Chinedu Obasi

Chinedu Obasi
Personal information
Full name Chinedu Obasi
Date of birth (1986-06-01) 1 June 1986
Place of birth Enugu, Nigeria
Height 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Playing position Forward
Youth career
1997–2002 River Lane Youth Club Enugu[1]
2002–2004 Enugu Rangers
2004–2005 JC Raiders
Senior career*
Years Team Apps† (Gls)†
2005–2007 Lyn 29 (14)
2007–2012 TSG 1899 Hoffenheim 91 (25)
2012 → Schalke 04 (loan) 10 (1)
2012–2015 Schalke 04 25 (3)
National team‡
2005 Nigeria U20 8 (3)
2005– Nigeria 18 (4)

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 1 February 2015.
† Appearances (goals)

‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 23:58, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

Chinedu Obasi (Nigerian Igbo pronunciation: [ˈtɕɪ̙.ne.dʊ̙ ˈɔ̙.ɡ͡ɓʊ̙.ke ˈɔ̙.ɡ͡ɓa.sɪ̙]; born 1 June 1986) is a Nigerian professional footballer who plays as a forward. He is currently a free agent, having been released from FC Schalke 04.

Club career

Lyn

Obasi went to Norway at the same time as his countryman John Obi Mikel; both players joining Lyn. On 20 December 2006, a transfer deal was announced with Lokomotiv Moscow,[2] and Obasi was set to move to the Russian side in January. The deal was derailed, however, when the president, sporting director and manager of Lokomotiv were all fired six days later.

TSG 1899 Hoffenheim

On 27 August 2007, Obasi moved to TSG 1899 Hoffenheim for an undisclosed fee.[3]

Schalke 04

On 23 December 2011, it was confirmed that Obasi was going on loan to Schalke 04 until the end of the 2011–12 season.[4]

On 2 July 2012, FC Schalke 04 confirmed that Chinedu Obasi signed a permanent three-year professional contract with them until 30 June 2015.[5] The transfer fee is reported as €4,000,000 to €5,000,000 by Schalke's sport and communications manager Horst Heldt.[5] Chinedu Obasi was assigned a number 19 shirt then re-assigned a number 20 shirt for his last season with Schalke 04 in the 2014–15 season.[5]

2015

On 23 October 2015, Obasi was handed trial by Sunderland A.F.C.[6]

International career

Norway naturalization persuasion

Obasi was offered the chance to represent the Norway national football team during his club career in Norway and Obasi stated that: "I don’t regret dumping Norway to play for Nigeria, back then at Lyn Oslo with John Obi Mikel, I was encouraged to naturalize to receive a Norwegian passport and become a Norwegian, the Football Association of Norway wanted me to play for the Norway national football team at that time and I must confess I gave it a thought for a long time, I had already played for Nigeria in one of their friendly matches which was one of the deciding factors in my final choice, I love Nigeria and I was well received by the senior players in Super Eagles, I had to walk up to them in Norway's Football Association of Norway and say no".[7]

Nigeria

Obasi was part of the Nigeria national under-20 football team that finished runners-up at the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship.[8] In 2008, Obasi competed with the Nigeria national under-23 football team that finished runners-up at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics.[9] In 2010, Obasi competed with the Nigerian national football team that finished in third-place at the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations and that competed at the 2010 FIFA World Cup.[8]

Career statistics

Club career statistics

Club performance League Cup Continental Other Total Ref.
Club League Season App. Goals App. Goals App. Goals App. Goals App. Goals
Norway League Norwegian Cup Europe Other Total
Lyn Tippeligaen 2005–06 5 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 1 [10]
2006–07 13 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 13 8
2007–08 11 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 11 7
Germany League DFB-Pokal Europe Other Total
TSG 1899 Hoffenheim 2. Bundesliga 2007–08 27 11 0 0 0 0 0 0 27 11
Bundesliga 2008–09 24 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 24 6
2009–10 23 7 3 1 0 0 0 0 26 8
2010–11 5 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 6 0
2011–12 13 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 15 1
Schalke 04 2011–12 10 1 0 0 5 0 0 0 15 1
2012–13 4 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 7 0
2013–14 15 3 1 0 3 0 0 0 19 3
2014–15 6 0 0 0 3 1 0 0 9 1
Last updated: 1 February 2015

International career statistics

National teamSeasonApp.Goals AssistsRef.
Nigeria national football team 2005–06 2 0 0 [11]
2007–08 1 2 0
2009–10 1 0 0
2010–11 11 1 1
2011–12 5 1 0
Total 20 4 1
Last updated: 6 September 2011

International goals

Honours

International

Individual

Outside football

Personal life

The name "Obasi" means "Glory of God" in the Nigerian Igbo language.[12] Obasi prays before every one of his matches: "I can talk to God about everything, so I pray for victory".[12]

References

  1. ↑ "Obasi, Chinedu" (in German). kicker.de. Retrieved 25 February 2011.
  2. ↑ "Ogbuke set for Russia switch". news.bbc.co.uk. 20 December 2006. Retrieved 17 January 2007.
  3. ↑ "Edu arrived in Hoffenheim" (in German). tsg-hoffenheim.de. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 27 August 2007.
  4. ↑ "Schalke take Obasi on loan". schalke04.de. Retrieved 25 December 2011.
  5. 1 2 3 "Schalke signs Chinedu Obasi". mymetrosports.com. 2 July 2012. Retrieved 6 August 2014.
  6. ↑ "Sunderland hand trial to former Schalke forward Chinedu Obasi". Sky Sports. 23 October 2015. Retrieved 23 October 2015.
  7. ↑ "Obasi: I Dumped Norway To Play For Nigeria". completesportsnigeria.com. 9 August 2014. Retrieved 6 September 2014.
  8. 1 2 "Chinedu Obasi". mtnfootball.com. Retrieved 6 September 2014.
  9. ↑ "Summaries of Nigeria vs Belgium at Olympic men's soccer semifinal". news.xinhuanet.com. Xinhua News Agency. 19 August 2008. Retrieved 6 September 2014.
  10. ↑ Chinedu Obasi profile at Soccerway
  11. ↑ "Chinedu Obasi". National Football Teams. Retrieved 6 September 2011.
  12. 1 2 "Ich kaufe in London meine Klamotten" [Chinedu Obasi: I buy my clothes in London]. bild.de (in German). Bild. 17 January 2009. Retrieved 6 September 2014.

External links

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