Pictures of the protruding stomach of the 47-year-old ex-international went viral on social media late Tuesday night.

Emmanuel Ebiede, a former Super Eagles forward, has been hospitalized in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

He was hospitalized after being detected with Hepatitis B, the retired footballer’s sister Joy told The PUNCH on Wednesday morning.

Pictures of the protruding stomach of the 47-year-old ex-international went viral on social media late Tuesday night.

Joy, Ebiede’s younger sibling, told The PUNCH that the former Flying Eagles star was rushed to the hospital by club members last Friday.

“He is in BMH hospital in Port Harcourt but can’t talk properly now. He’s been here (hospital) since Friday, I came in on Saturday from Bayelsa State to look after him,” Joy said, when The PUNCH correspondent asked to speak with the retired footballer on phone.

“His daughter called me that Daddy (Ebiede) was not feeling fine. So, I got here and saw his situation. It was his club members that rushed him to the hospital. Initially, it was malaria and typhoid, but his stomach got swollen.

“He underwent some tests to detect the cause of the swollen stomach. The test results diagnosed Hepatitis B. He’s not stooling freely, so I don’t know if that’s the cause of the swollen stomach.”

Joy, who said Ebiede had not worked lately, added that his medical bills had been taken care of by his benevolent club members.

Joy added, “His club guys are always coming to the hospital to check on him and pay the bills.”

Meanwhile, UK-based David Doherty, who contested the presidency of the Nigeria Football Federation at last year’s election, has opened an account for donors to assist the ailing Ebiede.

As of the time of filing this report, donors had contributed about N150,000, with Doherty also donating another N100,000.

In a post on Facebook tagged ‘Save Emmanuel Ebiede Now,’ Doherty stated, “Ex-international, Emmanuel Ebiede, is reportedly sick and needs urgent help. One hopes this help comes urgently.

“We wish one of our celebrated attacking midfielders a speedy recovery.”

Ebiede was one of the few bright spots of coach Fanny Amun’s “wobbling and fumbling” Flying Eagles at the African championship on home soil in 1995.

He had two caps for the Super Eagles, making his debut under Serbian Bora Milutinovic in the 1-0 win over Iran in a pre-1998 World Cup friendly against Iran on January 28, 1998.

At the club level, Ebiede joined Belgian First Division side SC Eendracht Aalst from boyhood club Sharks of Port Harcourt in 1995.

In 1997 he moved to SC Heerenveen in the Dutch Eredivisie, before further spells in the United Arab Emirates (1999-2004) and Israel (2006-2008). He then returned home to feature for Bayelsa United and Sharks. He retired in 2011.

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