Abiola Adedeji Dauda (born on 3 February 1988) is a Nigerian professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays as a forward for

Gamma Ethniki The Gamma Ethniki (, C National Division) is the Greek football league system, third highest football league in Greece. History The Gamma Ethniki began in 1965 as an amateur championship, while in 1983 it was changed to professional. Although no ...

club Aris Petroupolis.

Early life

Dauda has vertical scars under each of his eyes which are family markings that were given to him shortly after birth. He has eleven siblings in his family.

Career

Early career

Dauda was discovered in Nigeria by an

agent Agent may refer to: Espionage, investigation, and law *, spies or intelligence officers * Law of agency, laws involving a person authorized to act on behalf of another ** Agent of record, a person with a contractual agreement with an insuran ...

Victor Mcdonald at age eighteen. He was playing with Grassroot Highlanders. Mcdonald helped him to get signed with Swedish fourth tier club Sölvesborgs GoIF. His time there was very successful and he was named the best forward of the division in 2007 which made several

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; ), also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan (, ) is a professional association football league in Sweden and the highest level of the Swedish football league system. Founded in 1924, it operates on a system of promotion and relegatio ...

clubs want to sign him.

Kalmar

In the end, he decided to join

Kalmar FF Kalmar Fotbollförening, more commonly known as Kalmar FF, is a Swedish professional football club based in Kalmar, Sweden. The club is affiliated to Smålands Fotbollförbund and play their home games at Guldfågeln Arena. Formed on 15 June 1 ...

the following year. During his time there he very rarely got to play the full 90 minutes in games but he still had a prolific 2012 season where he scored a total of 14 goals. After the season had ended he declared that he was leaving the club to look for a new challenge. During his spell with Kalmar, he won the Swedish championship in

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

and the Swedish Supercup in

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

, besides having been twice runner-up of the Swedish Cup, in

and

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

Red Star Belgrade

On 8 February 2013, which was the last day of the transfer market window in Jelen Super Liga Dauda signed a contract with

Red Star Belgrade Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club), commonly referred to as Crvena zvezda () and colloquially referred to as Red Star Belgrade in anglophone media, is a ...

. The first occasion on which Dauda scored for Red Star came on 3 April 2013, when he scored two goals and provided an assist for teammate Darko Lazović in a 3–0 win at home against

Hajduk Kula FK Hajduk Kula (Serbian Cyrillic: ФК Хајдук Кула) was a Serbian football club based in Kula. The club was named after a Hajduk, a much celebrated hero figure in the Serbian epic poetry. On 30 July 2013, just eleven days before start ...

Vitesse

On 21 July 2014, Red Star Belgrade announced they had agreed a €500,000 fee for the transfer of Dauda to

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; "Honour Division" or "Premier Division") is a professional association football league in the Netherlands and the highest level of the Dutch football league system. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start o ...

club

Vitesse Arnhem SBV Vitesse Arnhem (''Stichting Betaald Voetbal Vitesse Arnhem, Eng: Professional Football Foundation Vitesse Arnhem''), widely known as Vitesse () or internationally known as Vitesse Arnhem, is a Dutch professional association football, footba ...

Heart of Midlothian

On 1 February 2016,

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, also known as the William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Scotland and the highest level of the Scottish football league system. Th ...

side Heart of Midlothian signed him on a loan deal for the remainder of the season. He scored his first goals for the club when he scored a brace in the league against Ross County on 10 February 2016.

Atromitos

On 9 January 2017, Dauda signed a one-and-a-half-year contract with

Greek Superleague The Super League Greece 1 (), or Stoiximan Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Greece and the highest level of the Greek football league system. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and repla ...

club Atromitos on a free transfer from Vitesse. His five goals in the 2016–17 Greek Cup made him top scorer for the season. Dauda scored as Atromitos beat

AEK Athens A.E.K. (; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople'') is a major Greek multi-sport club based in Nea Filadelfeia, Attica. The club is more commonly known in European competitions as A.E.K. Athens. Establishe ...

1–0 to go top of the table on 23 October 2017. His goal on 28 January 2018 secured a 1–0 home win over AEL, and two goals in the last match of the season took his personal total to nine. The 4–0 home win against

Kerkyra Corfu ( , ) or Kerkyra (, ) is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea, of the Ionian Islands; including its small satellite islands, it forms the margin of Greece's northwestern frontier. The island is part of the Corfu regional unit, and is admin ...

gave Atromitos a fourth-place finish.

Giresunspor

Dauda spent the 2018–19 season with

TFF First League The TFF 1. Lig (), currently referred to as Trendyol 1. Lig for sponsorship reasons, is the second level of the Turkish football league system. The league was founded in 2001 as the ''Turkish Second League Category A'' after the reorganization ...

(Turkish second-tier) club

Giresunspor Giresunspor Kulübü is a Turkish professional football club based in Giresun. History Giresunspor was founded in 1925 and re-formed in 1967 after the merger of Yeşiltepespor, Akıngençlikspor, and Beşiktaşspor. The football club is playing ...

, for which he scored 12 goals from 28 league appearances.

AEL

Dauda returned to the Greek Superleague with AEL on a three-year contract.

Panetolikos

On 16 January 2020, following his release from AEL, he joined

Panetolikos Panetolikos Football Club (), or with its full name officially romanized as Panaitolikós Gymnastikós Filekpaideftikós Sýllogos (''; Pan- Aetolian Gymnastic and Educational Club''), is a Greek professional football club. It is based in Agrini ...

on a six-month contract. In his debut, two days later, he salvaged a point in a home game against

Lamia Lamia (; ), in ancient Greek mythology, was a child-eating monster and, in later tradition, was regarded as a type of night-haunting spirit or "daimon". In the earliest myths, Lamia was a beautiful queen of ancient Libya who had an affair with ...

, with a last-minute penalty. On 22 January 2020, Abiola Dauda, who recently moved from Larissa to Panetolikos a few days ago, struck a brace, first in the 28th minute after dribbling past the goalkeeper and slotting the ball into the net, and in the 63rd minute when his left-footed strike gave the visitors a 0–2 lead in a thrilling 2–2 away draw against AEL.

Apollon Smyrnis

On 4 September 2020, he signed with

Apollon Smyrnis Apollon Smyrnis Football Club () is a professional football club based in Athens, Greece, which competes in the Athens FCA first division. It is part of GS Apollon Smyrnis (Γυμναστικός Σύλλογος Απόλλων Σμύρνης), ...

on a free transfer.

Ionikos

On September 2023, he moved to Ionikos on a free transfer.

Aris Petroupolis

On 27 July 2024, he signed with Aris Petroupolis on a free transfer.

Career statistics

Honours

Kalmar FF *

Svenska Supercupen Svenska Supercupen, ''Swedish Super Cup'', was a one-off fixture in Swedish football played between the Allsvenskan champions and the winners of Svenska Cupen. The fixture was played in November, after the Allsvenskan season. In the event of a ...

Red Star *

Serbian SuperLiga The Serbian Super League (), also known as Mozzart SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Serbia and the highest level of the Serbian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a sys ...

: 2013–14 Vitesse Arnhem *

KNVB Cup The KNVB Beker (; ), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organised by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. Outside the N ...

: 2016–17 Mohammedan Sporting * CFL Premier Division A:

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

Individual *

Greek Cup The Greek Football Cup (), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Betsson Greek Cup for sponsorship reasons is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second-most important domestic men's footba ...

Top goalscorer: 2016–17

References

External links

* *
archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dauda, Abiola Living people 1988 births Footballers from Lagos Men's association football forwards Nigerian men's footballers Nigerian expatriate men's footballers Sölvesborgs GoIF players Kalmar FF players Red Star Belgrade footballers SBV Vitesse players Heart of Midlothian F.C. players Atromitos F.C. players Giresunspor footballers Athlitiki Enosi Larissa F.C. players Panetolikos F.C. players Apollon Smyrnis F.C. players Allsvenskan players Serbian SuperLiga players Eredivisie players Scottish Professional Football League players Super League Greece players TFF 1. Lig players Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden Expatriate men's footballers in Serbia Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in Scotland Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Serbia Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Greece Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Nigerian emigrants to Sweden Naturalized citizens of Sweden Yoruba sportspeople Mohammedan SC (Kolkata) players 21st-century Nigerian sportsmen