Joel Obi

Joel Obi Biography / Profile

Joel Chukwuma Obi was born on May 22nd, 1991 in Lagos, Nigeria. Known as Joel Obi, he is a Nigerian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Italian club Torino and the Nigerian national team.

Joel Obi Age

Not available.

Joel Obi Early Life

Obi was raised in Lagos. His family has South African and Ivorian origins on his mother's side and Congolese origins on his father's side. When he was still young, he immigrated to Parma in Italy, to live with his parents.

Joel Obi Career

Two years after arriving Italy, Obi enrolled in a local football school and in 2005 was scouted and signed by Inter Milan at the Torneo Scirea. After winning the "Allievi Nazionali" Under-17 championship in 2008 under the guidance of Daniele Bernazzani, he moved to the Primavera formation, where he collected over 40 appearances and six goals in just under three years.

In 2009, he was noticed by José Mourinho and played occasionally with the first-team of Inter. In 2010, although he did not feature, he was registered to the club's 'A' list of players who won the Champions League in the final against Bayern Munich.

In the summer of 2010, Rafael Benítez officially moved him into the first-team. Obi made his debut for Inter on 29 September 2010 in a UEFA Champions League group stage game against Werder Bremen. He played the final 10 minutes of the match after coming on as a substitute in the 80th minute for fellow midfielder Dejan Stankovi. Inter went on to defeat Werder Bremen in a 4–0 shootout.

Obi made his Serie A debut on 17 October 2010 against Cagliari when he replaced Philippe Coutinho in the 66th minute. The game ended 1–0 with a goal from Samuel Eto'o. Obi started the "Milan Derby" at Beijing for the Supercoppa Italiana on 14 November but had to be substituted after only 35 minutes because of an injury, he was replaced by Coutinho.

In January 2011, Obi and Nwankwo Obiora were sold in co-ownership to Parma for just €750 and €300,000 respectively. However, Obi remained at Inter for the rest of the season, collecting 10 appearances in the league, two in Coppa Italia and one in the Champions League. In the league he was a starter under both Gian Piero Gasperini and the new coach, Claudio Ranieri. On 27 September he got his first start in the Champions League, and on 1 October, was sent off for the first time in his career after a second yellow card at home to Napoli.

On 17 January 2012 Parma sold their 50% share of Obi back to Inter for €3.2 million (€1.7 million plus Crisetig) and his salary was raised to a reported €600,000 per year. On 29 April, Obi scored his first goal in Serie A against Cesena, the momentary equaliser 1–1, in an eventual 2–1 victory. He concluded the 2011–12 season with 27 appearances in Serie A, two in Coppa Italia and seven in the Champions League, plus one in the final of Supercoppa Italiana. However, his season was cut short by a bad injury that restricted him to a long period of rest.

Remaining at a standstill due to injury, he returned to the field in 2012–13 season, exactly on 4 October, in the victory away from home 1–3 against Neftchi Baku in the Europa League scoring the goal of 0–2, which was the 500th goal in UEFA competitions for Inter. He concluded the season with two appearances in the league, one in the Coppa Italia and one in the Europa League. He has won three trophies, all with Inter Milan. They include; Coppa Italia in the 2010–11 season, Supercoppa Italiana and FIFA Club World Cup both in 2010.

Obi made his international debut for Nigeria on 9 February 2011 in a friendly game with Sierra Leone in Lagos. He started the next 11 games in a row for the Eagles before getting injured near the end of 2012. He was named in the preliminary squad for the 2014 World Cup.