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Obafemi Martins Net Worth and Biography

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Obafemi Martins is a popular professional Footballer who previously played for Nigeria and is currently playing for Wuhan Zall of the Chinese league.

He is also and entrepreneur, philanthropist and investor, who has achieved great success in his football career as his mouth watering Net Worth shows.

Obafemi Martins is very skillful with the ball in his feet and he is also one of the greatest goal scorers Nigeria has ever produced.

He has played for a host of clubs including, Inter Milan and New Castle. He is known locally and internationally for his acrobatic goal celebration commonly know as the back flip.

This article discusses those exciting facts about Obafemi Martins’ Net worth and Biography.

Obafemi Martins Profile

Net worth: $25 million
Full Name: Obafemi Akinwunmi Martins
Date of Birth: October 28,1984, (36years)
Nationality: Nigerian
Occupation: Footballer, investor, entrepreneur and philanthropist.
Education: Marital Status : Married
Years Active: 2002 till present.

Obafemi Martins Early Life

Obafemi Akinwunmi Martins, popularly known as Obafemi Martins was born on October 28, 1984 in Lagos state, Nigeria to Mr and Mrs Fausat Iyabode Martins.

He was the fifth out of seven children born to Mr and Mrs Martins. He grew up in the vicinity of Orile Iganmu in Lagos, which was described as dirty and crowed, filled with waste materials and running dirty water from gutters.

You will be right to say that the present successful forward grew up in the slum. His father Alhaji Obafemi who was then working as a civil servant passed away in 2003,leaving young Martins in the care of Alhaja Fausat Iyabode.

Obafemi Martins Career

Club Career

Obafemi Martins started playing football at a very tender age, his speed athletism, goal scoring prowess earned him a slot in a local club F. C Ebedei in the early 2000s, after catching the attention of Churchill Oliseh, the then manager.

At age 16 he moved to Italy where he played for serie C side A. C Reggianaand in 2000. It wasn’t long before he played himself into the first team. That same year, Inter Milan and Perugia came calling for his services.

He later signed for Inter Milan in 2002. He featured for the club’s youth team where he scored a total of 23 goals, helping them to claim Campionato Nazionale Primavera for the 2001-2002 season.

He goal scoring form prompted the club to promote him to the first team where he made his debut against Parma on December 2002. Obafemi Martins made his champions league debut for Inter Milan and also opened his champions league goal account in a match against Bayer Leverkusen, helping them to secure a spot in the quarterfinals.

In order to keep him away from other interested clubs Inter Milan had Obafemi Martins pen a five year contract in 2005 that ran through to 2010.

The prolific goal scorer became the first teenage to ever score in three consecutive champions league seasons after he scored again in the 2004-2005 UEFA champions league against Anderlecht.

Obafemi Martins made a total 88 league appearances for the Serie A giants, scoring a total of 28 goals before being priced away in 2006 by New Castle United of premier league.

Martins made his Premier League debut on 27 August, in the 2–0 defeat to Aston Villa, in which he was stretchered off with a knee injury. It turned out that Martins suffered a severe dead leg and internal bleeding.

His first goal for the premier league side came in September in a 2:0 win against West Ham. Obafemi Martins ended his first season with 17 goals in 46 appearances for the premiere league side.

His second season for the club didn’t go well for the attacker, as he was no longer the point man for the team resulting in him scoring fewer goals unlike his first season where he was the main man.

In the 2008-2009 season Obafemi Martins was ruled out of several games by hamstring injury but before then he had already scored 6 goals in 12 games.

Obafemi Martins played a total of 104 games for tyneside, scoring 35 in his three year spell at the club before signing a four year contract with VFL Wolfsburg in 2009.

He spent only one year with the German side, playing sixteen times and scoring six before signing for Russian club Rubin Kazan in 2010. He was later loaned to Birmingham city in 2011 where he spent one year before he was beset by yet another injury which ruled him out for weeks.

In 2012, Obafemi Signed for Spanish league side Levant on a free transfer. He made a total of 21 appearances, scoring 7 goals for the Spanish side.

Obafemi Martins signed for MLS club Seattle Sounders FC, on 11 March 2013 as a Designated Player after the club paid a $4 million buyout clause in Obafemi Martins’ contract with Levante.

Levante had been reluctant to lose Martins mid-season, threatening Sounders FC with a tampering lawsuit. On 15 March 2013, the club announced that the signing was official.

Obafemi Martins opened his goal account for the club on April 20 2013, performing his signature acrobatic goal celebration.

Obafemi Martins had a very fruitful and successful 2014 season with Seattle Sounders as he was among the top three finalist for MLS most valuable players, also winning the goal of the year award.

Obafemi Martins later moved to Chinese club Shanghai Shenshua in 2016, where he had the best season of his career as he made a total of 40 appearances and scoring 19 times for the Chinese side.

He later moved to Wuhan Zall in 2020 where he has made four appearances and scoring once for the Chinese club.

International Career

Obafemi Martins made his first international appearance in 2004 in the 2004 tri-nations unity cup where he scored the second goal of the match. By then he was 19 years old.

He made a total of 42 appearances for his country, Nigeria, scoring 18 goals in his international career before retiring from international career in 2015.

Obafemi Martins Achievements

CAF Most Promising Talent of the Year: 2003, 2004
MLS Best XI-2014
MLS Goal of the Year- 2014
MLS All-Star-2015 Chinese
FA Cup top score-2017

Obafemi Martins Personal Life

Obafemi Martins is married to a Ghanaian-Italian lady by name Abigail Barwuah, who happens to be the sister of Mario Balotelli.

Their marriage is blessed with a boy who the couple named Kendrick.