Gift Emmanuel Orban (born 17 July 2002) is a

Nigerian professional footballer Football is the most popular sport in Nigeria. The Nigeria national football team competes regularly for international titles and many Nigerian footballers compete in Europe, particularly in England. Nigeria has one of the finest national te ...

who plays as a

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

for Belgian club

Gent Gent is a shortened form of the word gentleman. It may also refer to: * Ghent ( Dutch: Gent), a Belgian city ** K.A.A. Gent, a football club from Ghent ** K.R.C. Gent, a football club from Ghent ** Gent RFC, a rugby club in Ghent ** .gent, a ...

Career

Stabæk

In November 2021, he was scouted by Stabæk's

Torgeir Bjarmann Torgeir Bjarmann (born 24 June 1968) is a former Norwegian football defender. Playing career Bjarmann played for Lillestrøm SK throughout his professional career, except for a short loan period in Austrian football when he teamed up alongside c ...

and

Thomas Finstad Thomas Finstad (born 10 January 1978) is a retired Norwegian footballer. He plays as a striker. He started his career by IL Jutul and joined 1994 to Bærum SK. It followed short spells for Stabæk and Strømsgodset Strømsgodset is a forme ...

in Nigeria during a showcase tournament. He trained with Stabæk during the winter of 2021/2022 before returning after his visa expired. Returning to Norway, he signed for Stabæk in late May 2022. The transfer from Nigerian club

Bison Bison are large bovines in the genus ''Bison'' (Greek: "wild ox" (bison)) within the tribe Bovini. Two extant and numerous extinct species are recognised. Of the two surviving species, the American bison, ''B. bison'', found only in North ...

was a loan with an option to buy. He scored his first goals in

cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, c ...

matches against semi-professional teams

Notodden Notodden () is a city and municipality in Vestfold og Telemark county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Øst-Telemark. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Notodden. Notodden was separated from the munici ...

and Gjøvik-Lyn (twice). After this he became a starting player for Stabæk. His goal against

SK Brann Sportsklubben Brann (commonly known as Brann, and less often as SK Brann) is a Norwegian professional football club, founded 26 September 1908, from Bergen. Brann had been in the Eliteserien, Norway's Premier Division of Football, since 1987, bar ...

was compared to

Alanzinho Alan Carlos Gomes da Costa (born 22 February 1983), commonly known as Alanzinho, is a Brazilian retired footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. His former clubs include Flamengo (2002–2003), America-RJ (2004), Paranoá (2005) and ...

's time at Stabæk. '' VG'' also called him a "striker jewel". When Stabæk sold

Oliver Valaker Edvardsen Oliver Valaker Edvardsen (born 19 March 1999) is a Norwegian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Dutch club Go Ahead Eagles. Club career Growing up in the club Drøbak-Frogn, Edvardsen made his senior debut in 2014. After being ...

in July, the club announced they would spend the money on Orban's buyout option. The contract tying Orban to Stabæk until the end of 2026 was announced on 3 August. He became the top scorer in the

2022 Norwegian First Division The 2022 Norwegian First Division (referred to as OBOS-ligaen for sponsorship reasons) is a Norwegian second-tier football league season. The league started on 2 April 2022, and is scheduled to end on 29 October 2022. Teams In the 2021 1. d ...

with 16 goals, alongside Bård Finne. Helping Stabæk win promotion to

2023 Eliteserien The 2023 Eliteserien will be the 79th season of top-tier football in Norway. The season is set to start on 10 April 2023 and end on 2 December 2023, not including play-off matches. Molde are the defending champions. Brann and Stabæk joined a ...

, Orban was also named Young Player of the Year in the First Division.

Gent

On 31 January 2023, Orban joined

Belgian Pro League The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 team ...

side

on a permanent deal. On 11 February, Orban scored two goals on his Pro League debut in a 3–3 draw with

Westerlo Westerlo () is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Antwerp. The municipality comprises seven towns: * Westerlo centrum * * Tongerlo * Heultje * Voortkapel * Oosterwijk * In 2021, Westerlo had a total population of 25,288. T ...

. On 12 March, Orban managed to score four goals in a 6–2 away win over

Zulte Waregem Sportvereniging Zulte Waregem (), commonly known as Zulte Waregem or by their nickname Essevee (), is a Belgian professional football club based in Waregem, West Flanders. Zulte Waregem plays in the Belgian First Division A. Their highest finish ...

, which made him the first Gent player to do so in the 21st century. All the goals came in the second-half. In his very next game on 15 March, he scored a first-half hat-trick in 4–1 away win over

İstanbul Başakşehir ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_in ...

in the

UEFA Europa Conference League The UEFA Europa Conference League (abbreviated as UECL) is an annual football club competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. Clubs qualify for the competition based on the ...

round 16. The hat-trick was scored within three minutes and 25 seconds, setting a new record for the fastest hat-trick in UEFA club competitions, breaking the previous record of six minutes and 12 seconds held by

Mohammed Salah Mohamed Salah Hamed Mahrous Ghaly ( ar, محمد صلاح حامد محروس غالي, ; born 15 June 1992), also known as Mo Salah, is an Egyptian professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Liverpool and captains the Egypt na ...

in the Champions League. In the 2023–24 Europa Conference League campaign of

KAA Gent Koninklijke Atletiek Associatie Gent (, English: ''Royal Athletic Association Ghent''), often simply known as Ghent or by their nickname ' ( en, The Buffalos), is a Belgian sports club, based in the city of Ghent, East Flanders. Their football ...

, Orban scored another European hat-trick, this time against

Pogoń Szczecin Pogoń Szczecin Spółka Akcyjna, commonly referred to as Pogoń Szczecin (), is a Polish professional football club, based in Szczecin, West Pomeranian Voivodeship, which plays in the Ekstraklasa, the top tier of the national football league ...

in the first leg of the third qualification round, resulting in a 5–0 win for Gent.

Personal life

Born in

Benue State Benue State is one of the North Central states in Nigeria with a population of about 4,253,641 in 2006 census. The state was created in 1976 among the 7 states created at that time.The state derives its name from the Benue River which is t ...

, Nigeria, Orban is of

Togolese Togo (), officially the Togolese Republic (french: République togolaise), is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east and Burkina Faso to the north. It extends south to the Gulf of Guinea, where its c ...

descent through his mother.

Career statistics

Honours

Individual *

Norwegian First Division The Norwegian First Division, also called 1. divisjon and OBOS-ligaen (named sponsor is property developer OBOS), is the second-highest level of the Norwegian football league system. Each year, the top finishing teams in the 1. divisjon are ...

top scorer:

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeyp ...

*Norwegian First Division Young Player of the Year: 2022

References

External links

*
Profile
at Norwegian FA {{DEFAULTSORT:Orban, Gift 2002 births Living people Nigerian men's footballers Nigerian people of Togolese descent Men's association football forwards Stabæk Fotball players K.A.A. Gent players Norwegian First Division players Nigerian expatriate men's footballers Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Togo Expatriate men's footballers in Norway Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Norway Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Norwegian Third Division players Belgian Pro League players