Former Super Eagles striker Richard Owubokiri has revealed that Jose Mourinho predicted in his early coaching years that he would one day be among the world’s leading coaches.
Mourinho is now widely regarded as one of the best coaches in the world, and has managed several high profile European clubs, including Porto, Chelsea, Inter Milan, Real Madrid, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur.
The Portuguese football tactician is the first coach to win all three European competitions: Champions League, Europa League and Conference League.
During his first stint at Chelsea, Jose Mourinho famously dubbed himself ‘the Special One’.
A prolific striker during his playing days, Owubokiri is best remembered in these parts for scoring against South Africa in a 1994 World Cup qualifier and winning the Primeira Liga top scorer award for the 1991-1992 season.
Mourinho tutored Owubokiri at C.F. Estrela da Amadora before the Nigerian moved to Boavista, where he became a household name in Portuguese football.
Owubokiri praised Mourinho for the way he revolutionized football, highlighting how he changed the physical approach to training.
“I had a wonderful moment with Jose Mourinho, he was very young as well then, should be about 25 years old ( or 27) then and he was my physical coach, very fond of me.
“He will always tell me, Ricky, do this, do that, you’ll become one of the best strikers ever. I did exactly the way he taught me to do and he used to tell me, ‘Richard, I will become one of the best coaches in the world’. He told me this then.
“We have a wonderful relationship. I knew him as a young lad, as a physical coach. He was a very important coach, it was from Jose Mourinho that the Portuguese taught the world a huge football story.”
Owubokiri was a member of the Nigeria squad to the 1982 Africa Cup of Nations and is credited with 23 appearances for the national team.
