Amokachi 90'; final table Nigeria on 6 points, 6 for, 2 against.
L1 · High (recomputed here)Derived by machine from that ledger, with no figure typed into this script: Nigeria's 6 group goals are credited to 5 different names; Amuneke holds 1, Amokachi 2 — the squad high; hence "the Yekini hat-trick" does not survive our grading (correction signed in Case 013, Act V).
L2 · MediumPer-row club/league assignments from our player_seasons (Zamalek/Egypt, Sporting CP/Portugal, Barcelona/Spain, Busan Daewoo Royals/South Korea); the two national rows record competition only (1994 World Cup, 1996 filed as Olympics). The apps/goals/team_rank columns are not filed and nothing is asserted from them.
L3 · Editorial derivationThe 43 attributes and the overall arc are editorial derivation (scale 1–99) anchored on tournament years, solved from no game database. The load-bearing statistics of this page — 82 across 5 consecutive rows, the priciest 94 (SPT) appearing exactly 2 times and only on the national rows, the runner-up 92 in 10 cells of which 7 belong to the constant acceleration column, all 5 unique column maxima falling on 1994 alone, 35 columns unmoved across seven rows (ACC 92), both finishing peaks on the national rows above the best club figure 80, all 2 peak stamps on rows with an empty club field, and 25 as the table's lowest durability — are machine statistics over that L3 arc, each a throw-condition of this script. The counterfactual (moving DUR/STA/SPT from 1994 into 1999/00 under our RW weights yields 82, exactly the 82 of the flat line) is declared and voided in the same breath: booked nowhere, carrying no conclusion. Stated plainly, because it is the page's weakest point and its strongest: this arc lifts on the tournament rows because our anchors sit there — a consequence of the convention, not evidence of an event.

SOURCE LIST

S1 · BallFact Case 013 "Maradona 1994" — the Group D goal-by-goal ledger and the hat-trick correction: /truth/maradona-1994/.

S2 · BallFact Case 013 public dataset /data/maradona-1994-argentina.csv (the only source of any match figure on this page).

S3 · BallFact Player File #P00022 "Amokachi" — the other author of that match, and its opposite-shaped ledger: /players/amokachi/.

S4 · BallFact focus page "America 1994 · A Focus": /american-summer/.

S5 · BallFact players database player_seasons / player_attributes (slug=amunike, 7 rows × 44 = 308 attribute rows, all L3).

S6 · Dataset CSV: /data/players/amunike.csv (per-row attribute snapshot).

S7 · Cross-reference (reciprocal): Case 014 "Group D 1994" (/truth/hat-trick-1994/) cites this page in its S3. Citations run both ways in this archive, so this page links back - the titles, S-numbers and paths are read from the pages themselves.

← Another name from that match

Player File #P00022 · Amokachi

The whole 1994 cluster, one entrance →

Focus · America 1994