From football field to classroom

The 28-year-old midfielder, who formerly played for Lyn, Hoenefoss, Lillestrom, KuPS and 14 Nigerian A-teams, terminated his contract with the Swedish club Assyriska last December because he wanted to be closer to his family who lives in Viborg.

The former footballer from Nigeria is married to a Danish woman with whom he has two kids. "We moved to Sweden, Norway and Finland. Last year my wife decided to come back to Denmark, and it was hard for me to be alone, so I decided to follow my family".

When Paul returned to Denmark at the beginning of this year, he looked for football offers, but they had to be near his home. "I have been offered deals far from home. I also felt that it's time to do something else with my life because I will not be young forever and I have to think about what I would like to do in the future".

Marketing in sports

Paul Obiefule will not yet completely dismiss football. The former footballer will use his experience from the sports field to work with sports marketing in the future. "I enrolled a Dania since it offers Marketing Management in English. I would like to be able to work with marketing, advertising and management in sports in the future".

The former Assyriska player admits that it has been challenging to adapt to a new lifestyle. "It is a bit hard to sit and read a lot of things at the Academy. I miss my other kind of life where they gave me everything. Now I have to do things by myself".

A life full of sports

The dream of every footballer is to represent his country in the international scene and to win trophies. Paul has achieved that. His passion for football began when he was a child in his country, Nigeria. He started to play professional football at the age of 17 and made his debut for the Nigerian National Football team, Super Eagles, in the LG tournament in 2004.

The Nigerian player has been capped 10 times for his country and he was a member of the Super Eagles squad when they won bronze in Egypt in 2006. "I had hoped this year would be the opportunity to participate in the FIFA World Cup, but we didn't qualify".

Paul's other dream has been to play in the English football club, Arsenal. "It hasn't been possible, but instead, when I played for Finland's team, we played a football match with them. I also had the opportunity to come across many other well-known clubs like Liverpool, etc."

He gave up his studies in agricultural economics in Nigeria to pursue a professional football career.

In 2004, when the opportunity came to play in Denmark, he took the chance. "I had never heard about Denmark, but I wanted to try something new and to make an international career. After that, other offers came along".

His younger brother, Obina, has followed his footsteps. He currently plays for Mosta F.C. in Malta and has the record as scoring the most goals ever in Maltese Premier League in the 2011/2012.

 Senior career