John Obi Mikel has announced his retirement from football after over a decade in the round leather game. He is one of the few Nigerian internationals who have risen to the zenith of their football careers with many trophies won with different clubs.
John Obi Mikel
John Michael Nchekwube Obinna, known shortly as Jon Obi Mikel, is a former Nigeria international who played as a midfielder for Nigeria and other top clubs in Europe after a brief spell in Nigeria club football.
Born on 22 April 1987 in Jos, Platea state in Nigeria, Mikel is 1.88m tall. He started his football career with the youth team of a Nigeria club, Plateau United, in 2002.
After two years with Plateau United youth, Mikel Obi’s brilliance and skills with the ball attracted the interest of a Norwegian football club Lyn Oslo, who signed him in 2004.
Mikel made only 6 appearances for Lyn, scoring one goal in his two years spell with the club. In 2006, he joined Chelsea, where he spent 11 years of his football career.
Throughout his stay with the Premier League between 2006 and 2017, Mikel made 249 appearances for the Blues, scoring 1 goal.
He later joined a Chinese football club Tianjin TEDA where he made 31 appearances, scoring three goals in one year with the club. In 2019, Mikel joined Middlesborough, made 18 appearances, and scored one goal before moving to Turkish side Trabzonspor, where he made 19 appearances.
In 2020, Mikel returned to England and played with Stoke City, making 39 appearances before finally ending his club career with Kuwaiti professional football club, Kuwait SC, in 2021.
Mikel made a total of 362 clubs appliances touring major European and other clubs. He scored a total of 6 goals and has won many trophies as a footballer.
National Team Stats
After representing the Nigeria U-20 in FIFA U-20 World Cup, Mikel made his debut for Nigeria’s senior men’s national team on 25 August 2005 when he came on as a substitute for the Super Eagles in a 1-0 win over Libya. Since then, he has been capped 91 times and has scored 6 goals.
Mike also made 6 appearances for the Nigeria Olympic team and scored one goal.
Awards and Honours
Obi Mikel has won the Premier League, FA Cup, EFL Cup, Community Shield, Champions League, and UEFA Europa League with Chelsea.
He has won the Turkish Cup with Trabzonspor. Mikel also won the 2013 Africa Cup Of Nations.
The retired Nigeria international has won many individual awards, such as Chelsea Young Player of the Year, CAF Team of the Year, and CAF Most Promising Talent of the Year.
In the 2005 FIFA U-20 World Cup, John Obi Mikel won the Silver Ball as the second most valuable player of the tournament behind Lionel Messi.
John Obi Mikel Net worth
Mikel Obi is one of the wealthiest Nigeria footballers. As at 2022, John Obi Mikel’s net worth was estimated at $45million.
