Abu Abolaji Azeez (born 31 May 1994) is a Nigerian

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

player who last played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

for

Bangladesh Premier League Bangladesh Premier League (), also known as Dutch-Bangla Bank BPL for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Twenty20 cricket league in Bangladesh organised by the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB). It was formed in 2011 by the BCB, after the su ...

side

Chittagong Abahani Chittagong Abahani Limited (), also spelled as Chattogram Abahani or Chittagong Abahoni, is a sports club based in Chittagong, Bangladesh. A wing of Abahani Limited was established at Chittagong in 1980, known as Chittagong Abahani. It is on ...

. He represents the

Nigeria national beach soccer team The Nigerian national beach soccer team represents Nigeria in international beach soccer competitions and is controlled by the Nigeria Football Federation, the governing body for football in Nigeria. Competitive record World Cup record Africa ...

Early life

Abu Azeez grew up in Ojo part of

Lagos Lagos ( ; ), or Lagos City, is a large metropolitan city in southwestern Nigeria. With an upper population estimated above 21 million dwellers, it is the largest city in Nigeria, the most populous urban area on the African continent, and on ...

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

with parents who made education a priority for him. He had a strong love for football but could only watch his friends join and represent school teams as his father didn't approve of him joining them. Unfortunately, he had to wait till his dad died in 2005 before he could join a team. He got his first pair of boot with his father's gratuity.

Club career

Abu joined amateur football team, Owibeseb FC in 2006 and spent three years with them before joining

Bridge F.C. Bridge Football Club is a Nigerian football club based in Lagos that was founded in 1976. As a result of its association with the Julius Berger construction company, the club was known as Julius Berger Football Club until 2010. The club has w ...

in 2009. He turned professional in 2013 when he signed for

Nigerian Professional Football League The Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) (formerly the Nigeria Professional Football League) is the highest level of club football in Nigerian football league system. The Nigerian Premier League has suffered like many others, from the financ ...

side,

Kwara United F.C. Kwara United Football Club is a Nigerian football club based in Ilorin. They play in the top division in Nigerian football, the Nigeria Professional football League having gained promotion in 2017 from the Nigeria National League. Their home stad ...

He spent a year with the Ilorin-based club before he was signed by Warri Wolves F.C. In 2016, he made the switch to

Enyimba FC Enyimba Football Club, commonly known as Enyimba, is a Nigerian professional football club based in the city of Aba, Abia State which plays in the Nigerian Professional Football League. Their name means ''People's Elephant'' in Igbo language an ...

of Aba but once again he moved to Shooting stars sports club of ibadan the following year after a trial with Turkish club

Samsunspor Samsunspor Kulübü, officially known as Samsunspor Football Club Joint Stock Company, or as Reeder Samsunspor due to sponsorship agreements, is a Turkey, Turkish Football club (association football), professional football club that competes in t ...

. After one year back in the western part of Nigeria, Azeez moved back to the east, signing for the

Enugu Rangers Rangers International Football Club, commonly known as Enugu Rangers, is a Nigerian professional association football team founded in 1970. Based in Enugu, the Rangers play their home games at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium. Enugu Rangers are one ...

. He played one season with the Flying Antelopes before he joined Remo Stars F.C. With Remo Stars dropping to the

Nigeria National League The Nigeria National League (NNL) (formerly the National Division 1) is the second-highest overall in the Nigerian football league system after the Nigeria Premier Football League, and is currently contested by 46 clubs. Each season, four ...

in 2019, Azeez returned to Warri Wolves for a second stint and has been an important member of the team this season.

International career

Abu Azeez made his debut for

at the

2009 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup The 2009 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup was the fifth edition of the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, governed by FIFA. Overall, this was the 15th edition of a world cup in beach soccer since the establishment of the '' Beach Soccer World Championships' ...

in Dubai where he scored twice as Nigeria crashed out in the group stages. He became a vital member of the team from after that tournament and won his first trophy with the team in 2011 at the Copa Lagos. In 2016, while he was still with

Enyimba Aba is a city in southeastern Nigeria. It lies along the west bank of the Aba River and is at the intersection of roads leading to settlements such as Port Harcourt, Owerri, Umuahia, Ikot Ekpene, and Ikot-Abasi. Aba was established by t ...

, Azeez announced that he was retiring from international beach football so he could focus regular football. He, however, returned to the team later that year to help the West African to a second-place finish at the

2016 Africa Beach Soccer Cup of Nations The 2016 Africa Beach Soccer Cup of Nations, also known as the 2016 CAF Beach Soccer Championship, was a beach soccer tournament which took place in Lagos, Nigeria in December, to determine the best beach soccer nation in Africa and doubles as a q ...

which was hosted in Nigeria. Azeez named

's captain in 2019, a year after he became the first and only Nigeria

Beach soccer Beach soccer, also known as beach football, sand football or sand soccer, is a variant of association football played on a beach or some form of sand between two teams of five players each. Association football has long been played informally on ...

player to reach a century of goals.

Player profile

A versatile forward player, Azeez is capable of playing on either wing or through the middle as a centre forward. He is very powerful, with skill and pace to support. while ostensibly right-footed, he is able to hit the ball well with his left foot. He is one of the most popular stars of the Nigeria professional football league.

Honours and achievements

Nigeria *

FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup The FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup is an international beach soccer competition contested by the national teams of the member associations of FIFA, the sport's global governing body. The tournament was preceded by the Beach Soccer World Championshi ...

**Quarterfinals:

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 ...

*BSWW Tour - Copa Lagos **Winners: 2011, 2012, 2013 **Runners-up: 2019 *

Africa Beach Soccer Cup of Nations The Beach Soccer Africa Cup of Nations (BSAFCON) is the beach soccer tournament of Africa, organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). Launched in 2006, the winners of each edition qualifies for African nations to the upcoming FIFA ...

**Runners-up:

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

**Third-place:

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

**Fourth-place:

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

Warri Wolves * 2015 Nigeria Professional Football League: 2nd Place Individual * MTN Lagos Street Soccer **MVP: 2010 *

Beach Soccer Worldwide Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW) is the organisation responsible for the founding and growth of the association football-based sport of beach soccer. The founding partners of BSWW codified the rules of beach soccer in 1992, with BSWW as it is known ...

**Ambassador: Since 2017 **Top 50 best

players 2017 *BSWW Tour - Copa Lagos **MVP: 2011, 2012, 2017 *

**Top scorer:

African Beach Games The African Beach Games is a continental multi-sport event held among athletes from the Africa. The Games are organised under the governance of the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (ANOCA). The Games were announced by the ANOCA ...

**Top scorer:

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Azeez, Abu 1994 births Living people Nigerian beach soccer players