Obafemi Akinwunmi Martins ( oh-buh-FEH-mee
MAR-tinz; born 28 October 1984) is a Nigerian former professional footballer who played as a forward.
After leaving Nigeria for Italy at age 16, he played for a number of top-division clubs around Europe. He began his senior career in 2002 at Serie A club Inter Milan, before he moved to Premier League club Newcastle United in 2006, and then to Bundesliga club VfL Wolfsburg in 2009. Having joined Russian Premier League side Rubin Kazan in 2010, they loaned him to Birmingham City in 2011. He spent a season with La Liga club Levante, he played for Seattle Sounders FC of Major League Soccer from 2013 to 2015, before spending several years in the Chinese Super League with Shanghai Shenhua and Wuhan.
In club football, Martins won the Serie A title, the Italian Cup (twice), and the Italian Super Cup, all with Inter. With Birmingham he scored the winning goal in the 2011 Football League Cup final. Martins played in the UEFA Champions League with Inter, Wolfsburg and Rubin. His highest scoring league seasons saw him score 11 goals in the 2004–05 Serie A, and 17 in both the 2006–07 Premier League and 2014 MLS. In international football, Martins was in the Nigerian squad for the Africa Cup of Nations in 2006, 2008 and 2010, and for the FIFA World Cup in 2010.
Martins joined the local football club F.C. Ebedei, having been scouted by manager Churchill Oliseh while playing on the streets of his hometown. After a year with the club, Serie C side A.C. Reggiana made a move for the player. After a three-month trial, Martins and Ebedei teammate Stephen Makinwa signed youth contracts with the club in 2000. His first season in Italy saw Martins break into the first team squad, and later in the year Serie A sides Perugia and Inter Milan made offers for the forward.
Martins was signed by Inter Milan in 2001 for a €750,000 transfer fee, and in his first season he scored 23 goals for the youth team, helping them to win the Campionato Nazionale Primavera in 2001–02 season. His form for the youth side led to his first-team league debut the following season, starting in a match against Parma on 22 December 2002 which was won by Inter 2–1. The following month, he signed a new contract for the club along with Nicola Beati and Giovanni Pasquale.
Martins did not become a regular member of the first team squad until the 2002–03 season. During this season he was given his first UEFA Champions League appearance by manager Héctor Cúper, entering as a substitute against his future employers, Newcastle United, at St James' Park. He scored his first Champions League goal in a match against Bayer 04 Leverkusen to secure Inter's place in the quarter-finals; footage of his celebratory somersaults were subsequently used by UEFA to advertise the following season's competition. He scored again in the semi-final match against Inter's arch-rivals Milan, but could not prevent the club losing out on away goals to the competition's eventual winners. In the championship, he scored once in four appearances.
Martins signed a long-term contract with Inter Milan in 2005 which ran until 2010 and was worth around €2.5 million annually. He was also protagonist in team's successful run in Coppa Italia, scoring six goals, including a hat-trick against Bologna, as the tournament ended in conquest. Martins amassed 22 goals in 45 matches across all competitions, setting a new personal best; his good form for Inter earned him a spot in Nigeria's 2006 Africa Cup of Nations squad.
Although he had some success with Inter, scoring 28 goals for the club in 88 league games as well as 11 goals in European competitions, he was sold in August 2006. This was due to Inter bringing in two new strikers; first Argentinian Hernán Crespo was brought in on loan from Chelsea and then the Swede Zlatan Ibrahimović was bought by Inter from Juventus.
After Martins submitted a transfer request, Premier League club Newcastle United completed a deal with Inter for the striker on 24 August 2006 for €15 million. Martins signed a five-year deal. He was paraded in front of the Geordie fans before their UEFA cup tie against FK Ventspils, and inherited the club's cherished number 9 shirt, vacated after the retirement of the club-record goalscorer Alan Shearer in April.
Martins made his Premier League debut on 27 August, in the 2–0 defeat to Aston Villa, in which he was stretchered off with a knee injury. It turned out that Martins suffered a severe dead leg and internal bleeding. His unremarkable first few appearances for Newcastle caused manager Glenn Roeder to speak out in his defence.
However, on 17 September, Martins scored his first goal for Newcastle. It was the second goal in a 2–0 victory over West Ham United at Upton Park, and from there his goalscoring form began to improve steadily.
Reports in January 2007 suggested that Chelsea were considering making an offer for Martins' services after his impressive form. These reports were later rubbished by Martins himself, and Roeder stated that although he was interested in signing a Chelsea player, he would not allow Martins to leave Newcastle.
On 14 January, in a 3–2 away win against Tottenham Hotspur, Martins' 20-yard shot rocketed into the net. This strike was clocked by Sky Sports at a speed of 84 mph (135 km/h), making it unofficially the ninth hardest shot ever recorded in football according to the Guardian website. This was his tenth goal for Newcastle. Martins ended his first season on Tyneside with 17 goals in 46 games.
His second season was somewhat mixed. With new manager Sam Allardyce preferring to play Michael Owen and Mark Viduka up front, Martins found himself being used as an impact substitute for the first half of the season. Despite this he managed to score consistently, and when Allardyce was sacked and Kevin Keegan was appointed, Martins found himself being used as part of a three pronged attack along with Owen and Viduka. Martins scored fewer goals in his second season with Newcastle, mainly due to him no longer being the focal point of all their attacks as he was in his first season with them, as well as his season being interrupted with the African Cup of Nations participation with Nigeria in December.
Martins scored six goals in 12 league games during the first half of the 2008–09 season before a torn hamstring ruled him out for several games. He did make it back in time for the last two games of the season, scoring in a relegation six-pointer derby against Middlesbrough. However, he could not stop Newcastle being relegated to the Championship. He initially reiterated his desire to stay and help the club return to the Premier League for the 2009–10 season, but he eventually left for VfL Wolfsburg. His last game was in a preseason friendly against Leyton Orient, which Newcastle lost 6–1.
During his three-year spell on Tyneside, Martins amassed 35 goals in all competitions from 104 games.
On 29 July 2009, Newcastle accepted a £9 million bid from Bundesliga champions VfL Wolfsburg. The transfer was confirmed on 31 July with Martins signing a four-year contract. For his debut, Martins came on as a second-half substitute against 1. FC Köln at the Rhein Energie Stadion, with his team deadlocked at 1–1. He helped in the buildup to the second goal and capped off his first appearance in the Bundesliga with a well-taken goal after dribbling past two onrushing defenders and then coolly finishing from six yards out, slotting the ball past the goalkeeper to the far post.