Julius Gibrilla Wobay (born 19 May 1984) is a Sierra Leonean international
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 plays as an
attacking midfielder
In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...
.
Football career
East End Lions
Julius Gibrilla Wobay was born and raised in
Freetown
Freetown () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Sierra Leone. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean and is located in the Western Area of the country. Freetown is Sierra Leone's major urban, economic, financial, cultural, e ...
, Sierra Leone to parents from the
Mende ethnic group. He attended the Ahmadiyya Muslim Secondary School in Freetown. He began his professional football career in his native Sierra Leone with
East End Lions in the
Sierra Leone National Premier League.
Cyprus
After the 2003 season, Wobay left the Sierra Leone National Premier League and signed with
Cyprus
Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...
side
Onisilos Sotira where he played 12 matches and scored three goals. Then Wobay signed with
Nea Salamis Famagusta FC, a club in
Cyprus
Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...
top division.
Universitatea Craiova
In January 2007, Wobay moved to Romanian
Liga I
Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1 and officially known as SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Romania and the highest level of the Romanian football league system. Contested by 1 ...
side
Universitatea Craiova on a four-and-a-half-year contract from
Cypriot club
Nea Salamina FC for $450k.
Aris Limassol
Three years after his movement from Salamina to Craiova, Wobay comes back (on a loan until the end of the season) to Cyprus but this time for Aris Limassol. On 20/1 he signed his contract with Cypriot side. The deal doesn't include a summer buying option for Aris Limassol.
Khazar Lankaran
After returning to
Universitatea Craiova for the first half of the
2010–11 season, Wobay went on to sign a two-year contract with
Khazar Lankaran in the
Azerbaijan Premier League during the winter break. Wobay went on to make 26 appearances for Khazar, scoring 6 goals.
Al-Masry
On 31 January 2012, Wobay signed for
Al-Masry of Egypt on a contract till the end of 2011–12 season, and was in the stands watching his new club as the
Port Said Stadium riot unfolded.
Neftchi Baku
During the summer of 2012 Wobay signed a one-year contract with
Neftchi Baku. Wobay made his club debut in their 3–0
UEFA Champions League
The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...
second qualifying round
1st leg match against
Zestaponi, scoring the second goal. Wobay followed this up with a goal in the second leg and one in their 6–2 aggregate defeat to
Ironi Kiryat Shmona in the
third round
Third or 3rd may refer to:
Numbers
* 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3
* , a fraction of one third
* 1⁄60 of a ''second'', i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system
Places
* 3rd Street (di ...
, which saw them knocked into the
UEFA Europa League
The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...
play off round where Wobay also scored to help Neftchi reach the group stage of the UEFA Europa League for the first time. During the 2012–13 season Wobay played in 31 league games, scoring eight goals, and five cup games to help Neftchi win a 2013
League and
Cup
A cup is an open-top vessel (container) used to hold liquids for drinking, typically with a flattened hemispherical shape, and often with a capacity of about . Cups may be made of pottery (including porcelain), glass, metal, wood, stone, pol ...
double.
Wobay has signed a new contract with Neftchi in June 2013, before moving on loan to
Al Shabab of the
UAE Arabian Gulf League on a year-long loan in July 2013. Wobay was deregistered by Al Shabab during the 2014 January transfer window.
Olimpija
On 29 January 2016 Wobay signed a one-and-a-half-year contract with Slovenian club
Olimpija Ljubljana.
International
On 14 February 2001 Wobay made his debut for the Sierra Leone national team in a
2002 FIFA World Cup
The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea/Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...
qualifier against
Liberia
Liberia, officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to Guinea–Liberia border, its north, Ivory Coast to Ivory Coast–Lib ...
in a match played in the Liberian capital of
Monrovia
Monrovia () is the administrative capital city, capital and largest city of Liberia. Founded in 1822, it is located on Cape Mesurado on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast and as of the 2022 census had 1,761,032 residents, home to 33.5% of Liber ...
. He retired from international football in December 2018.
Career statistics
International goals
:''Scores and results list Sierra Leone's goal tally first.''
[
]
Honours
[
;Khazar Lankaran
* Azerbaijan Cup: 2010–11
;Neftchi Baku
* Azerbaijan Premier League: 2012–13
* Azerbaijan Cup: 2012–13
;Olimpija Ljubljana
* Slovenian First League: 2015–16
]
References
External links
Julius Wobay
at PrvaLiga
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wobay, Julius
1984 births
Living people
People from Bo, Sierra Leone
Mende people
Men's association football midfielders
Sierra Leonean men's footballers
Sierra Leone men's international footballers
Sierra Leonean expatriate men's footballers
Nea Salamis Famagusta FC players
FC U Craiova 1948 players
Aris Limassol FC players
Khazar Lankaran FK players
Al Masry SC players
East End Lions F.C. players
Onisilos Sotira players
Al-Shaab CSC players
NK Olimpija Ljubljana (2005) players
Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus
Expatriate men's footballers in Romania
Expatriate men's footballers in Azerbaijan
Expatriate men's footballers in Egypt
Expatriate men's footballers in the United Arab Emirates
Expatriate men's footballers in Slovenia
Liga I players
Cypriot First Division players
Slovenian PrvaLiga players
Sierra Leonean expatriate sportspeople in Romania
UAE Pro League players
Neftçi PFK players