A Nigerian footballer, Chinonso Jeremiah Obi, has been hospitalised after he was attacked with a knife in Lithuania on Tuesday.
Obi, who plays for FK Dainava, was reportedly attacked in Alytus while his team was preparing to travel for a league match. The Lithuanian Football Federation confirmed the incident in a statement, adding that a suspect has been arrested and is currently in police custody.
According to the federation, the team had been scheduled to travel to Tauragė for a second-tier league fixture, but the match has now been postponed following the attack.
The LFF strongly condemned the incident, describing it as unacceptable and noting that it casts a negative light on the country. The federation emphasized that such violence has no place in football or society.
President of the LFF, Edgaras Stankevičius, said players must feel safe regardless of their background, stressing that football should unite people rather than divide them.
Obi, a 20-year-old attacker who joined FK Dainava in February 2025, had recently featured in his first match of the season, playing in a 3–3 draw against TransINVEST.
The incident adds to growing concerns over the safety of foreign players in Europe, particularly amid recent cases involving Nigerian footballers facing abuse. In February, Tolu Arokodare was subjected to racial abuse on social media after a missed penalty during Wolverhampton Wanderers’s defeat to Crystal Palace in the English Premier League.