Nwankwo Obiora (born 12 July 1991) is a Nigerian

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 ...

who plays as a

defensive 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 boundarie ...

for Portuguese club Chaves.

Club career

Obiora began his career with

Lagos Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the List of cities in Africa by population, second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national ca ...

based club ECO FC, before he signed for

Heartland Heartland or Heartlands may refer to: Businesses and organisations * Heartland Bank, a New Zealand-based financial institution * Heartland Inn, a chain of hotels based in Iowa, United States * Heartland Alliance, an anti-poverty organization i ...

. He was loaned to

Wikki Tourists Wikki Tourists Football Club is a Nigerian football club based in Bauchi, and currently playing in the Nigeria Premier league after promotion from the second-tier Nigeria National League after the 2014 season.Sponsor is Bauchi State Government ...

in July 2008. He then left Heartland to sign a contract with

Real Murcia Real Murcia Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., commonly known as Real Murcia (, "Royal Murcia"), is a Spanish football club based in Murcia, in the Región de Murcia. Founded in 1919, it currently plays in Primera División RFEF – Group 2, playing ho ...

on 11 May 2009 that ran through 30 June 2010.

Internazionale

On 28 November 2009 it was announced that

Internazionale Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Inter is t ...

signed Obiora from Eco FC. At first the youngster was a part of

Inter Inter may refer to: Association football clubs * Inter Milan, an Italian club * SC Internacional, a Brazilian club * Inter Miami CF, an American club * FC Inter Sibiu, a Romanian club * FC Inter Turku, a Finnish club * FK Inter Bratislava, a form ...

's primavera squad managed by

Fulvio Pea Fulvio Pea (born 10 February 1967) is an Italian football coach. Career Coaching The first experiences Pea has no playing experience whatsoever, as he entered directly into coaching in 1989 as youth coach of Fanfulla, when aged 22. He then t ...

. Obiora made his first-team debut in a

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 competit ...

match against

Tottenham Tottenham () is a town in North London, England, within the London Borough of Haringey. It is located in the ceremonial county of Greater London. Tottenham is centred north-northeast of Charing Cross, bordering Edmonton to the north, Waltham ...

in London, coming on as a substitute for the injured

Sulley Muntari Suleyman Ali "Sulley" Muntari (born 27 August 1984) is a Ghanaian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He spent most of his career in Italy, playing for clubs such as Udinese, Internazionale, and Milan. During his time wit ...

in the 53rd minute.

Parma

After not making an impact at the Milan club, Nwankwo Obiora moved to

Parma Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmigiano-Reggiano, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 ...

on 31 January 2011 in a co-ownership deal for €300,000.Parma F.C. S.p.A. ''bilancio'' (financial report and accounts) on 30 June 2011
PDF purchased from Italian C.C.I.A.A.
/ref> The deal was renewed in June 2011 and again in June 2012. He was loaned to

Calcio Padova Calcio Padova, commonly referred to as Padova, is an Football in Italy, Italian football club based in Padua, Veneto. Founded in 1910, Padova currently play in , having last been in Serie A in 1996. The team's official colours are white and red. ...

in 2012–13 season. Parma subsidized Padova for €200,000 in terms of ''premi di valorizzazione''.

CFR Cluj

On 6 February 2013, Romanian champions

CFR Cluj Fotbal Club CFR 1907 Cluj, commonly known as CFR Cluj ( or ), is a Romanian professional association football, football club based in the city of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj County, which competes in the Liga I. It was founded in 1907 as ''Kolozsvári Vas ...

announced that they brought the midfielder on a temporary basis, with a buyout clause to make the move permanent in the summer. In June 2013 Parma also purchased the remain 50% registration rights of Nwankwo from Inter (as part of the return of Galimberti and Mella to Inter),The provision for co-ownership debt was €300,000, Parma received co-ownership income of €200,000 for the different of the actual price and the provision.Parma F.C. S.p.A. ''bilancio'' (financial report and accounts) on 30 June 2013 (in Italian)
PDF purchased from Italian C.C.I.A.A.
/ref> in order to re-sell the registration rights to Cluj for free.

Académica

On 23 July 2014, after a small stint with Córdoba in

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commercially known as LaLiga SmartBank for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spanish football league system. Administrated by the Lig ...

, Obiora signed a three-year deal with

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal, ...

side Académica de Coimbra. He made his debut in a 1–1 home draw against

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP, often known abroad as Sporting Lisbon , is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Lisbon. It is best known for the professional foot ...

. Obiora scored his first goal for Académica on 1 November, in a 1–1 draw against

Moreirense Moreirense Futebol Clube is a Portuguese professional football club based in Moreira de Cónegos, Guimarães Municipality, in Minho. Founded on 1 November 1938, it plays in the Liga Portugal 2, holding home games at Parque de Jogos Comendador Joa ...

Levadiakos

On 15 September 2016,

Levadiakos Levadiakos Football Club ( el, ΠΑΕ Λεβαδειακός) is a Greek professional football club that plays in the Super League Greece. Based in Livadeia, Greece, the club was promoted to the Alpha Ethniki, forerunner of the Super League, afte ...

officially announced the signing of Nwankwo.

Boavista

He signed for Boavista for the 2018–19 season. In March 2019 he talked about how injuries had affected his earlier career.

International career

He was a member of the Nigeria U-20 squad which took part at the

2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the 17th edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, which was hosted by Egypt from 24 September to 16 October 2009. The tournament was initially going to take place between 10 and 31 July. However, the 2009 FIFA Confedera ...

in Egypt, the 2009

WAFU U-20 Championship The WAFU U-20 Championship is an association football tournament that is contested between West African nations. It was funded by The Economic Community Of West African States. Eligible participants * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 2018 edit ...

, and the

2009 African Youth Championship The 2009 African Youth Championship is a football tournament for under 20 players. It was held in Rwanda from 18 January until 1 February 2009. It also served as qualification for the 2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup. Qualification Preliminary round ...

in Rwanda. He was called up to Nigeria's 23-man squad for the

2013 Africa Cup of Nations The 2013 Africa Cup of Nations, also known as the Orange Africa Cup of Nations South Africa 2013 for sponsorship reasons, held from 19 January to 10 February 2013, was the 29th Africa Cup of Nations, the football championship of Africa organized ...

Honours

Club

Internazionale *

Supercoppa Italiana The Supercoppa Italiana ( en, Italian Super Cup) is an annual football match contested by the winners of the Serie A and the Coppa Italia in the previous season. If the same team wins both the Serie A and Coppa Italia titles in the previous seaso ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

FIFA Club World Cup The FIFA Club World Cup is an international men's association football competition organised by the ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The competition was first contested in 200 ...

2013 African Cup of Nations

International

Nigeria *

Africa Cup of Nations The Africa Cup of Nations referred to as AFCON (french: Coupe d'Afrique des Nations, sometimes referred to as CAN, or TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons), and sometimes as African Cup of Nations, is the main internati ...

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

Footnotes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Obiora, Nwankwo 1991 births Living people Men's association football midfielders Nigerian footballers Nigeria men's international footballers Nigeria men's under-20 international footballers Inter Milan players Parma Calcio 1913 players A.S. Gubbio 1910 players Calcio Padova players CFR Cluj players Córdoba CF players Académica de Coimbra (football) players Levadiakos F.C. players Boavista F.C. players G.D. Chaves players Nigerian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Spain Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate footballers in Italy Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate footballers in Romania Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Romania Expatriate footballers in Portugal Expatriate footballers in Greece Segunda División players Serie A players Serie B players Liga I players Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players 2013 Africa Cup of Nations players Africa Cup of Nations-winning players Footballers from Kaduna Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Greece