Under three years, this young Nigerian has gone from non-league football in Germany to achieving his dreams of being a professional football player.
When Dickson Abiama left Nigeria for Germany four years ago, he had his plans mapped out: to get a better education. Football came after.
“I moved to Germany in 2016. My parents were already living here, so they brought me here just for me to get a better education.” Abiama began.
Finding the balance between education and football will always come with its challenges. He managed to combine them both.
Abiama was only playing for fun when some individuals who spotted him recommended that he take the next step in football. Perhaps, they saw something special in the then-teenager.
“I was playing one day at the park and some guys saw me and said it’d be better if I join a football club. When I came new, I didn’t know anyone.
“They showed me a club close to my place. The name of the club is Mogeldorf, they said I should go there and maybe they’d take me. So I went there and joined the club.”
That was in 2017. Abiama started with Mogeldorf’s youth side and scored loads of goals there but soon found out that the level wasn’t his.
“I started at the U19 and I scored 29 goals. But the level wasn’t good like that. I then moved to the first team, there I also scored 27 goals.”
His goalscoring feats helped Mögeldorf achieve promotion to the Landesliga (German football sixth tier) and higher clubs began to take note of his talents.
Abiama left Mögeldorf in 2018 for fellow sixth-tier Quelle Fürth where he spent a single season.
The striker moved a level higher in the subsequent summer of 2019, joining SC Eltersdorf in the fifth division.
An unceremonious friendly match against Greuther Fürth, a German second division club at the start of last season would prove to be the turning point in his career. His career took an upward trajectory thereon.
“At the beginning of the (2019-20) season we played a friendly game against Greuther Fürth and we lost 3-1. I scored the only goal in the game. That was how I won the attention of Greuther Fürth.”
“Then the manager of Eltersdorf told me that Gruther Fürth they’re interested for me to do like trials but with the second team.
“I went there and did the trial and I think it was in November(2019),” Abiama said.
He agreed on a deal in principle with Gruether Fürth in December 2019 but remained at Eltersdorf for the duration of the 2019-20 campaign.
Abiama linked up with his new employers last October and has settled in nicely at the professional level.
He has scored 4 goals for Greuther Fürth in 11 games this campaign, mostly coming from the bench.
At just 22 years old, Abiama has come very far within a short time. He does not wish to stop there though and has big targets for the future.
“For me personally, just to play football in bigger clubs. My main goal is to play for the Nigerian national team.”
