‘How Football Changed My Life’ – France 98’ World Cup Star Mobi Okparaku reveals
Mobi Oparaku: “I Came from a Very Poor Family, But France ’98 Bonuses Helped Me Build a House for My Mum and Send My Six Sisters to University”
Former Super Eagles player and Technical Director of Kun Khalifat FC in Owerri, Mobi Oparaku, has shared how football changed his life.
“I came from the poorest family you can imagine,” he said. “We had nothing. But football changed everything — not just for the better, but completely for the best.”
Mobi is the only boy in a family of seven children. “There were six girls and just me,” he explained. “But with God’s help and football, my life took a different direction.”
He began his football journey with the U13 and U15 teams in Owerri, Imo State, where his family lived just behind the stadium.
“We used to get 50 kobo as allowance. I would run home and give it to my mother to help out. I was happy just eating the food they gave us at camp,” he recalled.
From there, he moved up to play for the national U17 team, the Golden Eaglets, then the U20 Flying Eagles, and finally the U23 team, where he helped Nigeria win a historic gold medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics — the first ever for an African country in men’s football.
He also played at the France ’98 World Cup, where the bonuses he received helped him build a house for his mum and pay for all six of his sisters to go to university.
