Dominic Iorfa Jnr – Getting closer for club and country

He would later play for Abiola Babes and Ranchers Bees of Kaduna before travelling aboard where he played for several clubs in Europe and Asia including Royal Antwerp in Belgium, Queens Park Rangers in England, Galatasary in Turkey, Peterborough United in England, Southend United, Guangzhou Apollo in China and Waterford United among others.Iorfa senior also […]

He would later play for Abiola Babes and Ranchers Bees of Kaduna before travelling aboard where he played for several clubs in Europe and Asia including Royal Antwerp in Belgium, Queens Park Rangers in England, Galatasary in Turkey, Peterborough United in England, Southend United, Guangzhou Apollo in China and Waterford United among others.
Iorfa senior also played for the Super Eagles and was a member of the football team to the 1988 Seoul Olympics. On retirement from active football, he is into administration of the game and is currently the vice chairman of Nigeria Premier League side, Lobi Stars FC of Makurdi.
Although he made a name playing as a top striker, his second son, also called Dominic is a defender and is currently making waves in England in the colours of his country of birth, England and club, Wolverhampton Wonderers.
Iorfa Junior was part of the youth system at his local club Southend United, one of his father’s former clubs, before joining the academy of Wolverhampton Wanderers. He was capped by England at under-18 level in 2013. Early this year, he was signed by Wolves and moved on a one-month loan to League One side, Shrewsbury Town where he made his senior debut the same day he arrived the club.
He is signed to Wolves until the summer of 2015, with the club also holding the option of an additional year. Iorfa joins two other players Jonathan Flatt and Eusebio Bancessi from the same age group who had already had their future secured at the club.
The son of former Nigerian international is benefitting from being in and around the first team picture following some impressive performances for the Under-21’s.
The young defender who captains the youth side has been included in the matchday squad for several recent first team fixtures, although is yet to feature in the final 18.
The 19-year-old is also one of the mainstays in the Under-21 side and regularly trains with the first team as he looks to continue his development at Molineux. Only recently, he played for England U-20 side against Portugal and is looking good to come into Wolves defence that has been leaking in recent times. This weekend’s away game at Brentford may be the opportunity he has been waiting for to make his senior team debut for Wolves.
Able to play centre back or right back, Iorfa joined the club’s academy system at the age of 15.
He says: “When I was about 15 I was playing for Southend and then Wolves saw me play and they invited me for a trial and I joined from there”.
As stated earlier, Iorfa spent one month on loan at Shrewsbury Town towards the end of last season where he made seven first team appearances and the defender believes the move capped off a solid after struggling to break into the Under-21’s side earlier in the campaign.
“It didn’t start off the best because last season I wasn’t really playing that many games but when I played I did well and then I managed to get a loan move to Shrewsbury,” he says.
“It was good – it was different, a good experience and I played quite a few games as well and I think I did well.
“I’ll be happy to go out on loan again if the club wants to send me out because it was a good experience.
“I do really want to be pushing for the first team here and I’ll try to do my best to get close but if not then I’ll look to go out on loan.
“I’ve been in the squad for a few games recently and hopefully it’s getting closer.”
In March 2013 the defender was capped at international level for the first time as he appeared for England Under 18’s against Belgium in Brussels.
The 19-year-old Iorfa junior has targeted playing in the Barclays Premier League in the future and has ambitions of representing his country much more frequently at both youth and senior levels.
“In the long term I hopefully want to play in the Premier League and play for my country again,” he said.
“Last season I was also on standby a couple of times for the young England squad so hopefully if I carry on doing well hopefully I’ll get in.”
Like Victor Moses and Shola Amoebi who appeared for England at the junior level but switched allegiance to Nigeria to play for the Super Eagles, many would expect the young defender to leave England for his father’s country.
However, Iorfa senior is leaving that decision for his son as he said “It is not for me to decide which country he plays for. Personally, I will be happy to see my son represent my country but he is an English player now and he has the final say on that.
“He is still a young boy so when the time comes, I would offer him my advice as a father but I cannot compel him to play for Nigeria. The only thing I can say for sure is that he is passionate about Nigeria. He is always proud putting on Super Eagles jersey that I presented to him”.