Former  Nigeria U17 world cup winning coach, Emmanuel Amuneke, has been unveiled by Imo State Governor Hope Uzodinma as the new head coach of Heartland FC.

Heartland who was relegated to Nigeria second tier league, Nigeria National League, NNL, was reported to have  acquired the slot of the newly promoted club Beyond Limits Academy, and will play in the NPFL for the 2024/25 season.

Emmanuel Amuneke who was on born 25 December 1970 is a and professional football player who played as a winger.

He played for Zamalek, Sporting CP, Barcelona, and Albacete.

He played 27 times for Nigeria, scoring nine goals. He was part of the team that participated at the 1994 FIFA World Cup in the United States, scoring against Bulgaria and Italy; also in that year, he helped the Super Eagles win the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations in Tunisia, and was voted African Footballer of the Year.

Amuneke played all of Nigeria's games at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, scoring the winning goal in the final as the national team won the gold medal. Knee problems kept him out of the 1998 FIFA World Cup

After retiring at the end of 2004, he moved to Cantabria in 2006, where he lived with his Spanish wife, Fatima, and took coaching courses. At the same time, he was also coaching some youth teams at SD Reocín. After a spell at Saudi club Al Hazm as an assistant coach, Amuneke took charge of the local Nigerian club Julius Berger in August 2008.

On 23 December 2008, Amuneke took on training duties for some teams in Nigeria, after completing two years of training courses in Europe. In November 2009, he took charge of Ocean Boys.

Amuneke coached the Nigeria U17 national team to win the World Cup in 2015. On 6 August 2018, he was appointed as the coach of the Tanzania national team. He managed to qualify for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, but he resigned from training the team after losing all three games. In November 2019, he said he was looking for a new job

Amunike was appointed the manager of Egyptian Premier League club, Misr Lei Makkasa in February 2021. In March 2021, his role was changed to director of academies.

He became assistant coach of the Nigeria national team in February 2022.