John Obi Mikel

John Obi Mikel Biography / Profile

John Obi Mikel whose real name is John Nchekwube Michael Obi, is a Nigerian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Chinese club Tianjin TEDA in the Chinese Super League and the Nigeria national team. Mikel was born on April 22, 1987 in Jos, Nigeria into the family of Mr Michael Obi who is of the Igbo extraction but running his business in Jos.

John Obi Mikel Age

John Obi Mikel is 37 years old.

John Obi Mikel Early Life

Mikel started his official football career at the age of 12 when he was picked as a talented footballer from over 3,000 young talents to play in Pepsi Football Academy, a team that at the time was well known for travelling across Nigeria scouting young footballers with the potential to play professionally.

Obi stood out to scouts and was later picked to play for top-flight club Plateau United, a side that had previously developed stars Celestine Babayaro, Victor Obinna and Chris Obodo, among others, that went on to success in European leagues. Later known as John Obi Mikel, he made headlines for Nigeria at the FIFA Under-17 World Championships held in Finland. Following the tournament, he went on to a trial at South Africa club Ajax Cape Town, ultimately joining Oslo-based club Lyn Fotball in Norway.

During preparations for the 2003 FIFA Under-17 World Championships, the Nigerian Football Association (NFA) mistakenly submitted "Michael" as "Mikel" for the tournament in Finland. He decided to keep the new name, saying that it had a "special ring to it." On 31 July 2006, he stated that he prefers to be called Mikel John Obi instead of John Obi Mikel, as he had most commonly been called.

John Obi Mikel Career

In April 2005, just days after turning 18, it was announced that Obi has signed for the English Premier League club side Manchester United but controversies trailed the whole affair with Chelsea FC another English side claiming to have signed the player also. However, the case was finally resolved in favour of Chelsea FC who went on to sign for Obi in the 2006/2007 season from Lyn Fotball Oslo.

Obi had his debut for Chelsea in a UEFA Champions League match against against Bulgarian club Levski Sofia in September, 2006.

John Obi Mikel went to make spend 10years with London club side Chelsea FC from 2006 to 2016, racking a total of 374 appearances in all competitions and scoring a total of 6 goals from his Defensive Midfield position.

John Obi Mikel moved to Chinese club Tianjin TEDA on a free transfer on January 06, 2017, following the reluctance of Chelsea to give him a new contract.

Obi has represented Nigeria in virtually all competitions in the last 13 years, he won Bronze with the Nigeria Dream at the Rio Olympics in 2016 where he was the captain of the team and showed his leadership qualities in guiding the team amid lack of national financial support and controversies.

Mikel John Obi is the current captain of the Nigerian Super Eagles and he successfully led them to qualification to the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.