TRAGEDY befell Nigerian football on Monday when the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) confirmed that Super Eagles’ youthful defender, Olubayo Adefemi had died in a car crash in Greece.
A statement from the chief media officer of NFF, Demola Olajire on Monday confirmed the incident.
The 25-year old right back, who could also play as a midfielder, died when he lost control of the car he was driving on the road from his base, Xanthi to Thessaloniki, where he was to board a flight to Nigeria to finalise plans for his wedding programme.
His manager, Miguel Riera, who spoke to the NFF hierarchy on phone from Xanthi on Monday morning, said the accident occurred at about 7am Nigeria time as Olubayo attempted to make good use of the one-week break granted by his Greek top club, Xanthi Skoda to travel to Nigeria to finalise his marriage plans
This is very sad. I am very sad to confirm to you that Olubayo is dead. There is no doubt about it. I am present at the hospital and I have identified the body. The autopsy will be out in a few hours, but there is no doubt that he has died,” said Miguel Riera.
He signed for Xanthi last summer and made 24 appearances for the club, scoring twice.
The cool-headed defender was one of the so-called ‘Siasia boys’, showing remarkable consistency all the way from being a key member of the Nigeria U-20 side that won the FIFA World Cup silver at Holland 2005.
The former Hapoel Tel Aviv player also won the silver medal with the national U-23 team at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games where he featured in all the games and scored a goal in the semi-final match against Belgium.
Olubayo who made his senior international debut against Ireland on May 29, 2009, played two more games for the Super Eagles before his demise