Three minutes and twenty-five seconds It's not much time, but it changed Gift Orban's life forever since that's the total amount of time it took him to score the fastest hat-trick in UEFA Club competition history, and he's only been in Europe for a year.


With the level of scouting in the modern game, data analysts and scouting networks are rarely forced to raise an enchilada-style eyebrow when a player becomes a breakout star in a top-10 League. Sure, they've known about him for years, but he's only been a professional for just about 12 months, has no Academy upbringing, and was an amateur before that, and yet he's scoring a goal per game while lighting up European Club competition.

His ridiculous story is littered with what-ifs and a healthy dose of luck that is produced to one Wonder kid that some are saying could break the entire Belgian League transfer record when he leaves and of course he's not actually from nowhere he's just from nowhere according to Google if you try and find any of the clubs he played for.

Gift Orban cut his teeth playing in the lower leagues of Togo. Next to Togo is a couple of fantastic footballing nations, including Nigeria, where the other half of Gift Orban's family is from, but it was after moving to the lower leagues of Togo that Gift Orban had his first of many strokes of luck that allowed him to find the European limelight, he participated in a trial program in Togo's capital. Lo Mei. And keep in mind that this experimental program in Togo occurred in 2021, which was two years ago.

The start of the covid 19 pandemic was not that long ago and he is still training in the Togolese capital as an amateur but while he was there he caught the eye of famed Nigerians Scout Le Fowler.

Now, Ola Fowler invited Gift Orban to another trial opportunity in Uyo, Nigeria. This was a trial tournament set up by a fairly significant figure in Nigerian football, an agent named Atta Aneke, who represents Odion Ighalo, David Dattro Fofana, and a number of other players. According to this article by Indian Express, it was a great chance to make it as a footballer, and if it didn't work out, he was going to become a policeman. It was a real fork-in-the-road moment.

The tournament's format required him to play nine games over six days in front of scouts from a wide range of clubs who were there to determine whether any talent might be hiding in Oyo, Nigeria. Obviously, there was talent there, but the agent Aneke withdrew Gift Orban from the competition after just two games,  he said "there was no point in keeping him for longer he scored three goals in one of the games but it wasn't just that he scored it was how his confidence and the way he struck the ball, I instantly knew that this was a player that would go far".

Also was a scout from Norway named Torgir Bjerman who made Regular pilgrimages to Africa to scout for his Club Staubach who had just been relegated at the time to the second division of Norway and he came away from the tournament absolutely convinced that gift Orban needed to be signed immediately. "I decided to invite him to our preseason training camp".

Despite joining for the preseason camp gift. Orban failed to impress the trainers in Staubach and returned to Nigeria when his visa expired in February. Over the next few months, Staubach was still unable to settle on a regular first-team striker and invited Gift Orban to return and see if he could develop with the second team, which was playing in the Norwegian fourth division, so in May of 2022, 12 months ago, he packed his bags and left Nigeria once more to play in the Norwegian fourth division.

There were some Visa issues, so he signed initially on loan from the club he'd picked up upon returning to Nigeria, bison FC, a club you can't even find on Google and will find absolutely nothing about other than there is a team in Nigeria named Bison FC.

When he landed in the Norwegian fourth division, the ground shook. Bjerman, the Scout for Staubach who had recommended his signing, said he scored in every game there, so he gave him a chance in a cup fixture in June June 11 months ago in his first Cup match against Notuden he scored in his next match against Gilvik Lin he scored twice those might have been Semi-Pro teams, but those two cup performances were enough to land gift Orban finally in the first team in the Norwegian second division with Staubach.

This is how it went away Dem Yondalan two assists, then two goals and one assist against Jordan's blink, how about brand gold Sogandal two goals and one assist. he had at least one goal contribution in every match for Staubach the speed with which gift Orban was able to make the transition from playing in Nigeria with Bison FC to playing with a professional team in the Norwegian second division.

his teammates Frederick Krogstad said usually it takes an African player about a year to adjust to Norwegian football because his style and culture they're very different gift adapted amazingly fast it was just crazy he learned everything very quickly and became a leader now because of the scouting Norway is actually something of a pipeline for African players but clearly gift Orban was just different and the club knew it too after just the first three starts in that ridiculous run Staubach sold Oliver Valiker Edverson and Edvardson. The proceeds from the transaction were rolled over to activate the buyout clause in Gift Orban loan. So that Staubach could ultimately have him on the team outright, he was formally on Staubach around nine and a half months ago.

With him breaking the European Club competition record for hat trick speed that's where we're going in nine and a half months Gift Orban then kept up his hot pace and even though the season was well underway Norway plays a summer league so they don't freeze to death Orban tied for the Golden Boot in just 22 matches he had 16 goals to go with seven assists in half of a season his first half season as a professional halfway around the world.

Top Flight and some Scouts around Europe had taken actual notice of his three-month Whirlwind performance this would become the second time that a scout in Europe would Bank essentially their entire reputation on Gift Orban being great and that would be Samuel Cardenas who is the head of scouting at Gent. He told the athlete "I put my hand in the fire for him. I campaigned for him for three months, but the only way to accomplish deals like this is to be daring and trustworthy, and all of that dedication is ultimately what convinced Belgian Giants Gent CEO Michelle Lawergy to sign him".

Obviously, with someone who has only been playing professionally for about three months, even Cardenas knew it was a gamble. The reason it was such a significant gamble is that buying a player from the Norwegian second division to play in the Top Flight in Belgium is one thing, but spending three million euros for the privilege is quite another.

Ghent signed the gift Orban on January 31st of this year for over 3 million euros, and this is where the most amazing part of this story begins, because even though he was moving from the Norwegian second division and had not played since November, he didn't miss a beat, finally making his debut on February 11th in the starting lineup against Westerlu, scoring two goals, then four matches later scoring four goals against Salt of Aragon, the first four-goal performance by a gent player since 1958 in a competitive match and it took him five games to do it.


Orban got off to such a good start that even Cardenas, the man who put his hand in the fire for him, was surprised. I would lie if I said I expected him to perform fast. Belgian commentator Peter Vanden bent told the BBC I have never seen a player who entered the competition so smoothly and right as this Groundswell of hype was reaching its apex three days after his four-goal performance against Salt of Aragon it happened the 3 minutes and 25 seconds that put the world on notice, it was actually his third consecutive match in the Europa Conference League Knockouts with a goal he scored in the first leg against Pashak Shakir and in the second leg of the previous round against Karabag the Azerbaijani Giants.

In April 2022 After an unsuccessful trial with a club in Norway's second tier, Orban was in Nigeria playing for Bison FC. A year later, he scored 15 goals in 17 games across all competitions with Gent in Belgium's Top Flight.

Cardenas said, "I hope he stays here, but he's too talented to be here. This guy was in the Norwegian second division about four months ago, in Nigeria a year ago going on trial, and Togo trying to get onto a team, and now he is too good to be on Ghent. It's insane, but that's what everyone thinks. It's not just his performance on the field; he's also a mentality monster. In fact, according to our research on Gift Orban is every person that's ever been around him talking about the ridiculously high level of intensity that honestly makes you think of Ronaldo. When you hear about it I mean he is describing exactly how he wants passes into his feet and Furious when he feels like a goal-scoring opportunity was missed.

however  Unlike some of the other goats apparently Orban is a great guy he just has a switch in his brain that other perfectionists don't have so he's not a locker room problem at all Stefan Schmatt, a journalist covering Gent, said that Orban is speaking and making jokes with everyone he's a phenomenon even off the pitch and everyone loves him and his professionalism even though he's only been professional for like less than a year is apparently fantastic.

Scout Cardenas said "he had only been in Europe for a year, but he eats well, sleeps well, is aware of his surroundings, and has a plan in place. In short, there's no reason why Gift Orban's meteoric rise can't continue; he's the self-taught complete package and the bolt of lightning from nowhere that every scouting department in the world is hoping they have the chance to find. I've been really impressed by it".