Kenyan international Arnold Origi has opened up on why he decided to acquire Norwegian citizenship in 2017.
Origi was Kenya’s goalkeeper for close to four years after he took over the mantle from Francis Onyiso and made his debut against Ghana in an Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifier in 2005, but was thereafter overlooked after it emerged he had switched allegiance to Norway.
Origi has now revealed despite being called names for making the decision, why he did it for his own sake.
“The fact that what the Norwegian passport offers. Personally, having a European passport puts you on the market and makes you available and accessible to people from different markets, who could not access you when you only had a Kenyan passport,” Origi is quoted by Standard Sports.
“That was really important for me. If you have to develop then you have to be accessible to different kinds of markets. If you want to achieve your dreams as a football player – It was time for me to put myself in that market to be accessible.
“I felt it was a key that would help me open doors and would enable me to get resources in terms of knowledge and material that I could take and bring back to Kenya and help the young guys who look up to me as a role model.
“Help them achieve their dreams in terms of becoming football players. The response was positive, but some people were negative. You cannot always pay attention to the negative ones.”
Origi, who currently turns out for HIFK Fotboll in Finland, continued: I was called ‘unpatriotic’, ‘Judas’, but that didn’t bother me too much. If someone calls you unpatriotic because you’ve done something that would keep your career alive because you're aware that if your career dies, three generations could die.
“That’s why I do it for the kids, I love the kids. I play football because I inspire these kids. When I get merchandise or purchase I can always be able to bring them back home. The joy on these kids’ faces gives some an immense amount of energy when I come back to Europe.”
Origi’s last game for Kenya was the 1-0 defeat to Guinea Bissau at Nyayo Stadium in Nairobi on March 27, 2016, and he went on to miss out on eight Afcon and four World Cup qualifying tournaments.
