 Martins playing for Levante in 2012 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Obafemi Akinwunmi Martins[1] | ||
| Date of birth | 28 October 1978[2] | ||
| Place of birth | Lagos, Nigeria | ||
| Height | 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)[3] | ||
| Position(s) | Forward | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1999–2000 | Ebedei | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2000–2001 | Reggiana | 2 | (0) |
| 2001–2006 | Inter Milan[2] | 88 | (28) |
| 2006–2009 | Newcastle United | 88 | (28) |
| 2009–2010 | VfL Wolfsburg | 16 | (6) |
| 2010–2012 | Rubin Kazan | 20 | (3) |
| 2011 | → Birmingham City (loan) | 4 | (0) |
| 2012–2013 | Levante | 21 | (7) |
| 2013–2015 | Seattle Sounders FC | 72 | (40) |
| 2016–2018 | Shanghai Shenhua | 40 | (19) |
| 2020 | Shanghai Shenhua | 4 | (0) |
| 2020 | Wuhan | 6 | (1) |
| Total | 361 | (132) | |
| International career | |||
| 2004–2015 | Nigeria | 42 | (18) |
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Obafemi Akinwunmi Martins (born 28 October 1978) is a Nigerian former professional footballer who played as a forward. He is known for his speed on the ball.
After leaving Nigeria for Italy at age 16, he played for a number of top-division clubs around Europe. He began his senior career in 2002 at Serie A club Inter Milan, before he moved to Premier League club Newcastle United in 2006, and then to Bundesliga club VfL Wolfsburg in 2009. Having joined Russian Premier League side Rubin Kazan in July 2010, they loaned him to Birmingham City in January 2011. He spent a season with La Liga club Levante, he played for Seattle Sounders FC of Major League Soccer from 2013 to 2015, scoring 40 goals, before spending several years in China with Shanghai Shenhua and Wuhan.
In club football, Martins won the Serie A title, the Italian Cup (twice), and the Italian Super Cup, all with Inter. With Birmingham he scored the winning goal in the 2011 Football League Cup Final. He played European football with Inter, Newcastle and Wolfsburg, winning the UEFA Intertoto Cup with Newcastle. His highest scoring league seasons so far have seen him score 11 goals in the 2004–05 Serie A, and 17 in both the 2006–07 Premier League and 2014 MLS. In international football, Martins was in the Nigerian squad for the Africa Cup of Nations in 2006, 2008 and 2010, and for the FIFA World Cup in 2010.
- ^ "Acta del Partido celebrado el 02 de marzo de 2013, en Valencia" [Minutes of the Match held on 2 March 2013, in Valencia] (in Spanish). Royal Spanish Football Federation. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
- ^ a b "Obafemi Martins". Archive. Inter Milan. Retrieved 6 February 2011.
- ^ "FIFA World Cup South Africa 2010 List of Players" (PDF). FIFA. 4 June 2010. p. 22. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 June 2010. Retrieved 2 May 2016.