Meet Jordan Attah Kadiri groomed Nigerian football, now a goal machine in OFK

He grew up in Nigeria, before coming to Östersund. He had never visited Europe before. And never set foot in Sweden .

Kadiri now sits in an apartment in Östersund. With his first real professional contract in hand and with playing time in Allsvenskan and two goals on his conscience.

It all started with Ian Burchnall talking to his buddy as an agent early this summer. The agent is called Attah Aneke and Ian has recruited players through him from Nigeria in other teams. So, Jordan came to Sweden on a tryout and made a strong impression. And had to stay.

Before I went to Östersund on the tryout, I started to look up a little how Östersund played and check out lots of videos online.

I wanted to know how Östersund played and was well prepared when I came here, says Jordan when we meet him in the ÖFK shop where there will be autograph writing and meeting with the fans.

He is a bit shy but at the same time he tells about his upbringing in Nigeria without hesitation. He talks about his schooling and his family, which means a lot to young Jordan.

We are six siblings and one of my brothers is a lawyer today. We had a good upbringing and I started playing football very young.

Already then, the dream was to become a professional and move abroad. A dream that has now come true and he is thriving in his new hometown.

Östersund is a very nice city to live in. Not as big as where I grew up, Nigeria’s capital Abuja has over 700,000 inhabitants. But I like it here and I’ve come well into the team. The guys are very kind and help me, he says.

Nigeria is an avalanche growing country, now there are nearly 200 million inhabitants in Africa’s largest country. This makes Nigeria the seventh largest country in the world.