Here are a few things you probably didn’t know about the stunning Super Eagles captain John Mikel Obi.
- “John Michael Nchekwube Obinna.” You probably are wondering whose name this is… That right there is John Mikel Obi’s real name. Shocked? Ahead of the 2003 FIFA Under-17 World Championships, the then Nigerian Football Association (NFA) mistakenly submitted his name as Mikel instead of Michael, and at the competition in Finland he was referred to as Mikel, the name eventually stuck and the player decided to just go on with the flow.
- At age 18, the young player was a prime target for two major clubs, Manchester United and Chelsea FC. He later joined Chelsea in 2006.
- After his decisive move to Chelsea, Mikel didn’t score any goals until the following year on January 6th, 2007 when the blues won Macclesfield Town by a landslide in an FA Cup match.
- Prior to his September 2013 EPL goal, the renown footballer had played for more than six years without an EPL goal. He played 350 games finding the back of the net only six times for Chelsea.
- Mikel can make a boast of two Premier League titles, four FA Cups, two League Cups, one FA Community Shield, one UEFA Champions League and one UEFA Europa League.
- In the year 2013, the Super Eagles of Nigeria won the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), with Mikel in front of the game leading the team on and off the pitch. The game was quite a tough one for the Eagles, but they made it clear past Burkina Faso with a 1:0 victory to claim the Nations Cup title.
- The Superstar has two beautiful twin girls (Mia and Ava) from his Russian girlfriend Olga Diyachenko.
