Femi Opabunmi: 6 things to know about ex-Super Eagles player who went blind playing in France

By Jimmy

Former Super Eagles of Nigeria winger, Femi Opabunmi, recently opened up about the heartbreaking end to his football career.

In an emotional interview with Vanguard, Opabunmi revealed that it was one of the most trying periods of his life, after he was diagnosed with serious glaucoma and almost rendered penniless.

In this article, Ikejabird gives key details you need to know about Femi Opabunmi – whose football potential was cut short untimely.

Who is Femi Opabunmi?

Born on March 3, 1985, in Lagos, Nigeria, Femi Opabunmi is a former Nigerian professional footballer who played as a winger.

He studied at Methodist High School Ibadan, Oyo State, and played for the Methodist High School Ibadan Old Boys.

During his career, Opabunmi played for a few clubs, including Shooting Stars FC, Grasshoppers Zürich (Switzerland), Hapoel Be’er Sheva in Israel, and Chamois Niortais in France.

As of 2023, he is 38 years old.

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He is the youngest Nigerian to ever play at a World Cup

Femi Opabunmi — Femi Pabunmi contests the ball for Nigeria against former England international David Beckham at the 2002 World Cup| Credit: IMAGO

To this date, Opabunmi holds the record as the youngest-ever Nigerian footballer to feature in the FIFA World Cup at 17 years old and 100 days, as per Statista.

Opabunmi was a participant in the 2002 FIFA World Cup playing against England in the last group stage match. This also makes him the 3rd youngest player to ever play in the World Cup finals after Norman Whiteside and Samuel Eto’o.

He was prolific in his youth days but forced to retire at 21

During his playing football days, Opebanmi was very prolific from the flanks. The former Grasshopper star scored 6 goals in 6 appearances for the Nigeria U17 team.

However, Femi Opabunmi was forced to hang up his boots at a very young age, after he was diagnosed with serious glaucoma while playing for French Division 2 team Niort.

Opabunmi revealed that he seemingly lost his sight while trying to head the ball in a match while representing the French club. This condition initially left him totally blind for 17 days.

The serious condition which he was told was ‘complicated’, forced him to retire from professional football in 2006.

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He spent over 30 million on two failed operations

Following his retirement, Opabunmi revealed that he had lost millions of naira while seeking to restore his sight as he had two failed operations. He told Vanguard in an interview that he spent up to 40 million trying to restore his sight, having travelled to specialists in Romania, U.K, and even U.S.A.

Eventually, Opabunmi revealed he finally restored his sight after coming back to Nigeria and turning solely to God.

He has a CAF coaching license

Opabunmi is currently a coach of a football academy in Oyo State. He also has a CAF-C coaching license through a Tikitaka coaching certificate.

He also stated his desire to acquire a CAF-B license as it is a standard requirement to coach a team in the Nigerian premiership.

Even though Nigeria has been temporarily suspended from CAF coaching courses, Opabunmi stated that he is hopeful that the new NFF president Ibrahim Musa Gasau will rectify the situation.

He does not watch the Super Eagles’ matches

Opabunmi revealed that he does not watch Nigeria’s games anymore because he breaks down emotionally watching his mates play.

The 38-year-old former winger said he was close to suicide while seeking a solution to his problems years ago, but stated that he remains grateful to God for restoring his sight.