Charlotte Independence Add Midfielder with Serie A and Nigerian National Team Experience
Ogenyi Onazi most recently played for Serie D club Avezzano
Charlotte Independence announced on Thursday the signing of midfielder Ogenyi Onazi for the remainder of the 2025 season. The 32 year old most recently played for Serie D club Avezzano, but spent five seasons with SS Lazio in Serie A, the top division of Italian football.
Ogenyi made 110 total appearances with Lazio, including 47 starts at central and defensive midfield. He scored four goals and provided five assists over that time, from 2011 through the 2015-2016 season.
His time with Lazio was followed by four seasons with Turkish Süper Lig club Trabzonspor, where he made 79 total appearances, starting 63. There, he scored seven goals and provided four assists.
Since then, he has been a journeyman, playing in the Danish Superliga and Lithuanian A Lyga, followed by stints in lower divisions in Saudi Arabia and Italy, as well as with top flight clubs in Bahrain and Hong Kong.
Onazi has 51 caps with the Nigerian Men’s National Team between 2012 and 2018. After making five starts en route to winning the Africa Cup of Nations in 2013, he made all four starts in the country’s 2014 World Cup appearance in which they advanced out of the group stage, but faced elimination against France in the round of 16. He was also part of the 2018 World Cup squad, but did not appear. Nigeria was eliminated in group play that year. His final appearance for the national team was in an Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match against Seychelles in September 2018.
There was no word on Onazi’s availability for tonight’s Jägermeister Cup match against North Carolina FC. Onazi did not appear on the media sheet for the match, nor does it appear he has been publicly assigned a kit number.
There is also no word on how he will fit in with the current roster configuration, but he’d likely be a depth option around Bachir Ndiaye, Christopher Jaime and Omar Ciss.
Charlotte faces North Carolina FC in cup action tonight, then returns to league play on May 2nd at Texoma FC.