As a youth player, fresh from St. Finbarrs College Akoka-Lagos, Ugbade was captain of the Nigeria U-16 male soccer team that won the 1985 FIFA U-16 World Championship (later referred to as JVC/FIFA at the following edition after which it metamorphosed to its current name and status -Coca-Cola/FIFA U-17 WC). The event was held in China and brought Ugbade into prominence after Jonathan Akpoborie(5min) and Victor Igbinoba (80+min)scored unreplied goals for Nigeria against West Germany, securing what was Nigeria's and Africa's first major win in football on the global stage.

Four years later in the U-20 category, he was also part of Nigeria national under-20 football team at the 1989 FIFA World Youth Championship that placed second and won silver medals in Saudi Arabia. Nigeria lost to Portugal in the final match, but Ugbade and his teammates were the toast of the spectators after posting spectacular wins over hosts Saudi Arabia, highly favoured United States, and the USSR. Against the USSR the Nigerian team recovered from a 4–0 deficit to level 4–4 with Ugbade scoring the fourth before Nigeria won on penalties. This win is fondly referred to in Nigerian football history as the "Dammam Miracle".^[1]

After his immensely successful youth football career, Ugbade featured in the Nigerian national team for some years, but was plagued by injuries and poor form in the later years of his career which denied him of the opportunity of starring at the 1994 World Cup.

In August 2011 he was appointed by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to be one of the two assistant coaches for the Golden Eaglets (Nigeria under-17 national football team).^[2] In 2013, the team won the silver medal in the CAF U-17 tournament in Algeria,^[3] and won the 2013 FIFA U-17 World Cup in the UAE.

In 2013, Ugbade was named head coach of Lagos club MFM FC.

• Nduka Ugbade at National-Football-Teams.com
• Nduka Ugbade at BDFutbol