Franklin Nwachukwu is a Nigerian who grew up in Finland and started his playing career as a striker before currently ending up as a Centre-back recently.
Based in Finland but born in Madrid, Spain, the 16-year-old 6’3” defender realized his defensive abilities after playing as a striker for years and decided to switch and make use of his height and footwork learned from being a striker to help his club Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi (HJK).
“I started playing football when I was 6 years old. I’m now 16, still dreaming of playing at the highest level possible,” Franklin told Sports247.
“I started as a striker and played that position for many years, but the past 3 years I have played Centre-back. I realized my defensive skills became superior and I was able to use both my height and my good ball-controlling skills from my striker years when playing Centre-back,” he added.
The teenager star represented Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi in the Finnish national series, Southern Finland area, at 15 years and then 1st division (boys 16-17) after emerging Winner of Helsinki Cup in July 2021.
Awarded the most developed player of the season in 2021, Franklin Nwachukwu fills his diet with majorly Nigerian food whilst also having Finnish meals to go along.
“My daily diet consists of mainly Nigerian and Finnish traditional foods such as rice, stew, yam, garri, okra soup, salad, fish, potatoes, etc,” he said to Sports247 as he remains focused to play at the highest level of football.
