Wilfred Agbonavbare (5 October 1966 – 27 January 2015) was a Nigerian 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 ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

. He spent the better part of his professional career with Spanish club

Rayo Vallecano Rayo Vallecano de Madrid, S.A.D. (), often abbreviated to Rayo (Spanish for "thunderbolt"), is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid, in the neighbourhood of Vallecas. Rayo was founded on 29 May 1924, and currently compete in La Li ...

, appearing in 189 competitive matches over six seasons (three in

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men' ...

Club career

In his country,

Lagos Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national capital of Nigeria until December 1991 fo ...

-born Agbonavbare played for New Nigeria Bank F.C. and

BCC Lions FC BCC Lions Football Club (Benue Cement Company Lions Football Club) is a Nigerian football team based in Gboko, Benue State, that competes in the Nigeria Amateur League, and plays its home games at the J. S. Tarka Stadium. History BCC Lions w ...

. In 1990, he moved to Spain where he would spend the rest of his career, starting with

in Segunda División. In his second season with the

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

outskirts club, Agbonavbare appeared in all 38 league games (3,332 minutes of action, 27 goals conceded, second-best in the competition) as the team finished second and returned to

after two years of absence. He continued to be first-choice in the following years, contributing with 31 matches to another top-flight promotion in 1995. In 1995–96, Agbonavbare lost his starting position to Spanish international Abel Resino. In the following summer, he signed for second level side

Écija Balompié Écija Balompié, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Écija, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1939, it plays in División de Honor Andaluza, the fifth tier of Spanish football. History In 2007–08 season, the club b ...

, being the most used player in his position but suffering team relegation. After one year in his country training to remain fit, Agbonavbare retired due to lack of offers at only 31.

International career

Agbonavbare appeared with the Nigerian under-20s at the

1983 FIFA World Youth Championship The 1983 FIFA World Youth Championship was the fourth edition FIFA World Youth Championship tournament, hosted from 2 June to 19 June 1983 in seven venues in Mexico — Guadalajara, Irapuato, León, Mexico City, Monterrey, Puebla and Toluca — w ...

in Mexico. He played for more than one decade with the full side, being selected for the

1994 African Cup of Nations The 1994 African Cup of Nations was the 19th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the association football championship of Africa ( CAF). It was hosted by Tunisia, who replaced original hosts Zaire. Just as in 1992, the field of twelve teams was ...

and that year's

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

, backing up

Peter Rufai Peter Rufai (born 24 August 1963) is a Nigerian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He competed professionally in Belgium, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain, in a senior career that lasted 20 years. Rufai represented ...

on both occasions.

Personal life

Agbonavbare settled in the

Community of Madrid The Community of Madrid (; es, Comunidad de Madrid ) is one of the seventeen autonomous communities of Spain. It is located in the centre of the Iberian Peninsula, and of the Central Plateau (''Meseta Central''). Its capital and largest munic ...

after retiring as a player, working as a delivery man and a goalkeeper coach. In late January 2015 it was revealed that he was suffering from cancer, and he subsequently underwent treatment at the Hospital Universitario Príncipe de Asturias in Alcalá de Henares. Both Agonavbare's former team Rayo Vallecano and its opponents Atlético Madrid displayed a banner during their league match at the

Vicente Calderón Stadium The Vicente Calderón Stadium ( es, Estadio Vicente Calderón ) was the home stadium of Atlético Madrid from its completion in 1966 to 2017, with a seating capacity of 54,907 and located on the banks of the Manzanares, in the Arganzuela distr ...

on 24 January that read "Fuerza Wilfred" (Come on Wilfred). He succumbed to the disease three days later, aged 48.

Victim of racist abuse in Spain

In the

1992–93 La Liga The 1992–93 La Liga season, the 62nd since its establishment, started on September 5, 1992, and finished on June 20, 1993. Barcelona won the title for the third successive season, finishing a single point ahead of Real Madrid. Team informatio ...

season, Wilfred Agbonavbare was target of racist abuse from Real Madrid fans, including the chant ''Negro cabrón, recoge el algodón!'' ("Idiot

nigger In the English language, the word ''nigger'' is an ethnic slur used against black people, especially African Americans. Starting in the late 1990s, references to ''nigger'' have been progressively replaced by the euphemism , notably in cases ...

, go pick cotton!") and a middle-aged man from Madrid saying on live TV that "that fucking nigger from Rayo" and the referee Juan Andújar Oliver were to blame for Real Madrid's defeat, much to the amusement of the teenage fans who shouted "Ku Klux Klan". In the same live TV report, a 13-year old Real Madrid fan took furiously the microphone and spat, making a verbal threat to the Nigerian goalkeeper saying "Sunday we'll go to beat to death the nigger, that son of a bitch, in Vallecas". When asked about the abuse suffered, Wilfred stated "That's normal, I am dark-skinned and having made many saves, I expected people to shout at me. But i am a footballer and this is nothing, i am very focused on layingmy match". The Bukaneros, a far-left ultras group from Rayo Vallecano, dedicated to Wilfred a graffiti with the dedication "For your defense of the Sash against racism, we will not forget you".

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Agbonavbare, Wilfred 1966 births 2015 deaths Footballers from Lagos Nigerian men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Nigeria men's international footballers Nigeria men's under-20 international footballers 1994 African Cup of Nations players 1994 FIFA World Cup players Africa Cup of Nations-winning players Nigeria Professional Football League players La Liga players Segunda División players New Nigerian Bank F.C. players BCC Lions F.C. players Rayo Vallecano players Écija Balompié players Nigerian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Deaths from cancer in Spain Deaths from bone cancer