Nedum Onuoha

BBC football pundit and former Manchester City and Queens Park Rangers footballer Nedum Onuoha talks about life on and off the pitch, including minority groups in football, how to approach the end of a professional sporting career and the importance of having an identity outside the game.

The event is being held in partnership with Oxford United Football Club, and the audience will include members of the club’s football academy and their families. In his autobiography, Kicking Back, Onuoha talks about some of those he played alongside and for, including Stuart Pearce , Sven-Göran Eriksson, Roberto Mancini and Harry Redknapp. He also gives a damning assessment of how football and society have failed the black community. Onuoha will speak for a short time and there will be an extended opportunity for questions and answers.

Onuoha played as a defender and made his debut for Manchester City at 17. He went on to play 400 professional games in the UK and United States. He was captain of QPR and of the England U21 team. He grew up in a poor part of Manchester after arriving from Nigeria at the age of five with his family. His parents made huge sacrifices to give Onuoha and his sisters a good education and he was unusual among his contemporaries in continuing to study for his A-Levels after his debut. He is now a regular analyst on BBC Radio 5 Live football commentaries and on BBC 1’s Football Focus and Match of the Day 2.

Oxford United Football Club has a proud history dating back to 1893. It has an English Football League One men’s team, a National League Southern Division women’s team and an academy. Its charitable arm, Oxford United in the Community, undertakes a huge amount of positive work throughout the city and county.