Sports Correspondent – The News
KARACHI: K-Electric’s Nigerian striker Oludeyi Abayomi has been the favourite of the Pakistan’s football fans. And the foreigner deserves Pakistanis’ love not only because of his talent on the field but also because of his affection for the spectators.
After the nimble-footed striker hit the winner for K-Electric against Habib Bank Limited (HBL) in the National Football Challenge Cup semi-final here at the KMC Stadium on Thursday, he rushed upstairs and shook hands with some of the spectators.
This was not the first time he did this. When he scored a goal against WAPDA, he was seen making special gestures to the fans at the KPT Stadium.
“I really enjoy every moment here,” Oludeyi told ‘The News’ after he put K-Electric in the final with a nice goal.
“I love Pakistani people very much and I will never forget the way they have treated me during my stay here,” said Oludeyi.
After the match, Oludeyi was surrounded by around 30 fans, who could just look at the foreigner because of the language gap.
He wants to play for K-Electric for another Premier League. “After finalising everything with K-Electric last year for the league, I wanted to make the team able to win the marathon. But I could not get visa in time and missed most part of the league. I want to play for K-Electric in the next league also, but it depends on K-Electric’s manager Zabe Khan,” he said.
Nigerian Akeem Abbas had represented Lahore’s Wohaib FC in the Premier League a few years ago, but he was not a professional player. So Oludeyi can be called the first foreign professional footballer to play in the Pakistan Premier League.
Oludeyi will leave for Nigeria on April 6 after playing the Challenge Cup final on April 5.
After the Premier League, he had been specifically stopped by the K-Electric management for the Challenge Cup.