Gift Orban makes KAA Gent History, wants free kick duty

Gift Orban has made history as the first KAA Gent player with four goals in a Jupiler Pro League game this century.

The 20 year old netted four goals in Gent’s 6-2 win at Zulte Waregen last weekend in a Jupiler Pro League matchweek 29 game.

Orban, with seven goals in just five appearances is also the top scoring player in Belgium since he made his debut for the club on February 11. Indded, no player has scored more goals in the top-10 European Leagues since that day when Gift Orban made his KAA Gent league debut, scoring twice against Westerlo.

The 20-year-old striker was part of Stabæk’s 2022 promotion winning side, with the Nigerian scoring an impressive 16 goals in 22 games. Orban only joined the Norwegian side in 2022 from FC Bison in Nigeria.
Gent paid €3m for the 20-year-old Nigerian, and if his debut is a sign of things to come it could prove to be a bargain.

One of the Nigerian’s four goals in the 6-2 was from a free-kick and Gent head coach Hein Vanhaezebrouck spoke about the goal.

He told Voetbalkrant: ‘I’ve been saying for three weeks that Gift should be taking our free kicks, but we have other specialists who thought it wasn’t up to Orban yet . Now they’ve finally let him’.
Orban also believes he has staked a claim to be one of the club’s free kick takers.

Speaking about taking free-kicks going forward, the Nigerian striker said ‘I think I’m going to be allowed to take them now’