Olerum: The Nigerian who became Iranian

Days in Pasargarde FC
19 year old Daniel joined 2nd division side Pasargarde FC from Nigerian club Shooting Stars. Daniel enjoyed a great season in Pasargarde FC in his first year, scoring a magnificent 28 goals in 31 appearances, becoming the league’s top goal scorer.

He also helped his team to a breathtaking Hafzi Cup run where he managed to score a great goal against giants Esteghlal Tehran. After such a great year in Pasargarde, he was no longer an unknown quantity in Iran and some of the biggest clubs in Iran were after him.

Move to Foulad Khuzestan
In September 2003 he completed his move to Iranian Champions Foulad, who were to play in Asian Champions League too, a big move for now the 21 year old Daniel Olerum, but with the presence of stronger competition such as Emad Reza and young stars Hojjat Charmahali, Olerum faced an uphill battle to earn a starting position in the team and was mostly used on the bench. Foulad ended the season in disappointment in Asia as well as in the league, and Daniel with only 11 appearances and no goals to his name failed to live up to the standards he set the previous season.

Foulad Khouzestan declared they did not need him any longer and Daniel was once again on the move to look for a new club, but despite a horrible season in Foulad there was interest from other Iranian Premier League clubs.

Aboomoslem and days of glory
In 2005 he left Foulad and joined Aboomslem Mashad, and it was here, he would live up to some of the most glorious days in his career, it was here in Mashad he finally would call Iran his home.

On his arrival to Mashad, Daniel Olerum changed his name to Erfan Olerum, and in September 2006 Daniel converted to Islam and asked others to refer to him by his new Islamic name "Erfan". On his arrival to Mashad he was quoted saying "All I needed was just a chance to show what I could do, and Iran provided me with that opportunity", words that he would live up to. Erfan in his first season in Aboomoslem became the top goal scorer in Iran with 17 goals. This included an amazing hattrick against Persepolis.

"You know the death of my best friend Sam Okoye affected my game a lot, but now I am happy to be in the news for the right reasons, it came against the biggest team in Iran and I am grateful for my team-mates' efforts as well. The fact that the three goals came in the space of twenty minutes left everyone stunned". This was Erfan’s response after his man of the match performance against Persepolis.

Erfan was voted the best IPL Forward of 2006/2007 in the ceremony held in Tehran, becoming only the 2nd foreign player ever in Iran's history achieve such a feat.

Finding Love
There was more good news to come for star forward when he married an Iranian woman who he had met after arriving in Iran. Erfan and his newly wed wife travelled to Mecca shortly after as a gift on behalf of the Aboomoslem team.

On his return from honeymoon, his future was in doubt. Aboomoslem fans were getting worried whether their star forward would stay in Mashad or not, as there was interest from Tehran giants Persepolis and Esteghlal alongside Serbian Giants Partizan Belgrade.

Erfan in Team Melli ?
His season at Aboomoslem was such a success that even a Team Melli call up was being mentioned, having married an Iranian women and devoting himself to Islam had made many people very keen on seeing Erfan in a Team Melli shirt, but the there was surely a conflict of interest as many believed the idea of inviting Erfan would be wrong and only put us closer to the likes of Qatar & UAE who neutralizes Africans and South Americans to represent their country, while majority believed Erfan had devoted himself to Iran & our way of life and should have the right to represent Iran.

"To play alongside Ali Karimi, Mahdavikia and represent Iran is an honour" Olerum once said, mentioning that if an invite was to arrive from the IFF he would certainly consider such a decision. Erfan never got that chance, and as the news of him representing Iran slowly settled down, he was soon forgotten as an option.

Erfan, renewed his contract with Aboomoslem with a $50.000 dollar pay rise and would stay in Mashad for the 2007/2008 season.

2007/2008
Khodadad Azizi once said about Olerum, "If Erfan had a brain he would score twice as much".

Many people believe Olerum would not be able to repeat a feat of 17 goals again, and called him a one season wonder, putting Olerum in the same position as he was when he moved from Pasargarde to Foulad. His chances were not increased by the signing of Brazilian striker Rodrigo Texeira from Germany.

Despite a fantastic season by Aboomoslem, finishing 5th, Olerum had 12 goals short of his last season’s record, and he only managed to score a disappointing 5 goals.

Interest from China
Half way through his 2007/2008 campaign there were reports that Chinese Superlige clubs were keen on the 25 year old striker, even an offer of $600.000 was made to Aboomoslem who were keen on letting him leave.

Chinese club Shandong offered Aboomoslem three payments of $200.000 for the striker within a 2 year period, and Aboomoslem officials made it clear that any decision will be made at the end of the season.

The Future
As the season drew to an end, and head coach Parviz Mazloomi departed to Mes Kerman, Erfan made it clear that he wishes to stay in Mashad, that his wife does not want to reside in China. And that he too is happy with life in Mashad. "I'm very proud to be a part of this historical country”. With that, the decision was made that Erfan will most probably be spending more years to come in the black & red shirt of Aboomoslem, this time next to his fellow Nigerian countryman and former Barcelona & Nigerian international Gbenga Okunwo who has joined Aboomoslem from Ukraine.

Maybe in the 2008/2009 season, Erfan Olerum will show us once again what a true goal scorer he is.

As many Iranians believe he is a very likable person, with a fantastic personality. It would be disappointing if he was to ever leave Iran as Aboomoslem will loose a great player and Iran will loose a great icon. He has gone through such a fantastic and inspiring journey to become the player he is today.

After all he is no longer known as a Nigerian, we all call him Erfan, and he is Iranian.