Jônatas Obina


Jônatas Paulino da Silva Inácio, known as Jônatas Obina, is a footballer who plays as a forward for Operário FC. He earned his nickname after physical comparisons with fellow footballer Obina.
Born and raised in Brazil, he has been a member, as a naturalized citizen, of the Equatorial Guinea national team.

Club career

Jônatas Obina started his career at Democrata de Sete Lagoas, where he was discouraged to pursue professional football. After competing in the Copa São Paulo de Futebol Júnior for Vila Nova in January 2006, Jônatas Obina became a professional footballer and played mostly for Minas Gerais based clubs, being Módulo II do Campeonato Mineiro's top goalscorer with 13 goals in his first stint with América-TO, thus earning him a move to Le Mans where he played with the reserve team for less than a year.
On his return to América-TO, Jônatas Obina was América's top goalscorer in the 2011 Campeonato Mineiro with 10 goals. Immediately after, he was signed by Clube Atlético Mineiro for 2011 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A. Jônatas made his debut as a second-half substitute in a 0-4 home loss against Internacional on 30 June 2011, scoring his first goal on his second appearance for the club on 10 July against América Mineiro, also scoring on his next match against Santos. He ended the year with 11 appearances for Galo, one of them during 2011 Copa Sudamericana.
The following year, after manager Cuca declared he was not part of the club plans, he was loaned to Ipatinga and later to Boa for 2012 Campeonato Brasileiro Série B.

International career

Jônatas Obina was naturalized Equatoguinean in 2012 and made his official debut in a 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying match against Cape Verde coming off the bench in a 4-3 win. His second appearance was a lost friendly against Togo. On his next match, also against Cape Verde, he scored his first international goal in a 1-2 loss.

International goals

#DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.8 June 2013Estádio da Várzea, Praia, Cape Verde1–20–3
Awarded		2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying match