Olajuwon Bamidele Adeyemo (born 13 February 1995) is a Nigerian footballer who plays as a striker.

Ola Adeyemo
Adeyemo celebrating a goal scored for Lewes in September 2019
Personal information
Full name Olajuwon Bamidele Adeyemo
Date of birth (1995-02-13) 13 February 1995 (age 29)
Place of birth Nigeria
Height 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)[1]
Position(s) Striker
Youth career
Stella Maris
2012 St Patrick's Athletic
2012–2013 UCD
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2013 UCD 0 (0)
2014–2015 Dundee United 1 (0)
2015East Fife (loan) 11 (0)
2016–2017 Watford 0 (0)
2017–2018 Valdres FK 12 (7)
2019 Walton Casuals 2 (0)
2019 Lewes 21 (4)
2020 Wexford 4 (0)
2021–2022 Cove Rangers 11 (1)
2022 Peterhead 4 (1)
2023 Newry City 13 (1)
2023 Longford Town 9 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 21 October 2023

Born in Nigeria,[2] Adeyemo moved to London, England as a baby and then to Dublin, Republic of Ireland at the age of two.[3] He later went on to play youth football with Stella Maris and St Patrick's Athletic,[4] and was part of the Football Association of Ireland's national youth development programme.[3]

Playing career

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Club

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Adeyemo joined UCD from St Patrick's Athletic, where he went on to make his first senior appearance. He joined Scottish Premiership club Dundee United in June 2014 after a spell on trial with Leyton Orient.[1] After making his debut for Dundee United as a substitute in a Premiership match at Kilmarnock on 3 October 2014,[5] Adeyemo signed a contract extension in December 2014 to keep him at the club for a further eighteen months.[6] In February 2015, he joined East Fife in Scottish League Two on a development loan for the rest of the 2014–15 season.[6] Adeyemo left Dundee United in December 2015 after his contract was cancelled by mutual agreement, having made only two substitute appearances for the first team.[7] Adeyemo signed for English Premier League club Watford on 30 March 2016 until 2017 after a successful trial with the club's Under-21s.[8] He was released by Watford at the end of the 2016–17 season and in July 2017 signed for Norwegian 3. divisjon side Valdres FK.[9][10] Having left Valdres after the 2017 season,[11] Adeyemo had a trial with Scottish Championship club Falkirk in November 2018.[12] He signed for non-league Southern Premier side Walton Casuals in January 2019.[13][14] Adeyemo transferred to Isthmian League Premier Division club Lewes in February 2019.[15][16] On 30 July 2020, it was announced that Adeyemo has returned to Ireland, signing for League of Ireland First Division side Wexford.[17]

Adeyemo signed for Scottish League One side Cove Rangers on 9 September 2021.[18] He was let go at the end of the 2021-22 season and subsequently signed for Peterhead. He scored one goal in four appearances for the club before being released in December 2022.[19]

Adeyemo was announced as a Newry City AFC player in January 2023. He made his debut as a substitute, coming on in a scoreless draw at home to Larne.

On 23 July 2023, it was announced that Adeyemo had signed for League of Ireland First Division club Longford Town, where he would play alongside his younger brother Jordan for the first time.[20] He made his debut the same day, coming off the bench in a 2–1 loss at home to St Patrick's Athletic in the first round of the 2023 FAI Cup.[21] Adeyemo was released at the end of the season.

International

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Adeyemo, who is also qualified to represent England or the Republic of Ireland, received a call-up to a Nigeria under-23 squad training camp in January 2015.[3]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Development squad – Ola Adeyemo". Dundee United FC. Retrieved 12 October 2014.
  2. ^ "Ola Adeyemo keen to grasp chance given to him by Cove Rangers".
  3. ^ a b c "Dundee United: Mark Wilson to leave club by mutual consent". BBC Sport. 13 January 2015. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
  4. ^ "Ola Adeyemo". extratime.ie. Retrieved 15 October 2014.
  5. ^ "Killie up to third". Evening Telegraph. Dundee. 4 October 2014. Archived from the original on 17 October 2014. Retrieved 12 October 2014.
  6. ^ a b "Dundee United's Ola Adeyemo moves on loan to East Fife". BBC Sport. 2 February 2015. Retrieved 3 February 2015.
  7. ^ "Ola Adeyemo latest player to leave Dundee United". The Courier. Dundee. 21 December 2015. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  8. ^ "UNDER-21: Adeyemo Signs For Hornets". watfordfc.com. 30 March 2016. Archived from the original on 10 April 2016. Retrieved 31 March 2016.
  9. ^ "Two departures as Watford announce retained list". Watford Observer. 8 June 2017. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  10. ^ Walker, Ron (31 July 2017). "Ola Adeyemo er klar for Valdres FK". Valdres FK (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2 August 2017.
  11. ^ "Ulven starter sitt nye byggeprosjekt". OA (in Norwegian). Gjøvik. 6 January 2018. Retrieved 7 January 2019.
  12. ^ Oliver, David. "Falkirk trial former Sheffield Wednesday youth striker". Falkirk Herald. Retrieved 7 January 2019.
  13. ^ "Stags Sign Former Premier League Player". Walton Casuals F.C. 20 January 2019. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  14. ^ "2018/19 Statistics". Walton Casuals FC. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
  15. ^ "Lewes | Appearances | Olajuwon Adeyemo | 2018–2019 | Football Web Pages". www.footballwebpages.co.uk. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
  16. ^ "Lewes | Appearances | Olajuwon Adeyemo | Football Web Pages". www.footballwebpages.co.uk. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
  17. ^ "Ola Adeyemo signs for Wexford FC".
  18. ^ "Adeyemo joins Cove". 9 September 2021.
  19. ^ "Kelty Hearts v Peterhead match preview".
  20. ^ "Ola Adeyemo Signs!".
  21. ^ https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2023/0723/1396062-st-pats-overcome-nine-man-longford/
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