Efe Obada spent 10 years as an NFL player yet only now does he feel he has found his true calling.

After spending the 2025 season without a team, the 34-year-old Briton officially confirmed his retirement on Wednesday.

And to coincide with the announcement, Obada has launched his own foundation, which will help care-experienced people aged between 11 and 25.

"It resonates with me so much because I've lived it," he tells BBC Sport. "I know about the barriers, the isolation."

Obada lived in more than 10 foster homes after being trafficked from the Netherlands and abandoned in London at the age of 10.

He went on to make a remarkable journey to the NFL, where his career earnings were more than $8m (£6m).

"I now have the means and resources to have real impact on something that I hold very dear," he added. "It's everything to me. I feel like it's my life's purpose."

How Obada ended up in foster care

Obada was born in Nigeria and lived with his father before being trafficked to the Netherlands to reunite with his mother.

He and his sister, who was 11 and has learning difficulties, were then taken to the UK by a stranger who left them on a street in east London.

They ended up in the care of social services, who kept Obada and his sister together and placed them with black families in south London. In the worst of those situations, he has said they were treated like domestic slaves.

Obada managed to progress at school and college, and wanted to study architecture at university, but his progress was blocked because he was still classed as an illegal immigrant.

"I was an undocumented person so I couldn't go to university, couldn't get a career," he says. "It had to be cash-in-hand jobs. My life was going a certain direction."

As Obada sought a sense of belonging, he began mixing with the wrong crowd and lived with "some undesirable people".

"I was living in such dysfunction and toxicity, and everybody around me was too," he says. "It was just chaos and survival. And I didn't recognise that until I started sharing my life with people from different walks of life.

"They were like, 'oh, that's a bit messed up, you know'. So I started taking stock and realised that maybe I am worth more, maybe I do deserve better."

• 'Growing up in foster care translates to NFL'

  'I really wanted Mahomes and Lamar'

  To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.

  This video can not be played

  At 22, Obada and his now wife had moved out of the city and he was working as a warehouse security guard.

  From there, he says there was more chance of him "winning the lottery three times and getting hit by lightning four times" than making it to the NFL.

  He bumped into an old friend who was playing American football for the London Warriors and invited Obada to come along.

  After just five games at amateur level, one of the Warriors' coaches - future Super Bowl winner Aden Durde - helped secure a try-out with the Dallas Cowboys and Obada joined their practice squad in 2015.

  He spent time with two other teams and "poured all his anger" into making it. When the defensive end earned his NFL debut with the Carolina Panthers in 2018, he had an instant impact - claiming a sack, an interception and forcing a fumble.

  "That really put me on the map," he says. "There was a lot of pent-up frustration from all the rejections that led to that moment.

  "Then playing for the Panthers in London in 2019 was a dream come true, to play in front of my friends and family on home soil, to show everybody what I'd been working towards."

  Obada went on to play for the Buffalo Bills and Washington Commanders, racking up 80 games and 15 quarterback sacks, tackling the likes of Super Bowl winners Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees, Matt Stafford and Jalen Hurts.

  "I didn't get [Patrick] Mahomes or Lamar [Jackson], they were two that I really wanted to, but that list is alright," he jokes.

  Obada never reached a Super Bowl and has wondered might have been in the 2021 season, when his Buffalo team lost an epic play-off game against Mahomes' Kansas City Chiefs in overtime.

  Obada was also on Washington's practice squad when they went within one win of the big game in 2025.

  'Your past doesn't define your future'

  Obada spent his final three seasons with the Washington Commanders (2022-24)

  Obada has raised awareness of the care system and human trafficking throughout his career, while dealing with his own demons.

  "I've managed to face the majority of it," he says. "It's taken time and been a learning curve, but the NFL, my marriage and the people I surround myself with has been instrumental in helping me grow out of that.

  "I think I'm so far removed from who I was, being in that fight-or-flight mode. Now I can be my true authentic self and enjoy living my life.

  "I have so much to give, and when I help my community, I just come to life because I can have real impact."

  Obada, who finally became a British citizen last year,, external is now back in south London and will continue helping community projects and working in broadcasting.

  But his focus will be establishing his foundation, which aims to provide a wide range of support services and, ultimately, a permanent community hub in south London.

  "American football was my golden ticket, my way out," he says. "Playing in the NFL changed my life. It gave me a platform and the ability to provide.

  "But I think this is my true calling. I want to create something that lasts, that matters. I want to support kids that are still in those situations and make sure they understand that their past doesn't define their future, that they can write their lives in the same way I did.

  "Whatever their dream is, it's possible. When I was that age I was scared to dream, so helping them is nice, and it's something I'm going to continue until my money runs out!"

  Speaking to BBC Sport in 2023, Obada talked about his NFL journey, troubled upbringing and helping others

  More on this story

  • NFL fixtures and results

  • Get American Football news sent straight to your phone