Matchplug<\/a>: ‘There is a saying that “all good things must come to an end”, and for my professional football career, that day is today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n‘I look back at the past 20 years of my career, and I must say that I am very satisfied with all that I was able to achieve and more importantly the human it has helped shape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
‘All of this would not have been possible without the unwavering support of my family, managers, clubs, coaches, teammates and most importantly my ever-loyal fans.
\n
‘<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Former Chelsea midfielder, John Mikel Obi, has announced his retirement from football after a very successful career. The Nigerian started his career as a teenager at Nigerian side Plateau United before moving to Europe, initially to join Lyn of Norway. However, he only played six league games for them before becoming the subject of a transfer battle between Manchester United and Chelsea. He eventually joined the Blues and played for them for 11 years before leaving in 2017 following the arrival of Antonio Conte as the club’s manager. The midfielder would then wind down his career at Kuwait SC, after a spell with Stoke City in the Championship. He announced his retirement yesterday stating, as quoted by Matchplug: ‘There is a saying that “all good things must come to an end”, and for my professional football career, that day is today. ‘I look back at the past 20 years of my career, and I must say that I am very satisfied with all that I was able to achieve and more importantly the human it has helped shape. ‘All of this would not have been possible without the unwavering support of my family, managers, clubs, coaches, teammates and most importantly my ever-loyal fans. ‘<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":10799,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[159,218],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10798","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football-news","category-premier-league-football-news"],"yoast_head":"\n
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He eventually joined the Blues and played for them for 11 years before leaving in 2017 following the arrival of Antonio Conte as the club’s manager. The midfielder would then wind down his career at Kuwait SC, after a spell with Stoke City in the Championship. He announced his retirement yesterday stating, as quoted by Matchplug: ‘There is a saying that “all good things must come to an end”, and for my professional football career, that day is today. ‘I look back at the past 20 years of my career, and I must say that I am very satisfied with all that I was able to achieve and more importantly the human it has helped shape. ‘All of this would not have been possible without the unwavering support of my family, managers, clubs, coaches, teammates and most importantly my ever-loyal fans. ‘\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/john-mikel-obi-retires-from-professional-football\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Matchplug Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-09-28T10:52:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-03-24T23:50:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Mikel-Obi.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"410\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/john-mikel-obi-retires-from-professional-football\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/john-mikel-obi-retires-from-professional-football\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"John Mikel Obi retires from professional football\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-09-28T10:52:09+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-03-24T23:50:41+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/john-mikel-obi-retires-from-professional-football\/\"},\"wordCount\":208,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/john-mikel-obi-retires-from-professional-football\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Mikel-Obi.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Football News\",\"Premier League\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/john-mikel-obi-retires-from-professional-football\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/john-mikel-obi-retires-from-professional-football\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/john-mikel-obi-retires-from-professional-football\/\",\"name\":\"John Mikel Obi retires from professional football - Matchplug Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/john-mikel-obi-retires-from-professional-football\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/john-mikel-obi-retires-from-professional-football\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Mikel-Obi.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-09-28T10:52:09+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-03-24T23:50:41+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/john-mikel-obi-retires-from-professional-football\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/john-mikel-obi-retires-from-professional-football\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/john-mikel-obi-retires-from-professional-football\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Mikel-Obi.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Mikel-Obi.jpg\",\"width\":600,\"height\":410},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/john-mikel-obi-retires-from-professional-football\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"John Mikel Obi retires from professional football\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Matchplug Blog\",\"description\":\"Matchplug is the best soccer prediction site connecting bettors with winning tips. 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