Femi Opabunmi (born 3 March 1985) is a Nigerian former

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 ...

Career

He played for a few clubs, including

Shooting Stars FC Shooting Stars Sports Club (often nicknamed 3SC or ''Oluyole Warriors'') is a Nigerian football club based in Ibadan. History The club was one of the founders of the Nigerian Premier League in 1972, when they were called ''WNDC Ibadan'' (Wester ...

Grasshoppers Zürich Grasshoppers are a group of insects belonging to the suborder Caelifera. They are among what is possibly the most ancient living group of chewing herbivorous insects, dating back to the early Triassic around 250 million years ago. Grasshoppe ...

(Switzerland),

Hapoel Be'er Sheva Hapoel Be'er Sheva Football Club ( he, מועדון הכדורגל הפועל באר שבע, ''Moadon HaKaduregel Hapoel Be'er Sheva'') is an Israeli football club from the city of Be'er Sheva, that competes in the Israeli Premier League. The cl ...

and

Chamois Niortais Chamois Niortais Football Club (often referred to as ''Les Chamois'', Chamois Niortais, or simply Niort) is a French association football club based in the commune of Niort, in the Deux-Sèvres department of western France. It was founded in 1 ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. He studied at Methodist High School Ibadan and played for the Methodist High School Ibadan Old Boys. He retired from football in 2006 due to serious

glaucoma Glaucoma is a group of eye diseases that result in damage to the optic nerve (or retina) and cause vision loss. The most common type is open-angle (wide angle, chronic simple) glaucoma, in which the drainage angle for fluid within the eye rem ...

. He is now totally blind in right eye. Femi Opabunmi is now the Head Coach of a Football academy in

Iwo, Osun State Iwo is a City in Osun State, Nigeria. The Iwo people, like all other people of the Yoruba kingdom, are said to have originated from Ile-Ife - where they migrated sometimes in the 14th century according to Alademomi kenyon and Prince Adelegan Ad ...

, Alamu Football Academy, the first free football academy which is set to participate in the Nigerian Premier league.

International career

Opabunmi scored a goal to help Nigeria win the African U-17 Championships in 2001. With Collins Osunwa out with injury he became Nigeria's key player at

2001 FIFA U-17 World Championship The FIFA U-17 World Championship 2001, the ninth edition of the tournament, was held in the cities of Port of Spain, Malabar in Arima, Marabella in San Fernando, Couva, and Bacolet in Scarborough at Trinidad and Tobago between 13 and 30 September ...

where he scored a hat-trick against Australia and won him the Silver Shoe as second highest goalscorer and also the Bronze Ball as third best player in the tournament, helping Nigeria to reach the final where they lost to France. He attracted attention from clubs such as Manchester United, Lyon and Celta Vigo. He played for

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

and made his debut in 2002 against

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

scoring the second goal in a 3-0 win. He was a participant at the

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

playing against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in the last group stage match becoming the 3rd youngest player to ever play in the World Cup finals after Norman Whiteside and Samuel Eto'o. Thereafter, he has not been called again for the national team.

References

1985 births Nigerian footballers 2002 FIFA World Cup players Israeli Premier League players Living people Yoruba sportspeople Sportspeople from Lagos Nigeria international footballers Hapoel Be'er Sheva F.C. players Expatriate footballers in Israel Chamois Niortais F.C. players Shooting Stars S.C. players Grasshopper Club Zürich players Association football midfielders {{Nigeria-footy-midfielder-stub