Efe Obada retires from NFL and launches foundation for care-experienced youth
Efe Obada, the 34-year-old Briton and former NFL defensive end, announced his retirement on Wednesday after spending the 2025 season without a team and launched a foundation aimed at supporting care-experienced young people in south London.
Obada's childhood included being born in Nigeria, living with his father, being trafficked to the Netherlands to reunite with his mother and then, at age 10, being abandoned on a street in east London; he subsequently lived in more than 10 foster homes and was kept with his sister by social services, who placed them with black families in south London. His sister was 11 at the time and has learning difficulties, and Obada has described one of the worst placements where they were treated like domestic slaves.
Barred from higher education because he was undocumented, Obada says: "I was an undocumented person so I couldn't go to university, couldn't get a career," and he took cash-in-hand jobs while moving into a period he describes as "chaos and survival" and mixing with "some undesirable people." At 22, after moving out with his now wife and while working as a warehouse security guard, he accepted an invitation from an old friend to try American football with the London Warriors; after five amateur games a Warriors coach, Aden Durde, arranged a try-out with the Dallas Cowboys and Obada joined their practice squad in 2015.
Obada spent 10 years as an NFL player and recalled channeling frustration into his career; when the defensive end made his NFL debut for the Carolina Panthers in 2018 he recorded a sack, an interception and forced a fumble. "That really put me on the map," he says, and he described playing for the Panthers in London in 2019 as "a dream come true, to play in front of my friends and family on home soil."
During his NFL career Obada played for the Buffalo Bills and Washington Commanders, appearing in 80 games and recording 15 quarterback sacks, and he listed opponents including Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees, Matt Stafford and Jalen Hurts. He joked: "I didn't get [Patrick] Mahomes or Lamar [Jackson], they were two that I really wanted to, but that list is alright." Obada never reached a Super Bowl, saying he had wondered about the 2021 season when his Buffalo team lost a play-off game against Kansas City in overtime, and he was on Washington's practice squad when they came within one win of the big game in 2025; he spent his final three seasons with the Washington Commanders (2022-24).
To coincide with his retirement announcement Obada launched a foundation to help care-experienced people aged between 11 and 25; he told BBC Sport: "It resonates with me so much because I've lived it. I know about the barriers, the isolation." He said his career earnings of more than $8m (£6m) give him "the means and resources to have real impact on something that I hold very dear," and noted he had raised awareness of the care system and human trafficking throughout his career. Obada met King Charles in February 2025 at an event to showcase the charitable work being done by the NFL and Tottenham Hotspur, and he became a British citizen last year; he is now back in south London and will continue helping community projects and working in broadcasting while focusing on his foundation.
Obada described American football as "my golden ticket, my way out," and explained his intention for the foundation: "But I think this is my true calling. I want to create something that lasts, that matters. I want to support kids that are still in those situations and make sure they understand that their past doesn't define their future, that they can write their lives in the same way I did. 'Whatever their dream is, it's possible. When I was that age I was scared to dream, so helping them is nice, and it's something I'm going to continue until my money runs out!'" The foundation aims to provide a wide range of support services with the ultimate plan of creating a permanent community hub in south London.