Wilfred Agbonavbare

Wilfred Agbonavbare Biography / Profile

Wilfred Agbonavbare on October 5th, 1966 in Lagos, Nigeria. He was a Nigerian footballer who played as a goalkeeper for Rayo Vallecano of Spain and the Nigerian national team.

Wilfred Agbonavbare Age

Wilfred Agbonavbare would have been 57 years old, if he were alive today. May his soul rest in peace.

Wilfred Agbonavbare Career

Agbonavbare played for New Nigeria Bank F.C. (1983 to 1989) and BCC Lions FC (1990). In 1990, he moved to Spain where he spent the rest of his career, starting with Rayo Vallecano in Segunda División. In his second season with the Madrid outskirts club, he appeared in all 38 league games (3,332 minutes of action, 27 goals conceded, second-best in the competition) as the team finished second and returned to La Liga after two years of absence. He continued to be first-choice in the following years, contributing with 31 matches to another top flight promotion in 1995. In the 1995/1996 season, Agbonavbare lost his starting position to Spanish international Abel Resino. In the following summer, he signed for second level side Écija Balompié, being the most used player in his position but suffering team relegation; after one year in his country training to remain fit, he retired due to lack of offers at only 31.

Agbonavbare appeared with the Nigerian under-20s at the 1983 FIFA World Youth Championship in Mexico. He played for more than one decade with the full side, being selected for the 1994 African Cup of Nations and that year's FIFA World Cup, backing up Peter Rufai on both occasions.

Wilfred Agbonavbare Personal Life

Agbonavbare settled in the Community of Madrid after retiring as a player, working as a delivery man and a goalkeeper coach. In 2012, his wife died of breast cancer. Three years later, it was revealed that he was suffering from cancer, and he subsequently underwent treatment at the Hospital Universitario Príncipe de Asturias in Alcalá de Henares. Both Agonavbare's former team Rayo Vallecano and its opponents Atlético Madrid displayed a banner during their league match at the Vicente Calderón Stadium on 24 January that read "Fuerza Wilfred" (You Can Do It Wilfred). He succumbed to the disease three days later, aged 48. His children, Wilson and Wintia, flew in from Nigeria to pay their father his last respect who was buried in Spain.

Vallecano immortalised Agbonavbare, by naming a gate at their stadium after him. Also, the Madrid City Council named a Sports Center, the Alberto Garcia Sports Center at Rua Reguera Tomateros, after the former Super Eagles goalkeeper.