Francis Olowu Ofili Adetokunbo (Antetokounmpo) was born on 20 October 1988; the basketball player is the eldest of the five Antetokounmpo brothers, who are all known for their Basketballing skills. Born to parents Charles and Veronica Antetokounmpo, two of his brothers are associated with the NBA, the most famous being Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Asides from Basketball, for which he is mostly known, Francis, who is of Nigerian descent, is also a talented singer and football player. He was born in Lagos, Nigeria, and was only a child when his parents relocated to Athens, Greece. At first, he was left behind in the care of his grandparents before later joining his parents abroad.
Francis is a semi-professional basketball player. He has played for a small team known as Filathlitikos, which some of his brothers played for as well. The children got their affinity for sports from their parents, who were both into sports in their days. Their father was a soccer player, while their mom was a high jump athlete.
As far as fields of endeavours go, Francis is the most versatile of the Antetokounmpos. Just like the rest of his siblings, he has stayed true to his Nigerian roots. This has been reflected heavily in his music. In 2020, he released a song titled “Shekosi”, his first single. Let’s get to know even more about Francis and the Antetokounmpos. For starters, see these ten facts about them.
10 facts about Francis Antetokounmpo
- Unlike his other four brothers who were born abroad, Francis was born in Lagos, Nigeria, and was a kid when his parents relocated in search of greener pastures.
- His parents worked very hard to give him and his siblings a better chance at life. While Charles Adetokunbo worked as a handyman, his wife Veronica served as a babysitter.
- Although the original family name is Adetokunbo, they changed their name to Antetokounmpo after an error was made on Giannis’ passport.
- Giannis, who is six years younger than Francis and the most popular of the lot, currently plays for the Milwaukee Bucks of the NBA, alongside his brother Thanasis.
- Francis played basketball in Greece alongside his brothers, but unlike them, he never considered it as something he wanted to do for a living.
- Francis played professional football as a midfielder and was associated with AE Sparti, a Greek football club based in Sparta, Laconia, Greece, in 2018.
- In July 2020, Francis released “Shekosi”, his first single, which featured an appearance by Serbian actor Darko Peric; Peric portrays the character Helsinki in the famous Netflix series La Casa De Papel.
- The Antetokounmpo organised ‘Antetokounbros 5K Run’ in Athens, Greece, in partnership with NIKE, which involved four of them (minus Kostas) running through the city of Athens along with hundreds of other participants.
- Francis is active on social media, where he mostly promotes his music and cheers his brothers on through every milestone they achieve.
- He currently has a net worth of approximately $1 million.
Related article: The life and times of late giant American actor Matthew McGrory.
Early life and education
As earlier stated, Francis was born in Nigeria and was still a child when his parents moved abroad. He was left with his grandparents, who brought him up till he joined his parents. Francis is a high-school and college graduate, but there is no information on what school or university he went to.
Career
Francis, as already hinted, is a multi-talented person. He is the most versatile among the Adetokunbo boys and has tried his hands on several things. He started out with a career as a basketball player, and he is known as a semi-professional basketball player; he used to play for Filathlitikos, a small local club.
More than Basketball, he did considerably well as a soccer player. In fact, he is better known as a football professional. He has played for various clubs from Nigeria and Greece, like AE Sparti and Aititos Spaton, where he played as a midfielder. He, however, left Aittitos Spaton on 23 June 2019 and shifted his focus to pursuing a career in music. Francis uses his middle name, Ofili, as his stage name. In 2020, he released his first official single, “Shekosi,” which has garnered 156K views on his YouTube channel. The music video has a guest of Darko Peric, the Serbian actor who stars in La Casa De Papel as Helsinki.
After his first single, he has released other songs as well, like “Jump On It,” “Obago” featuring Obi Iross, and “That Ting” featuring King Kanja.
Antetokounmpo brothers
Francis is the eldest of the five Adetokunbo children who are all boys. He is also the only one who wasn’t born in Europe. Let’s meet his other siblings as we unearth some lesser-known facts about them.
Thanasis Antetokounmpo
Born 18 July 1992, Thanasis (Athanasios Rotimi “Thanasis” Antetokounmpo) is the second oldest brother of the Antetokounmpo brothers. Thanasis, who is four years younger than Francis, was born in Athens, Greece. He is a professional Greek basketball player, and he plays for the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association. He was earning a salary of $1.446 million in 2019.
While Thanasis Antetokounmpo may have inherited his athleticism from his father, his jumping skills can be attributed to his mother. The highlight of his budding career was when he was selected for the 2014 NBA D-League All-Defensive Third Team. The following year, he earned a position at the NBA D-League All-Defensive Second Team. Not many know that while his young brother Giannis is known as ‘The Greek Freak’, Thanasis is occasionally referred to as ‘Greek Freak 2’. He is also called ‘The Greek Streak’.
Thanasis Antetokounmpo’s Nigerian legacy and heritage earned him a spot at the senior Nigerian men’s national team for the 2016 Rio Olympics. However, a Greek by heart, he declined the offer and instead chose to play with the senior Greek national team. Later, he was selected to the country’s 12-man roster for the 2016 Turin FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament.
Giannis Antetokounmpo
