From Flying Kiwis.
Ah, there he is. Joey Champness had gone into the footballing wilderness over the last year following his acrimonious release from Giresunspor in Turkey. That departure led to a legal battle from which he and other players won a significant compensatory payout over unpaid wages. Champness did pop up in an exhibition tournament a wee while ago but he’s been without a club since leaving Giresunspor in early 2022.
Until now. Champness has reemerged by signing a one year contract (with a club option for a second season) at Adanaspor. This is second division in Turkey so it’s a drop down from where he had been playing previously (although after more than a year out of the game that may not be the worst thing for him).
Adanaspor were actually in some relegation trouble last season but then real life tragedy made that trouble into irrelevant when the Turkey/Syria earthquake struck their region in February 2023. Adanaspor withdrew from the league at that point, as did Yeni Malatyaspor, and both were allowed to keep their place in the division despite all their remaining games being awarded as 3-0 defaults to the opponents. Adanaspor probably would’ve stayed up anyway. Yeni Malatyaspor probably not. But that hardly matters when an earthquake leads to the deaths of an estimated 59,000 people.
So yeah that’s what JOWIC is up to these days. In fact, hold up, he’s already scored a goal for Adanaspor. He made his debut a couple days after the signing was announced and rustled the net with an 88th minute clincher in a 2-0 win over Boluspor. Subbed on after 59 minutes for his first professional game in over a year, his first at club level for almost 18 months.