Segun Odegbami is a football legend and superstar who reigned in the 70s and early 80s. Born Parick Olusegun Odegbami on August 27, 1952, he hails from Wasinmi, Ogun State, but was raised in Jos, Plateau State. A household name, he dominated the football scene for about 14 years.

After he graduated from Ibadan Polytechnic, Odegbami chose football as a career instead of engineering and spent several years from 1970 to 1984 to become a world-class footballer.   

He started professional football at the IICC Shooting Stars of Ibadan in 1970. His performance at his club, which won a continental trophy in 1976, brought him to the limelight. The IICC won the Africa Cup Winners Cup (now CAF Confederation Cup) in 1976, becoming the first Nigerian club to achieve such a feat. With the Shooting Stars, the club won the Nigeria Premier League in 1976, 1980 and 1983. It won the FA Cup in 1977 and 1979.

Odegbami was enlisted into the national team in 1976 in the encounter against Sierra Leone. He made 46 appearances for the national team, Green Eagles, and netted 23 times. He featured for Nigeria at the 1978 All-Africa Games, where the national team finished second. He was a member of the Green Eagles that won the African Cup of Nations championship in Lagos in 1980. He scored two of the three goals in the final that secured victory for Nigeria, and also emerged joint top scorer in the tournament along with Khalid Labied of Morocco with three goals each.  

Segun Odegbami was captain of the Green Eagles at the Summer Olympics in Moscow in 1980. He also captained the national team in the 1982 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match against Algeria. 

Segun Odegbami is no doubt one of Nigeria’s best professional players and also one of the best in Africa. He is a naturally talented forward and endowed with agility, precision, speed, and swiftness anytime he is in touch with the ball. He was very calculative of his moves, shots, and free kicks. These attributes, along with his mastery, dexterity, and wizardry and the manner of tricking his opponents earned him the epithet “Mathematical.” The nickname was also associated with engineering a course which he studied at Ibadan Polytechnic.

He retired from the Green Eagles in 1982 after the encounter with Algeria. His departure from the national team did not affect his commitment to his club, the Shooting Stars, where he played until 1984. Odegbami retired from active football in 1984 after the African Cup of Champions Club (now CAF Champion League) final match between the Shooting Stars of Ibadan and Zamalek of Egypt in which the latter prevailed.

After his retirement, Segun Odegbami took on many other endeavours and adventures, including serving as a sports journalist and commentator, newspaper columnist, writer, publisher, television producer, sports school proprietor, actor, track and field athlete manager, football administrator, national team manager, broadcaster, master storyteller, and educationist. 

He founded the Segun Odegbami International College and Sports Academy in 2003. In 2022 he inaugurated the Eagles 7 Sports Radio 103.7 FM. As he turned septuagenarian on August 27, 2022, the DAWN Commission described him thus:

“Chief Segun Odegbami, MON is undoubtedly a man with many sides; he is a professional economist, a
successful industrialist, an incorruptible politician, a political activist, a passionate farmer, a prolific writer,
an altruistic utilitarian, a loving husband, a caring father, and dogged nationalist. He is indeed an epitome
of an Omoluabi.”

Chief Odegbami is a recipient of the Member of the Order of the Niger (MON). he has also been conferred with an Honorary Doctorate Degree in Human Kinetics by the Federal University, Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE).

EteteOnline Team

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