Tega Agberhiere

FORMER REPUBLIC OF IRELAND youth international Tega Agberhiere flew in from Scandinavia to sign for AFC Totton on a permanent deal in October 2024.

The 22 year-old left-back, whose full name is Oghenetega Agberhiere — surname pronounced Ag-ber-HERE-ay — was born and raised in Waterford in the province of Munster, in the south-east of Ireland. He played in the youth set-up at League of Ireland football club Waterford, progressing to their Under-19s squad before crossing the Atlantic early in 2021 to attend Western Texas College on a soccer scholarship.

In May 2023, he was all set to go to Mercyhurst University in Erie, Pennsylvania but instead, he ended up signing for Florø SK in the Norwegian Third Division. Tega, as he is now referred to throughout his new club, played the majority of the 2024 Norwegian season which began in April and runs until the end of October, before arriving at the Snows Stadium just in time to make his AFC Totton debut in the Isuzu Third Qualifying Round victory over Merthyr Town.

Named in the starting XI and playing at left-back, Tega put in a compelling display of both defensive resolve and offensive threat, prompting the club’s Media team to nominate him as the ‘Star Man’ in their match report for The Non-League Paper.

That Tega is here today to continue his football journey is all the more remarkable given the adversity that he was forced to overcome in April 2019 when, as a 16-year-old, he was the victim of an acid attack while walking with friends in the Earlsfort Estate in Waterford. In a senseless, unprovoked assault, Tega and two of his friends had drain fluid thrown on them during a scuffle with strangers. While one of his friends suffered burns to his back and the other to his leg, Tega was hit full in the face.

His friends were able to carry him to a nearby petrol station to splash water on his face before the emergency services arrived to rush him to hospital. Fortunately, and contrary to the expectations of the specialist doctors working on him, Tega managed to retain his eyesight and, through countless skin grafts and endless rounds of medication, made a full recovery.

Good on the ball, calm under pressure and aggressive in one-v-one situations, while also being more than capable higher up the pitch, Tega has shown himself to be a promising all-round player, who overcame illness to complete the scoring in the 4-1 Boxing Day 2024 victory at Winchester City to mark his first goal for the club.