Michael Obiku - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Michael Edirin Obiku is a retired Nigeria

Nigeria

Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...

n football striker. He is assistant coach at Sparta Rotterdam

Sparta Rotterdam

Sparta Rotterdam is the oldest professional football team in the Netherlands, established on April 1, 1888. Sparta is one of three professional football clubs from Rotterdam, the others being Excelsior and Feyenoord , the latter playing in the Eredivisie.-History:Sparta was first founded in 1887....

's youth team.

Club career

Obiku started his career with Flash Flamingoes in his native Nigeria and earned a move to highfliers Iwuanyanwu Nationale. From there, he moved on to become very successful in Cyprus. Then Feyenoord Rotterdam

Feyenoord Rotterdam

Feyenoord is a Dutch professional football club located in Rotterdam. Along with Ajax and PSV Eindhoven, Feyenoord is one of the "big three" clubs in the Netherlands. These three clubs and Utrecht and Roda JC are the only clubs never to have been relegated from the Dutch first division...

chairman Jorien van den Herik

Jorien van den Herik

Jorien van den Herik is a Dutch business man and was chairman of Feyenoord Rotterdam till 2006.Van den Herik helped Feyenoord to purchase some players in 1984 as chairman of the "Friends of Feyenoord Group". In a few years time he had invested 3 million Dutch guldens in the club. In 1989 be became...

, who had a house on Cyprus, lured him to Rotterdam

Rotterdam

Rotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...

. On club level he won the Dutch Eredivisie

Eredivisie

The Eredivisie is the highest football league in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956 two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is currently ranked the ninth best league in Europe by UEFA....

in 1993 and the KNVB Cup

KNVB Cup

The KNVB Cup is a competition in the Netherlands organized by the Royal Dutch Football Association since 1899. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. Outside of the Netherlands, it is often referred to as the Dutch Cup...

in 1994

1993-94 in Dutch football

The 1993/1994 season in Dutch football saw Ajax Amsterdam winning the title in the Eredivisie, while Feyenoord Rotterdam won the Dutch National Cup.-PTT Telecom Cup:-Eredivisie:*Champions League : Ajax*Cup Winners Cup: Feyenoord...

, 1995

1994-95 in Dutch football

The 1994/95 season in Dutch football saw Ajax Amsterdam winning the title in the Eredivisie, while Feyenoord Rotterdam won the Dutch National Cup. For the first time in history of Dutch professional football a club stayed unbeaten in the highest league...

and 1996 with Feyenoord. He later became the first Nigerian to play in the J. League

J. League

The or is the top division of and is the top professional association football league in Japan. It is one of the most successful leagues in Asian club football and the only league given top class 'A' ranking by the AFC. Currently, J. League Division 1 is the first level of the Japanese...

.In 1999–2000 he returned to Cyprus

Cyprus

Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...

and to his favourite team Anorthosis Famagusta FC

Anorthosis Famagusta FC

Αnorthosis Famagusta FC is a Cypriot football and volleyball club which is originally based in Famagusta, but is now temporarily based in Larnaca, due to the Turkish invasion. Anorthosis is one of the most successful clubs in Cypriot football, having won 13 league titles, 10 Cypriot Cups and 6...

. He scored 13 goals and helped his club to win the Championship for the 4th time in a row in Cyprus. After so many years Obiku is still one of the legends of Anorthosis Famagusta FC and he is considered one of the all time best players who ever played not only for the club but also in Cyprus. The fans never forgot his first spell in the club in 1989–1992 scoring 36 goals and gave him the nick "Black Diamond".

Memorable moments

When Obiku scored for Feyenoord, he usually took off his shirt, threw it on the ground and danced around it.

During a match against Willem II he jumped in the fences surrounding the pitch and injured his hands while grabbing the barbed wire. He did play on but had to have treatment on his bleeding hands first.

On March 8, 1995 he won over the Rotterdam supporters when he scored the golden goal in the KNVB Cup

KNVB Cup

quarter-finals against eternal rivals Ajax Amsterdam

Ajax Amsterdam

Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax , also referred to as AFC Ajax, Ajax Amsterdam or simply Ajax , is a professional football club from Amsterdam, Netherlands...

. Ajax won the Champions League that season but were finished off by Obiku thanks to a marvellous solo effort.

International career

He represented the Nigerian national team

Nigeria national football team

The Nigeria national football team, nicknamed the Super Eagles or Green Eagles, is the national team of Nigeria and is controlled by the Nigeria Football Federation . The team has ranked as high as 5th in the FIFA World Rankings, in April 1994...

at the 1988 African Cup of Nations

1988 African Cup of Nations

The 1988 African Cup of Nations was the 16th edition of the African Cup of Nations, the soccer championship of Africa . It was hosted by Morocco, who replaced original host Zambia. Just like in 1986, the field of eight teams was split into two groups of four. The tournament final was held in...

, played in two World Cup qualifying matches and played 12 minutes at the 1988 Summer Olympics

1988 Summer Olympics

The 1988 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad, were an all international multi-sport events celebrated from September 17 to October 2, 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. They were the second summer Olympic Games to be held in Asia and the first since the 1964 Summer Olympics...

. He played his final international match in April 1993 against Ethiopia

Ethiopia national football team

The Ethiopia national football team represents Ethiopia in association football and is controlled by the Ethiopian Football Federation, the governing body for football in Ethiopia...

Club career statistics

|-
|1986||rowspan="2"|Flash Flamingoes||rowspan="2"|Premier League

Nigerian Premier League

The Nigeria Premier League is the highest level of domestic Nigerian football. It is fed into by the two First Division groups: the Nigerian Division 1-A and Nigerian Division 1-B. It is organized by the Nigeria Football Association. The NPL Chairman is Davidson Owunmi.- History :The league was...

||15||6||||||||||15||6
|-
|1987||14||7||||||||||14||7
|-
|1988||Iwuanyanwu Nationale||Premier League

Nigerian Premier League

||5||4||||||||||5||4

|-
|1988/89||Marítimo

CS Marítimo

Club Sport Marítimo MH M, commonly known as just Marítimo , is a Portuguese sports club, founded in Funchal, Madeira, in 1910. The club is regarded as an important club in Portugal, and are widely known throughout the Portuguese speaking world, in countries such as Brazil, Angola, and Cape...

||Portuguese Liga

Portuguese Liga

The Primeira Liga , formerly called Primeira Divisão, currently named Liga ZON Sagres after their main sponsors, is the top professional association football division of the Portuguese football league system...

||0||0||||||||||0||0

|-
|1989/90||rowspan="3"|Anorthosis Famagusta

Anorthosis Famagusta FC

||rowspan="3"|First Division

Cypriot First Division

The Cypriot Championship First Division is the top tier football league competition in Cyprus. As of 2007 it is sponsored by Marfin Popular Bank and is hence officially known as Marfin Laiki League .-Format:...

||24||6||||||||||24||6
|-
|1990/91||21||11||||||||||21||11
|-
|1991/92||24||16||||||||||24||16

|-
|1992/93||rowspan="2"|Feyenoord||rowspan="2"|Eredivisie

Eredivisie

||21||7||||||||||21||7
|-
|1993/94||16||3||||||||||16||3

|-
|1994||Helsingborg

Helsingborgs IF

Helsingborgs IF , commonly referred to as Helsingborg and locally HIF, is a Swedish football club located in Helsingborg. They are currently playing in the highest Swedish league, Allsvenskan...

||Allsvenskan

Allsvenskan

Allsvenskan is a Swedish professional league for association football clubs. At the top of the Swedish football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with Superettan...

||14||9||||||||||14||9

|-
|1994/95||rowspan="3"|Feyenoord||rowspan="3"|Eredivisie

Eredivisie

||13||6||||||||||13||6
|-
|1995/96||18||7||||||||||18||7
|-
|1996/97||3||0||||||||||3||0

|-
|1996/97||Mallorca

RCD Mallorca

Real Club Deportivo Mallorca is a Spanish football team based on Palma, Majorca, in the Balearic Islands. Founded on 5 March 1916, the team currently plays in the Spanish first division, holding home games at Son Moix....

||Segunda División

Segunda División

The Segunda División is the lower tier of the two professional football leagues in Spain. From the season 2008-09 onwards, the name of the league is Liga Adelante.-History:...

||26||14||||||||||26||14

|-
|1997||rowspan="2"|Avispa Fukuoka

Avispa Fukuoka

For the record label, see Avispa. is a Japanese professional football club, currently playing in the J. League Division 1 having been promoted from J. League Division 2 in the 2010 season. The team is located in Hakata, Fukuoka. "Avispa" means "wasp" in Spanish.-In Fujieda:The club was founded as...

||rowspan="2"|J. League 1||15||7||3||1||0||0||18||8
|-
|1998||10||2||0||0||4||2||14||4

|-
|1998/99||AZ Alkmaar||Eredivisie

Eredivisie

||13||2||||||||||13||2

|-
|1999/00||Anorthosis Famagusta

Anorthosis Famagusta FC

||First Division

Cypriot First Division

||21||14||||||||||21||14
34||17||||||||||34||17
0||0||||||||||0||0
90||47||||||||||90||47
84||25||||||||||84||25
14||9||||||||||14||9
26||14||||||||||26||14
25||9||3||1||4||2||32||12
273||121||3||1||4||2||280||124
|}

National team statistics

|-
|1988||||
|-
|1989||||
|-
|1990||0||0
|-
|1991||0||0
|-
|1992||0||0
|-
|1993||1||0
|-
!Total||||
|}

External links

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