Newcomer of FC Sheriff Ismaila Origbaajo about his first steps in football, his hometown and tasks in the new club:

 

- Ismaila, tell us how you, a simple guy from Nigeria, became a professional football player, how did you start playing football?

- I started playing football, one might say, as soon as I learned to walk. First on the street, then at the local football school.

 

- You were born in the Nigerian city of Ilorin. What city?

- Ilorin is the city where my parents come from. I was also born there. This is a fairly large city, located on the right bank of the Niger River, is the administrative center of the state of Kwara. Big city, about 1 million people live there. Over time, we moved to the capital of Nigeria, Lagos. I grew up there, took my first steps in football.

 

- Who is the most popular football player in the history of Nigeria?

- Well, there are many good footballers in Nigeria, but the most popular ones are Rashidi Yakini, Jay Jay Okocha, Nwankwo Kanu.

 

- One of the first foreign teams for you was a club from Mauritius - "Cercle de Joaquim", 6 thousand km from your native Nigeria. Was it scary to travel so far from home?

- Not exactly, in my career there was a club from Tunisia. At the age of 16, I tried myself in the Tunisian championship. Then my agent suggested that I play for a club from Mauritius. So I ended up at Cercle de Joaquim, where I scored quite a lot. After recording my goals on video, my agent sent them to the Japanese club Fukushima United. And so I started playing in Japan. Are you asking me if I'm scared? I grew up in Lagos, so there's not much that scares me.

 

- FC Sheriff became your first European club. Did you have any doubts and what difficulties did you face when you moved to Tiraspol?

- There was no doubt. I am a professional player, I have been to various regions of our planet, from Africa to Asia. Now I'm in Europe. In Japan, I was generally alone, with time you get used to this kind of difficulties. My job is to score goals and I will try to do my job at a professional level.

 

- Our next opponent in the Conference League is French Nice. What do you expect from this match and what advice could you give to your teammates before the upcoming game?

- Football is an eleven-on-eleven game. They are people just like us, so anything is possible. You need to concentrate on the game, believe in victory and love football.