Gift Emmanuel Orban has written history. Wonderkid Gift Orban struck four goals during 40 second-half minutes in the Belgium top flight recently, in a remarkable showing that proved Victor Osimhen isn’t the only Nigerian hotshot giving defenders sleepless nights this season. There’s more.
Before he smashed those four goals, Orban had scored another hattrick in the previous game, but this time in the Europa Conference League. Scoring 7 goals in 2 games is no easy feat, with Erling Haaland the only player that has actually gone and done the same.
What the Norwegian hasn’t been able to match is Orban’s latest record in UEFA. The 20-year-old Nigerian striker scored the fastest hattrick in any European competition in KAA Gent’s victory over Turkish club Basaksehir FK. In the first half, Orban scored a hattrick within just four minutes—the fastest record in UEFA history.
The previous record for the fastest hattrick in a UEFA club competition was held by Mohamed Salah. The Egyptian striker scored three goals in just six minutes in Liverpool’s 7-1 win over Rangers during a UEFA Champions League group stage match in October 2022. Patson Daka holds the record for the fastest hattrick in the Europa League. The Leicester City striker needed just nine minutes to score his three goals in a 4-3 victory over Spartak Moscow in October 2021.
The Nigerian kid is something special, and this might be just the start of a beautiful career. While critics may want to say it could be a flash in the pan, the booming rise of Orban suggests otherwise, as he looks set to follow in the footsteps of many great Nigerian players who used the Belgian league as a launching pad to global relevance.
How good is Gift Orban?
Far from being an accomplished player, Orban had to work hard to see his name in the lights. Like many Nigerian players before him, Orban faced countless challenges and obstacles, but he has remained steadfast in his determination to succeed. Despite his hard work and dedication, success seemed to elude him, and he found himself at a crossroads. But little did he know that fate had something in store for him.
It was when he moved to Togo in search of better opportunities that his fortunes changed.
A shock signing in January from the Norwegian second division Gift Emmanuel Orban has already become a class act with Belgian club KAA Gent.
With that hattrick in the Conference League, Orban will now have secured his name in the football history books. But it…
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