Chijioke Aniagboso produced one of the Nigerian goalkeeper stories of the 2025/26 season in Europe, keeping a clean sheet on the final day of the Ukrainian Persha Liga to send Chornomorets Odesa back to the top flight and complete a campaign of 23 appearances, 13 clean sheets, and just 9 goals conceded.
FC Chornomorets Odesa are back in the Ukrainian Premier League, and a 22 year old Nigerian goalkeeper was at the centre of the story. Chijioke Aniagboso, the former Flying Eagles shot stopper known to teammates and fans as “De Light Cejee,” kept a clean sheet in the decisive 1-0 win on the final day of the 2025/26 Persha Liga season to clinch promotion. For a goalkeeper who began the campaign working to establish himself in a foreign league far from home, it is a result that validates everything he has gone through since leaving Nigeria.
The season’s numbers tell the story more clearly than any description could. Across 23 appearances, Aniagboso conceded just nine goals and kept 13 clean sheets in the Ukrainian second division, a return that earned him multiple Team of the Week selections and recognition in the league’s Team of the Month. He was, by any measure, the standout goalkeeper in the Persha Liga this season, and his performances were directly responsible for Chornomorets having the defensive foundation to mount their promotion push. He was also, for the entire campaign, the only African black goalkeeper playing in the division. Fans who want to track Aniagboso’s journey into the top flight next season can explore the Bet9ja promo code ahead of the new Ukrainian Premier League campaign.
A Season by the Numbers
Chijioke Aniagboso: 2025/26 Persha Liga Season
- Appearances: 23
- Clean sheets: 13
- Goals conceded: 9
- Team of the Week selections: Multiple
- Team of the Month: Yes
- Status: Only African black goalkeeper in the Persha Liga
- Final-day result: Chornomorets 1-0 (promotion confirmed)
From Giant Brillars to the Ukrainian Premier League
Aniagboso’s path to Odesa took him through some of the more unusual routes available to a young Nigerian goalkeeper. Born on April 15, 2004, he came through Giant Brillars FC in Nigeria before earning a five year contract with Polissya Zhytomyr of the Ukrainian Premier League in May 2023, largely on the strength of his performances for the Flying Eagles at youth level. A loan spell at PFC Zviahel followed in 2024, and then in September 2024 Chornomorets moved to sign him permanently. His debut for the club made history before he had even had time to settle at 20 years and 166 days, he became the youngest foreign goalkeeper ever to play in the Ukrainian top flight. That record was set in a competitive league context, not a dead-rubber, and it underlined immediately that the club had not signed him as cover.
What he built from there over two seasons has been methodical and impressive. When the 2025/26 season opened with Chornomorets in the Persha Liga following relegation, Aniagboso stepped into the first choice role with a consistency that left little room for debate about who should be starting. He became the axis around which the team’s defensive identity was built, and by mid-season had accumulated a string of clean sheets that ranked him among the best goalkeepers at any level of football in Ukraine. At a key point in the campaign his unbeaten run came under pressure after he received a red card against Livyi Bereg in October 2025, forcing a suspension, but Chornomorets lost that game and another in his absence, making his return all the more significant. New Bet9ja users who want to follow Nigerian players competing in European football can claim the YOHAIG welcome bonus ahead of the new season.
The Flying Eagles Foundation That Made It Possible
Before Ukraine, Aniagboso had already shown he could perform on the biggest stages available to a player his age. At the 2023 U-20 AFCON, he kept four clean sheets in five matches, including a 4-0 shutout against Tunisia. He then carried that form to the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Argentina, where he starred in Nigeria’s wins over Italy and host nation Argentina, producing a performance against the Azzurri that drew widespread attention for its composure and shot stopping quality. Those tournament performances put him on European clubs’ radar and directly led to Polissya’s decision to offer him a contract. Aniagboso has converted every opportunity he has been given at youth and now senior club level, and the promotion with Chornomorets is the clearest evidence yet that his trajectory is heading in one direction. For those interested in the wider picture of Nigerian goalkeepers in European football, the Bet9ja virtual football guide covers all the major markets for the coming season.
What the Ukrainian Premier League Means for His Future
Playing in the Ukrainian Premier League next season places Aniagboso in a different conversation. The top flight features Shakhtar Donetsk and Dynamo Kyiv among others, and weekly exposure against that calibre of opposition in front of European scouts and national team selectors is a significant step up from the Persha Liga. His name has already been raised in discussions about the future of the Super Eagles’ goalkeeping position, with some observers pointing to his club record as evidence that the national team’s search for long term competition behind Stanley Nwabali need not look far. He has time on his side at 22, and an entire top flight season in Ukraine to prove those assessments right.
📌 Did You Know?
- Chijioke Aniagboso stands at approximately 1.90 metres tall, making him one of the taller Nigerian goalkeepers of his generation. His height, combined with his athleticism and positional discipline, has been a key factor in the commanding aerial presence he has shown across his time in Ukrainian football.
- When Aniagboso made his debut for Chornomorets Odesa in September 2024, he became the youngest foreign goalkeeper ever to play in the Ukrainian Premier League at 20 years and 166 days old. That record was set in a competitive fixture rather than a pre-season or cup tie, making it a genuine landmark in the history of the competition.
- FC Chornomorets Odesa, the club Aniagboso helped win promotion, are one of Ukraine’s most storied clubs. Founded in 1936, they won the Soviet Top League in 1992 and were historically one of the country’s most prominent clubs before a period of decline and financial difficulty that led to their relegation from the top flight.
- The Ukrainian Persha Liga is Ukraine’s second-tier football division and is one of the few European second divisions still operating a full competitive calendar despite the ongoing challenges of the war in Ukraine. Several clubs have relocated their home games to alternative venues to maintain football activity, and the league has continued to function as a pathway for young players to reach the Premier League.
- Aniagboso’s youth career included an outstanding stint with the Flying Eagles at the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Argentina, where Nigeria reached the round of 16. In that tournament, Aniagboso kept a clean sheet against Italy and delivered one of his finest performances against the host nation Argentina, with the saves and aerial command he showed drawing comparisons to some of Nigeria’s most celebrated goalkeeping displays at youth level.
- Before Chornomorets Odesa, Aniagboso had a brief loan spell at PFC Zviahel (formerly known as PFC Zvyagel), a Persha Liga club in Zhytomyr Oblast. That loan period gave him his first real taste of second-division competitive football in Ukraine and directly fed into Chornomorets’ decision to sign him on a permanent basis in September 2024.
- Giant Brillars FC, Aniagboso’s first club in Nigeria, is based in Enugu State and has produced several players who went on to professional careers in Nigerian and European football. The club operates as a feeder academy for the Nigerian football system and has become one of the more recognised grassroots development clubs in the south-east of the country.
