Julius Gibrilla Wobay (born 19 May 1984) is a Sierra Leonean international

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 ...

who plays as an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundari ...

Football career

East End Lions

Julius Gibrilla Wobay was born and raised in

Freetown Freetown is the capital and largest city of Sierra Leone. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean and is located in the Western Area of the country. Freetown is Sierra Leone's major urban, economic, financial, cultural, educational and p ...

, Sierra Leone to parents from the Mende ethnic group. He attended the Ahmadiyya Muslim Secondary School in Freetown. He began his professional football career in his native Sierra Leone with

East End Lions East End Lions is a Sierra Leonean professional soccer, football club based in the capital Freetown. They play in the Sierra Leone National Premier League, the top football league in Sierra Leone. East End Lions represents the East End of Freeto ...

in the

Sierra Leone National Premier League Sierra Leone National Premier League is a professional football league in Sierra Leone. It was founded in 1967. The league is sponsored by the Sierra Leone Commercial Bank, one of the major Sierra Leonean banks. East End Lions and Mighty Blackp ...

Cyprus

After the 2003 season, Wobay left the Sierra Leone National Premier League and signed with Cyprus side

Onisilos Sotira Kentro Neon Onisillos Sotiras was a Cypriot football club from the village of Sotira. The club was founded in 1978 and was named after the ancient Cypriot revolutionary Onesilus. The club has played in the Cypriot First Division The Cyp ...

where he played 12 matches and scored three goals. Then Wobay signed with Nea Salamis Famagusta FC, a club in Cyprus top division.

Universitatea Craiova

In January 2007, Wobay moved to Romanian

Liga I The Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1, is a Romanian professional league for men's association football clubs. Currently sponsored by betting company Superbet, it is officially known as the SuperLiga. It is the country's top ...

side Universitatea Craiova on a four and a half year contract from Cypriot club Nea Salamina FC for $450k.

Aris Limassol

Three years after his movement from Salamina to Craiova, Wobay comes back (on a loan until the end of the season) to Cyprus but this time for Aris Limassol. On 20/1 he signed his contract with Cypriot side. The deal doesn't include a summer buying option for Aris Limassol.

Khazar Lankaran

After returning to Universitatea Craiova for the first half of the

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

season, Wobay went on to sign a two-year contract with

Khazar Lankaran Khazar Lankaran FK ( tly, Xəzər Lankon Futboli Klub, script=Latn, az, Xəzər Lənkəran Futbol Klubu) is an Azerbaijani football club based in Lankaran that last played in the Azerbaijan Premier League during the 2015–16 season. Since the ...

in the

Azerbaijan Premier League The Azerbaijan Premier League ( az, Azərbaycan Premyer Liqası) is a professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the Azerbaijan football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. It is conteste ...

during the winter break. Wobay went on to make 26 appearances for Khazar, scoring 6 goals.

Al-Masry

On 31 January 2012, Wobay signed for Al-Masry of Egypt on a contract till the end of 2011-12 season, and was in the stands watching his new club as the

Port Said Stadium riot On 1 February 2012, a massive riot occurred at Port Said Stadium in Port Said, Egypt, following an Egyptian Premier League football match between Masry and Ahly. Seventy-four people were killed and more than 500 were injured after thousands o ...

unfolded.

Neftchi Baku

During the summer of 2012 Wobay signed a one-year contract with Neftchi Baku. Wobay made his club debut in their 3–0

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competiti ...

second qualifying round 1st leg match against

Zestafoni Zestafoni or Zestaponi ( ka, ზესტაფონი, tr, ) is the administrative center of Zestafoni District in Western Georgia. Zestafoni is the center of an ancient, historical part of Georgia – Margveti, which is a part of Imereti ...

, scoring the second goal. Wobay followed this up with a goal in the second leg and one in their 6–2 aggregate defeat to Ironi Kiryat Shmona in the

third round Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (disambiguation) * Third Avenue (disambiguation) * H ...

, which saw them knocked into the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. I ...

play off round where Wobay also scored to help Neftchi reach the Group Stage of the UEFA Europa League for the first time. During the 2012–13 season Wobay played in 31 league games, scoring eight goals, and five cup games to help Neftchi win a 2013

League League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

and

Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay, w ...

double. Wobay has signed a new contract with Neftchi in June 2013, before moving on loan to Al Shabab of the

UAE Arabian Gulf League The UAE Pro League ( ar, دوري المحترفين الإماراتي), known for sponsorship reasons as the ADNOC Pro League, is the top professional football league in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The first team to win the title was Al O ...

on a year-long loan in July 2013. Wobay was deregistered by Al Shabab during the 2014 January transfer window.

Olimpija

On 29 January 2016 Wobay signed a one-and-a-half-year contract with Slovenian club Olimpija Ljubljana.

International

On 14 February 2001 Wobay made his debut for the Sierra Leone national team in a 2002 FIFA World Cup qualifier against

Liberia Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean t ...

in a match played in the Liberian capital of

Monrovia Monrovia () is the capital city of the West African country of Liberia. Founded in 1822, it is located on Cape Mesurado on the Atlantic coast and as of the 2008 census had 1,010,970 residents, home to 29% of Liberia’s total population. As th ...

. He retired from international football in December 2018.

Career statistics

International goals

:''Scores and results list Sierra Leone's goal tally first.''

Honours

;Khazar Lankaran *

Azerbaijan Cup The Azerbaijan Cup is a major association football competition in Azerbaijan. In its original form, it started in 1936, when Azerbaijan was a republic of the Soviet Union and it was not disputed by Azerbaijani teams in the Soviet league pyramid. ...

;Neftchi Baku *

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

;Olimpija Ljubljana * Slovenian First League: 2015–16

References

External links

Julius Wobay
at PrvaLiga * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wobay, Julius 1984 births Living people People from Bo, Sierra Leone Mende people Association football midfielders Sierra Leonean footballers Sierra Leone international footballers Sierra Leonean expatriate footballers Nea Salamis Famagusta FC players FC U Craiova 1948 players Aris Limassol FC players Khazar Lankaran FK players Al Masry SC players East End Lions F.C. players Onisilos Sotira players Al-Shaab CSC players NK Olimpija Ljubljana (2005) players Expatriate footballers in Cyprus Expatriate footballers in Romania Expatriate footballers in Azerbaijan Expatriate footballers in Egypt Expatriate footballers in the United Arab Emirates Expatriate footballers in Slovenia Liga I players Cypriot First Division players Slovenian PrvaLiga players Sierra Leonean expatriate sportspeople in Romania UAE Pro League players Neftçi PFK players