Jonathan Obika
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Jonathan Chiedozie Obika (born 12 September 1990) is an English former professional
footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...
who played as a striker and is currently first team coach for
Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, also known as the William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Scotland and the highest level of the Scottish football league system. Th ...
club
Motherwell Motherwell (, ) is a List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Shires of Scotland, Historically in the p ...
.


Club career


Tottenham

Obika is a product of the Tottenham Hotspur youth system and was the top scorer for the academy side in the 2007–08 season. He made his
first team First team may refer to: Sports * First team (association football), the colloquial name given to the most senior team fielded by a football club * The First Team, the first players known to have played the sport of basketball * First Team All-A ...
debut in the
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on 27 November 2008 against
NEC Nijmegen NEC Nijmegen (''Nijmegen Eendracht Combinatie''), commonly known as NEC (), is a professional Dutch association football club based in Nijmegen. The club currently competes in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football, following promotion ...
. He also played against Ukrainian side
FC Shakhtar Donetsk Football Club Shakhtar Donetsk () is a Ukrainian professional Association football, football club that was based in the city of Donetsk until 2014 when, due to the War in Donbas (2014–2022), War in Donbas, the club was forced to move to Lvi ...
in the same competition. He signed a more secure contract with the club in January 2009. On 19 March 2009 he signed with
League One League One or League 1 may refer to: Association football * EFL League One, the third tier of football in England. * China League One, the second tier of football in China * K League 1, the top-tier football in South Korea * Lao League 1 * Lea ...
team
Yeovil Town Yeovil Town may refer to: * Yeovil, a town in Somerset, England, with a council named Yeovil Town * Yeovil Town F.C., an English football team based in Yeovil, Somerset * Yeovil Town W.F.C., an English women's football team affiliated with Yeovil T ...
on a month's
loan In finance, a loan is the tender of money by one party to another with an agreement to pay it back. The recipient, or borrower, incurs a debt and is usually required to pay interest for the use of the money. The document evidencing the deb ...
. His loan was extended until the end of the 2008–09 season in April. In his two-month loan spell he played 10 games scoring four goals. Obika returned to Yeovil on a three-month loan on 11 August 2009. He scored in his third game of the 2009–10 season against
Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club, commonly referred to as Orient, is a professional association football club based in Leyton, Waltham Forest, London, England. The team compete in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. ...
. He scored again on 1 September against
Bournemouth Bournemouth ( ) is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority area, in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. At the 2021 census, the built-up area had a population of 196,455, making it the largest ...
in the
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, coming on as a substitute at half time. Along with fellow Tottenham loanees
Steven Caulker Steven Roy Caulker (born 29 December 1991) is a professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for club Ankara Keçiörengücü. Born in England, he represents and captains the Sierra Leone national team. Caulker started his profession ...
and
Ryan Mason Ryan Glen Mason (born 13 June 1991) is an English professional Association football, football coach and former player who is the head coach of EFL Championship club West Bromwich Albion. A midfielder, Mason progressed through the youth ranks ...
, his loan was extended until the end of the season on 5 November. On 11 February, Obika was sent back to Spurs due to the return to Yeovil of
Arron Davies Arron Rhys Davies (born 22 June 1984) is a Welsh former professional Association football, footballer who played as a midfielder. He made one appearance for the Wales national football team, Wales national team. Early life Davies was brought ...
and was then immediately sent on loan to fellow League One side
Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Poplar, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east of ...
. On 13 April, Obika scored an injury time equaliser for Millwall against Yeovil and despite what it meant to Millwall's promotion push, he didn't celebrate as a mark of respect for his old club. On 20 August, Obika returned to south London to join
Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition buildin ...
on a season-long loan deal. However this was cut short in early January after a series of disappointing performances, and he went on loan to
Peterborough United Peterborough United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third level of the English football league system. Peterborough United formed in ...
instead. He then joined
Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team, known as the "Robins", currently compete in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded as Swindon A ...
a few weeks later until the end of the season but was recalled after lack of opportunities at Swindon. Obika then subsequently rejoined Yeovil until the end of the season, his third club of the 2010–11 season, and made 11 appearances scoring 3 goals. Obika then rejoined Yeovil on loan at the start of the 2011–12 season until January 2012, this deal was later extended until the end of the season. On 26 December 2011, Obika scored the first goal of his new loan deal against
Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Charlton, south-east London, England. The team compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Their home ground is ...
with an overhead kick, and he then went on to score against Carlisle, Sheffield Wednesday and Leyton Orient. In February 2013, Obika signed on loan with Championship side
Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Charlton, south-east London, England. The team compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Their home ground is ...
for the remainder of the 2012–13 season and also signed a one-year contract extension with Spurs until 2014. Obika scored his first goal for Charlton against Leeds United, a stoppage time header to win the match 2–1. Obika followed this up with a 90th-minute winner against Wolves. On 8 January 2014, Obika joined Championship club
Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club, commonly referred to as Brighton, is a professional football club based in Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Their home gr ...
on an initial three-month loan deal. He scored his first goal for Brighton in the
FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...
4th round tie against Port Vale in the 78th minute, Brighton won 3–1. Rohan Ince & Solomon March scored the other two goals for the Albion. After his deal with Brighton expired, Obika rejoined Charlton Athletic on loan, for the remainder of the season.


Swindon Town

Obika left Tottenham and joined League One club
Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team, known as the "Robins", currently compete in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded as Swindon A ...
on 1 September 2014 for an undisclosed fee. He signed a deal to keep him at The County Ground for two years. On 15 June 2017, Obika confirmed that he would be leaving Swindon upon the expiry of his current deal after a three-year spell at the County Ground.


Oxford United

Obika became new manager
Pep Clotet Josep "Pep" Clotet Ruiz (born 28 April 1977) is a Spanish Association football, football coach. As well as working as assistant at several clubs, he managed UE Cornellà, Cornellà, UE Figueres, Figueres, RCD Espanyol B, Espanyol B, Halmstads B ...
's first signing at Swindon's rivals
Oxford United Oxford United Football Club () is a professional association football, football club based in Oxford, England. The club compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football league system, English football. Founded as Headingto ...
when his two-year deal was announced on 5 July 2017. He made his debut as a substitute against
Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional association football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England. As of the 2025–26 EFL League Two, 2025–26 season, the team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the Eng ...
in the opening match of the 2017–18 season, which ended in a 2–0 away victory for Oxford, and made his home debut and first starting appearance, and scored his first goal, in the following game, a 4–3 defeat to
Cheltenham Town Cheltenham Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1887, ...
in the first round of the
EFL Cup The English Football League Cup, often referred to as the League Cup and currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in men's domestic football in England. Orga ...
. He was released after his contract expired after the 2018–19 season.


St Mirren

In August 2019, Obika signed a two-year deal with
Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, also known as the William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Scotland and the highest level of the Scottish football league system. Th ...
side St Mirren. He scored 8 goals in the league, the last of which came in a 1–0 win over Hearts which relegated the Edinburgh club.


Morecambe

In June 2021, Obika signed a two-year deal with
League One League One or League 1 may refer to: Association football * EFL League One, the third tier of football in England. * China League One, the second tier of football in China * K League 1, the top-tier football in South Korea * Lao League 1 * Lea ...
side
Morecambe Morecambe ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster district of Lancashire, England, on Morecambe Bay, part of the Irish Sea. In 2011 the parish had a population of 34,768. Name The first use of the name was by John Whit ...
.


Motherwell

At the end of January 2023, Obika joined
Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, also known as the William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Scotland and the highest level of the Scottish football league system. Th ...
club
Motherwell Motherwell (, ) is a List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Shires of Scotland, Historically in the p ...
on loan until the end of the season. On 19 June 2023, Motherwell announced the permanent signing of Obika to a one-year contract with the option of a further year.


International career

Obika was called up to represent
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
in the Under 20 World Cup tournament hosted in
Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
from 24 September – 16 October 2009. Obika featured in the first two games against
Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...
and
Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...
.


Coaching career

On 1 June 2024, a day after announcing his retirement from playing, Obika was announced as first team coach of Motherwell FC. Obika cited Motherwell manager Stuart Kettlewell as a "big part" of his decision to call time on his playing career and focus on coaching. "I just feel this is where I'm supposed to be," said Obika. "When reflecting back, I just knew this opportunity doesn't come around often under people you value and respect. I feel honoured. "When he ettlewellfirst came in, just watching how he took over and across the 18 months seeing him work, he is someone you want to deliver for. I feel in this role I can deliver for him."


Personal life

Obika was born in Enfield, London and grew up in
Tottenham Tottenham (, , , ) is a district in north London, England, within the London Borough of Haringey. It is located in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London. Tottenham is centred north-northeast of Charing Cross, ...
. He attended The Bishop Stopford's School in Enfield. He is of Nigerian descent and is the cousin of singer and former ''
Fame Academy ''Fame Academy'' was a British television talent competition to search for and educate new musical talents. The winner would receive a chance to become a successful music artist and part of the international franchise ''Star Academy'' known un ...
'' contestant
Lemar Lemar Obika (born 4 April 1978), known mononymously as Lemar, is an English singer, songwriter and record producer. Initially rising to fame after finishing third on the Fame Academy (series 1), first series of British talent show ''Fame Acade ...
.


Honours

;Individual *
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Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...
Team of the Week 13/09/14 – 14/09/14


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Obika, Jonathan 1990 births Living people Footballers from the London Borough of Enfield People from Enfield, London English people of Nigerian descent Sportspeople of Nigerian descent English men's footballers England men's youth international footballers Black British sportsmen 21st-century Black British people Men's association football forwards English Football League players Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players Yeovil Town F.C. players Millwall F.C. players Crystal Palace F.C. players Peterborough United F.C. players Swindon Town F.C. players Oxford United F.C. players Charlton Athletic F.C. players Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players St Mirren F.C. players Morecambe F.C. players Motherwell F.C. players Motherwell F.C. non-playing staff People educated at Bishop Stopford's School at Enfield Scottish Professional Football League players 21st-century English sportsmen