Chinedu Obasi

Lyn

Born in Enugu, Nigeria, Obasi started his football career at River Lane Youth Club Enugu and JC Raiders in his homeland country. Obasi went to Norway at the same time as his countryman Mikel John Obi; both players joined Lyn. It was disputed that Obasi signed for Lyn in 2004, but this was rejected by FIFA which ordered both Obasi and Ezekiel Bala returned to Lyn with immediate effect. Obasi made his Lyn debut, in the opening game of the season, where he played 66 minutes, in a 1–1 draw against Fredrikstad. However, Obasi struggled to regain a place in the first team and it wasn't until on 25 September 2005 when he scored his first Lyn goal, in a 1–0 win over Brann. Despite this, Obasi made five appearances in his first season. In the 2006 season, Obasi didn't play for the side at the start of the season due to an ongoing dispute with his own club. On 2 July 2006, he made his first appearance of the season in a 2–1 win over Fredrikstad. Obasi then scored his first goal for the club on 6 August 2006, in a 2–0 win over Molde, followed up by scoring twice in the next game, with a 3–2 loss against Stabæk. Despite suffering from injuries during the season, Obasi finished his second season making fifteen appearances and scoring eight times in all competitions. For his performance, Obasi was named Young Player of the Year. On 20 December 2006, a transfer deal was announced with Russian side Lokomotiv Moscow, and Obasi was set to move to the Russian side in January. The…

Club

International

Scores and results list Nigeria's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Obasi goal.

Norway naturalization persuasion

Obasi was offered the chance to represent the Norway national football team during his club career in Norway and Obasi stated that: "I don't regret dumping Norway to play for Nigeria, back then at Lyn Oslo with Mikel John Obi, I was encouraged to naturalize to receive a Norwegian passport and become a Norwegian, the Football Association of Norway wanted me to play for the Norway national football team at that time and I must confess I gave it a thought for a long time, I had already played for Nigeria in one of their friendly matches which was one of the deciding factors in my final choice, I love Nigeria and I was well received by the senior players in Super Eagles, I had to walk up to them in Norway's Football Association of Norway and say no".

Nigeria

Obasi was part of the Nigeria national under-20 football team that finished runners-up at the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship. After the end of the FIFA World Youth Championship, Obasi was called up by the senior national team for the first time on 17 August 2005, in a 1–0 defeat against Libya. In July 2008, Obasi was called up by Nigeria national under-23 football team. However, the club refused to let Obasi go to the Olympics, leading him to take the situation to FIFA. Eventually, Obasi was given permission by the club's management to compete with the national olympic team and helped the side finish runners-up at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics. During the tournament,…

The name "Obasi" means "Glory of God" in the Nigerian Igbo language. Obasi prays before every one of his matches: "I can talk to God about everything, so I pray for victory". When Obasi lived in Germany, he began to learn the German language. It was reported that Obasi received a German citizenship in March 2015, having stayed there for eight years.