View source for Christian Obodo

{{Short description|Nigerian footballer (born 1984)}}
{{use Nigerian English|date=July 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2023}}
{{BLP sources|date=June 2009}}
{{Infobox football biography
| name           = Christian Obodo
| image          = Christian Obodo.jpg
| image_size     = 200
| fullname       = Christian Udubuesi Obodo
| birth_date     = {{Birth date and age|df=y|1984|5|11}}
| birth_place    = [[Warri]], Nigeria
| height         = {{height|m=1.78}}<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dinamo-minsk.by/rus/team/~group_id__n51=14~page__n51=1~id__n51=760 |title=Команда |website=dinamo-minsk.by |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130719092857/http://www.dinamo-minsk.by/rus/team/~group_id__n51%3D14~page__n51%3D1~id__n51%3D760 |archive-date=19 July 2013}}</ref>
| position       = [[Defensive midfielder]]
| youthyears1    =
| youthclubs1    = [[Plateau United]]
| years1 = 2001–2004
| years2 = 2004–2005
| years3 = 2005–2012
| years4 = 2010–2011
| years5 = 2011–2012
| years6 = 2013
| years7 = 2014
| years8 = 2014–2016
| years9 = 2016
| years10 = 2016
| years11 = 2017
| clubs1 = [[AC Perugia Calcio|Perugia]]
| clubs2 = [[ACF Fiorentina|Fiorentina]]
| clubs3 = [[Udinese Calcio|Udinese]]
| clubs4 = → [[Torino FC|Torino]] (loan)
| clubs5 = → [[US Lecce|Lecce]] (loan)
| clubs6 = [[FC Dinamo Minsk|Dinamo Minsk]]
| clubs7 = [[S.C. Olhanense|Olhanense]]
| clubs8 = [[Xanthi F.C.|Skoda Xanthi]]
| clubs9 = [[CS Concordia Chiajna|Concordia Chiajna]]
| clubs10 = [[CS Pandurii Târgu Jiu|Pandurii Târgu Jiu]]
| clubs11 = [[Apollon Smyrnis F.C.|Apollon Smyrnis]]
| caps1 = 62
| caps2 = 33
| caps3 = 78
| caps4 = 16
| caps5 = 23
| caps6 = 1
| caps7 = 13
| caps8 = 28
| caps9 =  17
| caps10 = 9
| caps11 = 17
|totalcaps = 297
| goals1 = 1
| goals2 = 2
| goals3 = 6
| goals4 = 1
| goals5 = 0
| goals6 = 0
| goals7 = 0
| goals8 = 2
| goals9 = 4
| goals10 = 1
| goals11 = 0
| totalgoals = 17
| nationalyears1 = 2004–2008
| nationalteam1  = [[Nigeria national football team|Nigeria]]
| nationalcaps1  = 21 | nationalgoals1 = 4
| pcupdate       = 15 June 2017
| ntupdate       =
}}
'''Christian Obodo''' (born 11 May 1984 in [[Warri]], [[Nigeria]]) is a Nigerian former [[association football|footballer]] who played as a [[defensive midfielder]].

==Football career==
He was plucked from relative obscurity in the Nigerian league, playing for [[Plateau United]] to Italy where  he became one of the hottest properties in the Italian Serie A where he had a brilliant season at [[AC Perugia Calcio|Perugia]]. He scored his first ever [[Serie A]] goal in a 2–2 draw against Inter at the end of the season 2003.

[[ACF Fiorentina|Fiorentina]] signed him as a key part of their renovation as the team came back to Serie A in 2004. They only bought half the registration rights and in 2005 ''La Viola'' and Perugia were forced to make a blind auction to decide his future. Perugia won the auction but immediately sold him to Udinese.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.uefa.com/competitions/ucl/news/kind=1/newsid=313688.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050706041249/http://www.uefa.com/competitions/UCL/news/Kind=1/newsId=313688.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=6 July 2005|title=Obodo unveiled by Udinese|date=1 July 2005|publisher=UEFA}}</ref>

Obodo played his first [[UEFA Champions League]] with ''Le zebrette'' in 2005–06 season, partnered in midfield with [[Sulley Muntari]], up until Muntari's exit for [[Portsmouth F.C.]] in 2007.

On 28 January 2014, the Portuguese side [[S.C. Olhanense]] announced they had agreed to a deal with Obodo after playing in a training game against [[FC Lokomotiv Moscow|Lokomotiv Moscow]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://somosnos.scolhanense.com/?p=6226|title=Médio internacional nigeriano Christian Obodo é reforço|date=28 January 2014|work=Sporting Clube Olhanense|language=Portuguese|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140202114819/http://somosnos.scolhanense.com/?p=6226|archivedate=2 February 2014}}</ref>

==International career==
In 2001, Obodo played for the Flying Eagles coached by Stephen Keshi at the African Youth Championship in Ethiopia. Though the team crashed out of the tournament with just one point from 3 games, Obodo showed a lot of promise in a team that had other players such as Bartholomew Ogbeche and Christopher Justice.

Obodo is regarded by many as one of the most skilful and talented midfielders to play for the Super Eagles since the 1994 era. Little wonder, a sports radio personality and media mogul – noted for nicknaming Nigerian footballers – describes him as ''bundle of skills'', a phrase which later stuck and is now synonymous with Obodo's skilfulness.

Obodo exudes a high level of confidence in games. He is never shy of taking on opponents. Renowned for his dribbling, energetic play and surging runs, he is best when he plays through the centre of the pitch where he dribbles and often makes surging runs towards goal.

He made his long-awaited debut for the Super Eagles in the LG Cup tournament in 2003 featuring in the games versus [[Ghana national football team|Ghana]] and [[Cameroon national football team|Cameroon]]. He also made a substitute appearance in the prestigious Brazil friendly, playing as a striker. He has also appeared in Nigeria's 4–1 win over Malawi in an ANC 2004 qualifier. Obodo scored his first goal in a 5–2 win at [[Algeria national football team|Algeria]].

He made six appearances out of 10 in the 2006 World Cup qualification series, scoring a goal. At the 2006 African Cup of Nations, he featured in 4 of Nigeria's six games, scoring in the 2–0 win over Zimbabwe. Obodo last played for the Super Eagles in 2008.

==Abduction==
On the morning of 9 June 2012, Obodo was reportedly kidnapped by gunmen near Warri, Delta State. He was rescued the next day in nearby Isoko by men of the Nigerian police force, no ransom was paid, and suspects were arrested.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/18382013 |title=Nigerian police rescue abducted footballer Obodo |first=Oluwashina |last=Okeleji |publisher=BBC Sport |date=11 June 2012 |accessdate=12 May 2014}}</ref>

==Career statistics==
===Club===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! colspan=3 | Club performance
! colspan=2 | League
! colspan=2 | Cup
! colspan=2 | Continental
! colspan=2 | Total
|-
! Season
! Club
! League
! Apps !! Goals
! Apps !! Goals
! Apps !! Goals
! Apps !! Goals
|-
! colspan=3 |Italy
! colspan=2 | League
! colspan=2 | [[Coppa Italia]]
! colspan=2 | [[UEFA|Europe]]
! colspan=2 | Total
|-
|[[2001–02 Serie A|2001–02]]||rowspan="3"|[[AC Perugia Calcio|Perugia]]||rowspan="3"|[[Serie A]]||1||0||0||0||colspan="2"|-||1||0
|-
|[[2002–03 Serie A|2002–03]]||30||1||5||0||0||0||35||1
|-
|[[2003–04 Serie A|2003–04]]||31||0||5||1||10||0||46||1

|-
|[[2004–05 Serie A|2004–05]]||[[ACF Fiorentina|Fiorentina]]||[[Serie A]]||33||2||6||0||colspan="2"|-||39||2
|-
|[[2005–06 Serie A|2005–06]]||rowspan="5"|[[Udinese Calcio|Udinese]]||rowspan="5"|[[Serie A]]||28||1||1||1||12||0||41||2
|-
|[[2006–07 Serie A|2006–07]]||30||5||3||1||colspan="2"|-||33||6
|-
|[[2007–08 Serie A|2007–08]]||1||0||3||0||colspan="2"|-||4||0
|-
|[[2008–09 Serie A|2008–09]]||18||0||0||0||8||1||26||1
|-
|[[2009–10 Serie A|2009–10]]||1||0||0||0||0||0||1||0
|-
|[[2010–11 Serie B|2010–11]]||[[Torino FC|Torino]]||1|[[Serie B]]||16||1||1||1||colspan="2"|-||17||2
|-
|[[2011–12 Serie A|2011–12]]||[[US Lecce|Lecce]]||[[Serie A]]||20||0||1||0||colspan="2"|-||21||0
|-
!rowspan=1| Country !!colspan=2| Italy
!189||11||24||3||30||1||243||15
|-
!colspan=3|Total
!189||11||24||3||30||1||243||15
|}

===International===
<ref>{{NFT player|pid=4842}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
! colspan=3 | [[Nigeria national football team|Nigeria national team]]
|-
!Year!!Apps!!Goals
|-
|-
|2003||3||0
|-
|2004||5||0
|-
|2005||3||1
|-
|2006||5||2
|-
|2007||2||0
|-
|2008||3||1
|-
!Total||21||4
|}

===International goals===
{| class="wikitable"
! # !! Date !! Venue !! Opponent !! Score !! Result !! Competition
|-
| || 4 September 2005 || [[Oran]], [[Algeria]] || {{fb|ALG}} || 5–2 || Won || [[2006 FIFA World Cup qualification (CAF)|2006 FIFA World Cup qualification]]
|-
| || 27 January 2006 || [[Port Said]], [[Egypt]] || {{fb|ZIM}} || 2–0 || Won || [[2006 Africa Cup of Nations]]
|-
| || 2 September 2006 || [[Abuja]], [[Nigeria]] || {{fb|NIG}} || 2–0 || Won || [[2008 Africa Cup of Nations qualification]]
|-
| || 11 October 2008 || [[Abuja]], [[Nigeria]] || {{fb|SLE}} || 4–1 || Won || [[2010 FIFA World Cup qualification (CAF)|2010 FIFA World Cup qualification]]
|}

==Honours==
'''Perugia'''
*[[UEFA Intertoto Cup]]: [[2003 UEFA Intertoto Cup|2003]]<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.uefa.com/competitions/IntertotoCup/FixturesResults/Round=1691/Match=73025/Report=MS.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031006122354/http://www.uefa.com/competitions/IntertotoCup/FixturesResults/Round=1691/Match=73025/Report=MS.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=6 October 2003 |title=Wolfsburg 0-2 Perugia (Aggregate: 0 – 3)|publisher=UEFA |access-date=15 June 2020}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Nigeria Squad 2006 Africa Cup of Nations}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Obodo, Christian}}
[[Category:1984 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Footballers from Warri]]
[[Category:Nigerian men's footballers]]
[[Category:Men's association football midfielders]]
[[Category:Nigeria men's international footballers]]
[[Category:2006 Africa Cup of Nations players]]
[[Category:Nigerian expatriate men's footballers]]
[[Category:Expatriate men's footballers in Italy]]
[[Category:Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Italy]]
[[Category:Expatriate men's footballers in Belarus]]
[[Category:Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Belarus]]
[[Category:Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal]]
[[Category:Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal]]
[[Category:Expatriate men's footballers in Greece]]
[[Category:Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Greece]]
[[Category:Expatriate men's footballers in Romania]]
[[Category:Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Romania]]
[[Category:Liga I players]]
[[Category:Serie A players]]
[[Category:Serie B players]]
[[Category:Plateau United F.C. players]]
[[Category:AC Perugia Calcio players]]
[[Category:ACF Fiorentina players]]
[[Category:Udinese Calcio players]]
[[Category:Torino FC players]]
[[Category:US Lecce players]]
[[Category:FC Dinamo Minsk players]]
[[Category:S.C. Olhanense players]]
[[Category:Xanthi F.C. players]]
[[Category:CS Concordia Chiajna players]]
[[Category:CS Pandurii Târgu Jiu players]]
[[Category:Apollon Smyrnis F.C. players]]
[[Category:Belarusian Premier League players]]
[[Category:Primeira Liga players]]
[[Category:Super League Greece players]]
[[Category:Football League (Greece) players]]
[[Category:21st-century Nigerian sportsmen]]