Odafa Onyeka Okolie (born 6 June 1985) is a Nigerian former professional

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 spent most of his career in India. He last played for

Gokulam Kerala Gokulam Kerala Football Club is an Indian professional football club based in Calicut, Kerala. Founded in 2017, the club competes in the I-League, the second tier of Indian football league system. They won the 2020–21 I-League to become the ...

in the

I-League The I-League (known as Hero I-League for sponsorship ties with Hero MotoCorp) is the second-tier men's professional football competition of the Indian football league system. It is currently contested by 12 clubs across the country with the w ...

. He was once the highest paid footballer in I-league history, earning approximately ₹16 million per year in 2011 while playing for

Mohun Bagan Mohun Bagan Athletic Club is an Indian professional sports club based in Kolkata, West Bengal. Founded in 1889, its football section is one of the oldest in India and Asia. The club is most notable for its victory over East Yorkshire Regiment ...

.Mohun Bagan sign Odafe for record Rs 3 crore one-year deal
/ref> Odafa is second in the list of all-time leading goalscorer in the I-League and

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

history with 179 goals,By the numbers: Mohun Bagan soar past 600 goals in national league
ESPN.in and has been the top goal scorer on three consecutive seasons.Mohun Bagan signs Odafe for record Rs. 3 crore one-year deal
/ref> He also holds the record for scoring the most hat-tricks in I-League and National Football League combined, with 14 hat-tricks across all seasons, including 13 of those in the I-League.

Career

Early career

Okolie started his career in 2002 as a defender with

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

based clubs

Peerless SC Peerless Sports Club (formerly known as Peerless FC), or simply Peerless, is an Indian professional football club based in Kolkata, West Bengal. Founded in 1993, the club is owned by Peerless Group and currently competes in the Calcutta Premier ...

and

Mohammedan ''Mohammedan'' (also spelled ''Muhammadan'', ''Mahommedan'', ''Mahomedan'' or ''Mahometan'') is a term for a follower of Muhammad, the Islamic prophet. It is used as both a noun and an adjective, meaning belonging or relating to, either Muham ...

Churchill Brothers

After a lackluster start to his career which saw him play for Indian club Mohammedan, and Bangladeshi club

Muktijoddha SKC Muktijoddha Sangsad KC ( bn, মুক্তিযোদ্ধা সংসদ ক্রীড়া চক্র) is a Bangladeshi professional football club based in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The club is nicknamed The Freedom Fighters. It competes i ...

where he scored 34 goals from 28 appearances. In 2005, Okolie went back to India and signed for

Churchill Brothers Churchill Brothers FC Goa, or simply known as Churchill Brothers, is an Indian professional football club based in Margao, Goa, that competes in the I-League, alongside Goa Professional League. Founded in 1988 in Margao, the club usually part ...

as a

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

. He debuted for the club in 2005–06 National Football League Second Division and scored 4 goals, which helped the club getting promoted to the

. 2006–07 National Football League was break out season for him, as he scored 18 goals and became the top scorer of the league. Okolie was the top scorer in newly formed

in two consecutive seasons and won the league in 2008–09. He scored record 113 top division league goals for the club.

Mohun Bagan

On 1 June 2011, he signed a then record one-year deal with

for approximately $600,000. On 23 October 2011, Odafa scored a hat-trick in his debut for Bagan in a 3–1 victory over

Pailan Arrows Indian Arrows (formerly known as Pailan Arrows) was an Indian developmental football club that competed in the I-League. The club was formed by the All India Football Federation in 2010, with a main goal of nurturing young Indian football talen ...

Return to Churchill Brothers and loan to Sporting Goa

On 13 May 2014, Okolie re-joined Churchill Brothers, but later in March 2015, he joined Sporting Goa on a loan deal after Churchill brothers were excluded from the I-League. He helped the club narrowly avoid relegation and was subsequently retained for another season.

Southern Samity

In March 2017, Okolie Joined

I-League 2nd Division I-League 2, previously known as I-League 2nd Division and officially known as or Hero I-League 2 (for sponsorship ties with Hero MotoCorp), is an Indian men's professional football league. It is the 3rd tier of Indian football, behind Indian ...

club

Southern Samity Southern Samity is an Indian professional football club from Kolkata which was founded in 1945, and is also based in Siliguri in North Bengal. During that time, apart from sports they are also involved in various cultural activities. The club c ...

. He scored 9 goals in the

2016–17 I-League 2nd Division The 2016–17 I-League 2nd Division was the tenth season of the I-League 2nd Division, the second-tier Indian league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 2008. The season began on 21 January 2017 and featured 12 teams which ...

and became the top scorer.

Gokulam Kerala

In January 2018, Okolie joined

club

Career statistics

Honours

Churchill Brothers *I-League: 2008–09; runner-up 2007–08 *

Durand Cup The Durand Football Tournament, commonly known as Durand Cup, is an annual domestic football competition in India which was first held in 1888 in Shimla. Hosted by the Durand Football Tournament Society (DFTS) and All India Football Federation ...

: 2007,

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

IFA Shield The IFA Shield is an annual football competition organized by the Indian Football Association. The IFA is the governing body of football in the state of West Bengal, came into existence in 1893. Named after the association, the IFA Shield tourn ...

Muktijoddha SKC *

Federation Cup (Bangladesh) Federation Cup, also known as Bangladesh Federation Cup, is Bangladesh's premier cup competition in men's association football. The competition started in 1980 and is run by the Bangladesh Football Federation which is responsible for all types o ...

runner-up: 2005 Individual *

National Football League (India) The National Football League (NFL) was a league competition featuring football clubs from India. Founded in 1996 through the All India Football Federation (AIFF), the NFL was the first football league in India to be organized on a national scal ...

Golden Boot: 2006–07 (18 goals) *I-League top scorer: 2007–08, 2008–09, 2009–10

References

Bibliography

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External links

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Odafa Onyeka Okolie
at GSA (archived) {{DEFAULTSORT:Okolie, Odafe Onyeka 1985 births Living people Nigerian footballers Expatriate footballers in India Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in India Churchill Brothers FC Goa players Expatriate footballers in Bangladesh I-League players Mohun Bagan AC players Sporting Clube de Goa players Muktijoddha Sangsad KC players Nigerian expatriate footballers Association football forwards Calcutta Football League players