Ikechukwu Ejekwumadu is a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute for Sports Science, University of Tübingen. His work examines diverse themes in the field of sports sociology, such as youth athletes and football migration in Africa; sports and society in Africa; transnational athletes and cultural transition; and otherness and integration in football. His research has been published in international peer-reviewed journals such as the European Journal for Sport and Society.
Ikechukwu received a bachelor’s degree in Sociology from Abia State University, Nigeria, and a master’s degree in Sociology from the University of Leeds, United Kingdom. His doctoral thesis at the University of Tübingen, which was awarded a ‘summa cum laude’, examined the cultural transition experiences of African athletes in the German football league. Ikechukwu’s current project examines identity foreclosure and the livelihood impacts on ex-youth athletes who failed to achieve a professional career or migration after their training at amateur youth football clubs and academies in Nigeria.