Ex-Hatter Ogbene wins prestigious international award
Winger named Ireland’s Senior Player of the Year
Former Luton winger Chiedozie Ogbene has been named the Republic of Ireland’s Senior Men's International Player of the Year.
The 27-year-old, who signed for Town in the summer of 2023, joining the Hatters ahead of their first ever campaign in the Premier League, won nine caps for his country during that time, five of them coming as a Luton player, meaning he came out on top ahead of fellow shortlisted players Gavin Bazunu (Southampton) and Evan Ferguson (Brighton & Hove Albion).
Having moved to Kenilworth Road from Rotherham United, Ogbene played in the 2-0 Euro 2024 qualifying defeat to France, before he also started the 2-1 defeat to the Netherlands at the Aviva Stadium. The winger then started as Ireland went down 2-0 at home to Greece and had 83 minutes as Gibraltar were defeated 4-0 at the Estadio Algarve in October. His last outing as a Luton player came during the 0-0 friendly draw at home to Belgium, as he earned a move back to the top flight, heading to Ipswich Town in the transfer window.
A jury from Soccer Writers' Ireland helped with the selection of certain categories to help honour those who excelled over the previous year, as on winning the award for the first ever time, writing on Instagram, Ogbene said: “It’s a great honour and a privilege to be considered for this type of an award, let alone to be receiving one. Thank you to everyone involved for giving me this recognition.”
After agreeing to make the switch to Portman Road, Ogbene made five Premier League outings, but is now unlikely to play for the Tractor Boys again this term having been stretchered off with an Achilles injury during the 4-3 defeat at Brentford last month. Boss Kieran McKenna said: “It was an Achilles tear, so the surgery went well. He's a really positive guy, he’s in good spirits, but of course with that type of injury it means that it’s unlikely that he’ll play much - if any - football this season.”