Jonathan Akpoborie, is a former Super Eagles player who spent most of
his football career in Germany. He is currently a FIFA Licensed
players agent.
In this interview with Hi Groove, Akpoborie opens up on his life on
the football pitch and why he loves to dress the way he does.
Excerpt:
In the Beginning
I started off my footballing life playing the Felele football on the street with friends.
Although football was not taken seriously in our time, we still enjoyed the game.
My passion for football was inspired by the exploits of my elder brother who was a good footballer then.
His performances in school and in competitive football matches
between our school and others, contributed very much to my loving the
round game.
As I grew up and got more involved in the game, I took to watching
the television to see how big teams competed against each other. I
particularly enjoyed watching the English and Brazilians teams because I
thought their pattern of play was fascinating. All of these helped in
developing my interest in the game.
My journey to stardom began when I was invited to join the Under-17
national team and I thank God I didn’t disappoint the coaches.
My success at that level and the club also contributed to my making the senior national team, the Super Eagles.
To be modest, I was one of the lucky few from Ajegunle that ever made it to the national team.
And that’s why I’m doing my best to help those talented players who
don’t have the opportunity to take their football trade to higher
level.
I started off my professional football career with the Julius Berger
football club, before moving on to the United State of America.
In 1990, I joined FC Saarbrucken, a second Bundesliga clubside in
German. I also had spells with FC Carl Zeiss Jena and Stuttgart Kickers
where I emerged top scorer with 37 goals in one season.
In 1995, I joined top-flight Hansa Rostock but two years later, I
moved over to their rival team VFB Stuttgart and then VFL Wolfsburg in
1999. I retired from active footballing after a spell with Saarbrucken
in 2002.
Life outside football
*Akpoborie
I try to live a normal life. But its tough. Life after retirement is
difficult because whenever you stop playing football, you begin to learn
the process of getting over routine training everyday.You also learn to
adapt to a new life style different from the one you spent flying
around the world for competitions.
It is a difficult task to adapt to a new life style after you’ve
spent the better part of your life travelling from one country to
another. Really, life outside football is not easy.
But I had to adjust to a normal lifestyle. It is a new life all
together, because no coach would disturb you to come out for training or
say you have not worked hard enough to warrant a shirt in the team.
Truly, it’s freedom sort of, but I still work out to keep in shape. You
need to keep in shape all the time.
Exercise
Yes, I still exercise and play football regularly with my friends, because its good for my health.
Mood and dressing
My mood determines what I wear everyday. But I like to dress well. I
also follow the trend in fashion because I don’t want to be left behind.
I like being fashionable all the time. And just like they say it, I Iove looking good because its good business.
Although, I don’t dress to stand out, I love wearing comfortable
things. I wear only things that look good on me, designer or not.
I don’t like wearing loud coloured or flashy dresses because I hate
drawing attention to my self. I wear corporate dresses most of the time
when I am going out for business. .
Accessories
I love good and quality shoes and my preference depends on my mood. I
also compliment it with good wrist watches and good perfumes. I also
love chains and necklaces a lot.
Women and I
I have female admirers and I respect them a lot. It is very
unfortunate that in this part of the world men don’t respect women. For
some men they have their reasons for not doing so , but I feel women
should better respected.
Smoking and Drinking
I have done virtually everything in life during my active days in football. The only thing I never practised is smoking.
I learnt about the danger in smoking as a child especially having
seen so many people die from it. So I never indulged in the act. But I
drink socially. I only drink stuff that I’m comfortable with.
Likes and dislikes
I hate crowd and I don’t like places that are crowded. It is more
disturbing when one walks into a place and the people chase after you.
It is the price one pays for fame. I like private places because most of
the time I like to be left alone.
Food and fruits
I don’t like solid foods like eba and , pounded Yam. Instead, I
prefer rice, plantain and salad. I also like spaghetti. I got used to
these foods during my playing days as a footballer. These were the food
we ate as footballers.
I also enjoy eating plenty of fruits but my favourite is orange.
