Chidozie Obi-Martin (born 29 November 2007), known as Chido Obi, is a Danish

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

currently playing as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for English side

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

Early life

Obi was born in

Glostrup Glostrup is a Danish town in Region Hovedstaden, forming one of the western suburbs of Copenhagen. It is the administrative seat of Glostrup Municipality, with an estimated population of 22,357 . During the 20th century Glostrup developed from ...

, a town located within

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

in Denmark, to a Danish mother and Nigerian father.

Club career

Having started his career in Denmark with local side

Kjøbenhavns Boldklub Kjøbenhavns Boldklub or KB is a Danish sports club based in Copenhagen. The club was founded 26 April 1876 on the grassy fields in outer Copenhagen which later became Fælledparken. Tennis has been played since 1883. The club hosted, in 1921, on ...

, Obi moved to England as a child, going on to join the academy of

at the age of fourteen. He progressed through the club's youth ranks, establishing himself as a prolific goal-scorer, and was promoted to the under-18 side at the age of fifteen. In his first start for the under-18 side, he scored a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

in a 4–0 win against

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

on 23 September 2023, earning comparisons to Nigerian international striker

Victor Osimhen Victor James Osimhen (born 29 December 1998) is a Nigerian professional footballer who plays as a striker for club Napoli and the Nigeria national team. Born in Nigeria, Osimhen began his senior career in Germany at VfL Wolfsburg in 2017. Fol ...

in Danish media. The following month he made his first appearance for the club's under-21 side, while still fifteen. He continued his meteoric rise at Arsenal in early November 2023, being called up by first-team manager

Mikel Arteta Mikel Arteta Amatriain (born 26 March 1982) is a Spanish professional football manager and former player. He is the manager of club Arsenal. Arteta began his senior career at Barcelona in 1999 but limited playing time led to a loan to Paris ...

to join the senior side for training. Obi made international headlines on 18 November 2023, scoring ten goals as Arsenal beat

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

14–3 at under-16 level.

International career

Eligible to represent Denmark, England and Nigeria at international level, Obi made five appearances in late 2022 for Denmark's under-16 side, before switching allegiance to England and representing them twice at under-16 level in February 2023. However, in April of the same year he returned to the Danish under-16 team, scoring twice in three appearances. His prolific goal-scoring form earned him a call-up to the Danish under-17 side, and he started Denmark's

2024 UEFA European Under-17 Championship qualification The 2024 UEFA European Under-17 Championship qualifying competition is the men's under-17 football competition that will determine the 15 teams joining the automatically qualified hosts Cyprus in the 2024 UEFA European Under-17 Championship final ...

campaign with two goals in his first three games.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Obi, Chido 2007 births Living people People from Glostrup Municipality Danish men's footballers Denmark men's youth international footballers English men's footballers England men's youth international footballers Danish people of Nigerian descent English people of Nigerian descent English people of Danish descent Danish emigrants to England Men's association football forwards Kjøbenhavns Boldklub players Arsenal F.C. players