CELEBRITY
TODAY IS SAMUEL OKWARAJI’S 56TH POSTHUMOUS BIRTHDAY
If Samuel Okwaraji, the fallen Nigeria midfield footballer were alive, he would have been 56 years old today as he was born on 19 May 1964.
Last year, search engine giants, Google, honoured the Nigeria’s late football that died on the field, playing for the Super Eagles in 1989 in an Italia ’90 World Cup qualifying match against Angola.
It was the first time that Okwaraji played at the National Stadium Lagos. It was also the last time he lived. Google Doodle posthumously marked the birthday.
The Google Doodle is used on the search engine home page for different seasons or special days such as birthdays of famous people. Google Doodles are very clever, and people look forward to them.
According to Google while justifying the choice of Okwaraji last year, the player stood as a symbol of national pride.
Born in Orlu, Nigeria on this day in 1964, he moved to Europe in 1982 to further his education, though his greatest passion was soccer.
While earning a law degree at the University of Rome, Okwaraji played for the Italian club A.S. Roma.
Fluent in several languages, he bounced from club to club, ending up at Germany’s SSV-Ulm 1846 team where he emerged as a standout player. Still, he wanted nothing more than to represent his homeland.
Okwaraji returned home to compete for a spot on the Nigerian “Green Eagles” team that played in the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
With his energetic style of play and his love for his homeland, he soon became a fan favorite. Okwaraji was unhappy to learn that his German club was charging the Nigerian Football Association for lost revenues while he played for Nigeria.
Reminding the team that he was a lawyer, Okwaraji passionately wrote “I am going to represent my country in the World Cup in Italy whether you like it or not.”
Unfortunately, his dream of playing in the World Cup for Nigeria did not come to fruition.
On August 12, 1989, with just fifteen minutes left in a tough World Cup qualifying match against Angola, Okwarji’s life was tragically cut short when he fell down on the field at the National Stadium in Lagos and could not be revived.
Today, a statue of Okwaraji stands in front of that same National Stadium and reads: In memory of an illustrious and patriotic Nigerian sportsman.
Cristiano Ronaldo has become the first footballer to reach billionaire status, according to the latest Bloomberg Billionaires Index, which has valued the Portugal great’s net worth at an estimated $1.4 billion.
The 40-year-old striker’s financial ascent comes after he signed a new contract with Saudi side Al-Nassr in June reportedly worth more than $400 million.
Bloomberg said that Ronaldo earned more than $550 million in salary between 2002 and 2023, supplemented by a decade-long Nike deal worth nearly $18 million annually, and lucrative endorsements with Armani, Castrol and others that added more than $175 million to his fortune.
Ronaldo’s move to Al-Nassr from Manchester United in 2023 had already made him the highest-paid player in football history, with an annual salary of 177 million pounds ($237.52 million), plus bonuses and a reported 15% share in his Saudi Arabia club.
Argentina and Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi has earned more than $600 million in pre-tax salary during his career.
Ronaldo’s billionaire status places him among a rare group of athletes that includes basketball greats Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and LeBron James, golfer Tiger Woods and tennis player Roger Federer.
Ronaldo suggested he is not considering retirement any time soon.
“I still have a passion for this,” he said at the Portugal Football Globes gala on Tuesday. “My family says it’s time to quit and they ask me why I want to score 1000 goals if I’ve already scored 900-something. But I don’t think that way inside.
“I’m still producing good things, I’m helping my club and the national team. Why not continue? I am sure that when I finish I will leave full because I gave everything of myself. I know I don’t have many years left to play, but the few I have left, I have to enjoy them to the fullest.”
-Reuters
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Former England soccer captain David Beckham and actor Gary Oldman were knighted in King Charles’ annual birthday honours list on Saturday, while sculptor Antony Gormley was made a Companion of Honour.
Beckham, 50, joined Manchester United as a trainee in 1993, going on to make almost 400 appearances for the club where he won a string of titles and cups.
He subsequently played for Real Madrid, LA Galaxy, and Inter Milan, as well as captaining his country 58 times and making 115 appearances.
His marriage to fashion designer and former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham in 1999 cemented a celebrity status which went far beyond his sporting exploits.
Oldman, 67, started his career on the stage, where he was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, before rising to prominence in film. He won the best actor Oscar for playing Winston Churchill in the 2017 drama “Darkest Hour”.
He also had roles in the “Dark Knight Trilogy” and the “Harry Potter” movie series and more recently starred in the TV spy drama “Slow Horses”.
Other famous names receiving honours included damehoods for musical theatre star Elaine Paige, novelist Pat Barker and ceramics maker Emma Bridgewater.
Roger Daltrey, lead singer of rock band the Who and a patron of the Teenage Cancer Trust, received a knighthood for services to charity.
More than 1,200 people received honours for their achievements, with a particular focus on those who had given their time to public service, the government said.
King Charles’ official birthday will be celebrated with the annual “Trooping the Colour” military parade in London on Saturday. His actual birthday is on November 14
-Reuters
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One of three judges in Diego Maradona’s closely scrutinized homicide trial in Argentina resigned on Tuesday amid a scandal triggered by the alleged filming of an unauthorised documentary, bringing uncertainty to the future of legal proceedings.
The high-profile trial over the death of soccer star Maradona began on March 11 in the South American country where the World Cup winner is still revered.
-Reuters
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