Joel Obi Biography | Profile | Age | Career

Joel Chukwuma Obi (born 22 May 1991), known as Joel Obi, is a Nigerian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for an Italian Serie B club Reggina and the Nigeria national team.

In this article, we will be discussing, who Joel Obi is and everything about him including, his education, career, age, net worth, and social media handles, among others.

Table of Contents

Joel Obi Early Life

Joel Obi was born in Lagos State, which falls among the states in the Southwestern part of Nigeria. He grew up and had an educational background in Lagos. His family also has South African and Ivorian origins on his mother’s side and Congolese origins on his father’s side. When he was still young, he immigrated to Parma in Italy, to live with his parents.

Joel Obi Age

Joel Obi was born on the 22nd of May, 1991, in Lagos State.

Joel Obi Career

Joel Obi International Career

On the 9th of February 2011, Obi made his international debut for Nigeria in a friendly game with Sierra Leone in Lagos. He started the next 11 games in a row for the Eagles before getting injured near the end of 2012. He was named in the preliminary squad for the 2014 World Cup.

In May 2018 he was named in Nigeria’s preliminary 30 man squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.

Joel Obi Appearances and goals by national team and year

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Nigeria	2011	11	0
2012	0	0
2013	0	0
2014	1	0
2015	0	0
2016	0	0
2017	0	0
2018	4	0
Total	16	0

Joel Obi Club Career

After winning the “Allievi Nazionali” Under-17 championship in 2008 under the guidance of Daniele Bernazzani, Obi moved to the Primavera formation, where he collected over 40 appearances and six goals in just under three years.

In 2009, he was noticed by José Mourinho and led occasionally to the first-team of Inter. In 2010, even if without playing, he was registered to the club’s ‘A’ list of players, who won the Champions League in the final against Bayern Munich.

In the summer 2010, Rafael Benítez definitively moved him with the first-team. Joel Obi made his debut for Inter on 29 September 2010 in a UEFA Champions League group stage game against Werder Bremen. He played the final 10 minutes of the match after coming on as a substitute in the 80th minute for fellow midfielder Dejan Stanković. Inter went on to defeat Werder Bremen in a 4–0 shutout.

Obi made his Serie A debut on 17 October 2010 against Cagliari when he replaced Philippe Coutinho in the 66th minute. The game ended 1–0 with a goal from Samuel Eto’o.

Obi started the “Milan Derby” at Beijing for the Supercoppa Italiana on 14 November but had to be substituted after only 35 minutes because of injury, he was replaced by Coutinho. In January 2011, Obi and Nwankwo Obiora were sold in co-ownership to Parma for just €750 and €300,000 respectively.

However, Obi remained at Inter for the rest of the season, collecting 10 appearances in the league, two in Coppa Italia and one in the Champions League. In the league he was a starter under both Gian Piero Gasperini and the new coach, Claudio Ranieri.

On 27 September he got his first start in the Champions League, and on 1 October, was sent for the first time in his career after a second yellow card at home to Napoli. On 17 January 2012 Parma sold their 50% share of Obi back to Inter for €3.2 million (€1.7 million plus Crisetig) and his salary was raised to a reported €600,000 per year. On 29 April, Obi scored his first goal in Serie A against Cesena, the momentary equaliser 1–1, in an eventual 2–1 victory.

He concluded the 2011–12 season with 27 appearances in Serie A, two in Coppa Italia and seven in the Champions League, plus one in the final of Supercoppa Italiana. However, his season was cut short by a bad injury that restricted him to a long period of rest.

Remaining at a standstill due to injury, he returned to the field in 2012–13 season, exactly on 4 October, in the victory away from home 1–3 against Neftchi Baku in the Europa League scoring the goal of 0–2, which was the 500th goal in UEFA competition for Inter. He concluded the season with two appearances in the league, one in the Coppa Italia and one in the Europa League.

Joel Obi in Parma (loan)

On 2 September 2013, he was loaned to Parma, in an away match against Catania, substituting Marco Parolo. After only eight appearances he returned to Inter.

Joel Obi Returned to Inter

On 28 August 2014, he returned to play for Inter in a home match won 6–0 in the Europa League against Stjarnan. Obi continuously played as a winger in Walter Mazzarri’s 3-5-2 formation due to the numerous injuries of his teammates. On 23 November, he played as the starter in the Milan derby, scoring the equaliser (1–1), in his first goal of the season, celebrating with somersaults. He returned to the field as a starter in the home match lost 0–1 against Torino on 25 January 2015, playing as a fullback. He concluded the season with 17 appearances and one goal. Overall for Inter he made 71 appearances and scored three goals.

Joel Obi in Torino

On 2 July 2015, Obi transferred to Torino for a €2.2 million fee and signed a 4-year contract. At the beginning of the season he quickly suffered two injuries, the last of which, constraint him to missing the first half of the 2015–16 season. He returned to the field, playing as a starter in the match against Chievo Verona on 7 February 2016, replaced by Alexander Farnerud in the second half. On 26 August 2017, he made his 24th appearance for Torino against Sassulo and scored his second goal and first of the season in the 88th minute. The match ended 3–0 in favour of Torino at home.

Joel Obi in Chievo Verona

On 11 August 2018, Obi signed with Serie A club Chievo Verona on a three-year contract with an option for another season. Obi was loaned to Turkish club Alanyaspor in January 2019 for the second half of the 2018–19 campaign.

During the 2020–21 season, the midfielder scored four goals in 31 Serie B games for Chievo.

Joel Obi in Salernitana

On 21 July 2021, Obi signed with newly promoted Serie A club U.S. Salernitana 1919 on a free transfer. Obi agreed to a one-year contract with the option of an extension.

Joel Obi in Reggina

On 20 July 2022, Obi joined Reggina on a two-year contract.

Joel Obi Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League	National Cup	Continental	Other	Total
Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Internazionale	2010–11	Serie A	10	0	2	0	1	0	0	0	13	0
2011–12	27	0	2	0	7	0	1	0	37	0
2012–13	2	0	1	0	1	1	—	4	1
2014–15	11	1	1	0	3	0	—	15	1
Total	50	1	6	0	12	1	1	0	69	2
Parma (loan)	2013–14	Serie A	8	0	0	0	—	—	8	0
Torino	2015–16	Serie A	10	1	1	0	—	—	11	1
2016–17	20	0	3	0	—	—	23	0
2017–18	22	5	3	1	—	—	25	6
Total	52	6	7	1	—	—	59	7
Chievo	2018–19	Serie A	11	1	0	0	—	—	11	1
2019–20	29	1	0	0	—	—	29	1
2020–21	Serie B	31	4	1	0	—	—	32	4
Total	71	6	1	0	—	—	72	6
Alanyaspor (loan)	2018–19	Süper Lig	2	0	0	0	—	—	2	0
Salernitana	2021–22	Serie A	21	0	2	0	—	—	23	0
Career total	204	13	16	1	12	1	1	0	233	15

Joel Obi Honours

Internazionale

2011: Coppa Italia
2010: Supercoppa Italiana
2010: FIFA Club World Cup

Joel Obi Relationship

His relationship and information about his family isn’t known to the public yet. Once these informations are found, this page would be updated.

Joel Obi Profile

Full name	Joel Chukwuma Obi
Date of birth	22 May 1991 (age 31)
Place of birth	Lagos, Nigeria
Height	1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s)	Left midfielder

Joel Obi Net Worth

According to some sources, Joel Obi has an estimated net worth of $1.5 million which have been generated from his football career.

Joel Obi Social Media Handles

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