Emmanuel Olukolade Sonupe (born 21 March 1996) is an English 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 winger. He is currently a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

. Sonupe started his career at

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

, although he did not make any first-team appearances. He was loaned out to

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 ...

club St Mirren in February 2015 for the remainder of the 2014–15 campaign. He was released by Tottenham in June 2016 and later signed for

League One League One or League 1 may refer to: Association football * EFL League One, the third tier of football in England. * China League One, the second tier of football in China * K League 1, the top-tier football in South Korea * Lao League 1 * Lea ...

team

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the c ...

. Sonupe was loaned out to

Kidderminster Harriers Kidderminster Harriers Football Club are a professional association football club based in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, England. The team competes in the National League North, the sixth level of the English football league system. Formed in ...

of the

National League North The National League North, officially known as Vanarama National League North for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Association football league in England. National League North is the second division of the National League (English footb ...

, and following his departure from Northampton, he signed for Kidderminster on a permanent basis. After one year at Kidderminster, he joined League Two club

Stevenage Stevenage ( ) is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, about north of London. Stevenage is east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1(M), between Letchworth Garden City to the north and Welwyn Garden City to the south. In 1946, Stevenage w ...

in June 2018 where he spent two seasons. Sonupe signed for

Yeovil Town Yeovil Town may refer to: * Yeovil, a town in Somerset, England, with a council named Yeovil Town * Yeovil Town F.C., an English football team based in Yeovil, Somerset * Yeovil Town W.F.C., an English women's football team affiliated with Yeovil T ...

of the

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

in November 2020 and spent the 2020–21 season there. Sonupe has also represented England at under-16 and under-18 level.

Early life

Born in

Denmark Hill Denmark Hill is an area and road in Camberwell, in the London Borough of Southwark, London, England. It is a sub-section of the western flank of the Norwood Ridge, centred on the long, curved Ruskin Park slope of the ridge. The road is part of ...

, London, Sonupe's parents are

Nigerian Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was derived from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jo ...

Club career

Early career

Sonupe began his career in the youth set-up at

in 2012, where he initially played for the under-18 team before progressing to under-21 level. Having scored twice in eleven appearances for Tottenham's under-21 team during the first half of the 2014–15 season, Sonupe was loaned out to

club St Mirren in order to gain first-team experience on 2 February 2015. The loan agreement ran until the end of the season. He made his professional debut in a 2–1 home defeat to

Inverness Caledonian Thistle Inverness Caledonian Thistle Football Club, commonly known as Caley Thistle, Inverness CT or just Inverness, is a professional football club based in Inverness, Scotland. The team competes in , the third tier of the Scottish Professional Footba ...

on 14 February 2015, coming on as a 61st-minute substitute in the match. The loan spell concluded on 29 May 2015, making just four appearances during the three-month spell. He spent the 2015–16 season playing for Tottenham's under-21 team, but did not make any first-team appearances for the club. He was released by Tottenham upon the expiry of his contract in June 2016.

Northampton Town

Without a club, Sonupe had a trial at

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Charlton, south-east London, England. The team compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Their home ground is ...

in pre-season ahead of the 2016–17 season, playing 45 minutes in pre-season friendly matches against

Welling United Welling United Football Club is a semi-professional association football club, based in Welling in the London Borough of Bexley, England. The most prominent aspect of the club is its men's first team, who play in the , the seventh level of the E ...

and

Bromley Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is southeast of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 88,000 as of 2023. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, charte ...

respectively, before being asked back to play in another friendly against

Dulwich Hamlet Dulwich Hamlet Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in East Dulwich in south-east London, England. They are currently members of and play at Champion Hill. History The club was formed in 1893, by Lorraine 'Pa' Wilson. The ...

. No transfer materialised, however, and Sonupe subsequently signed for

club

on 12 August 2016 following a successful trial period, joining on a one-year contract. Northampton manager

Rob Page Robert John Page (born 3 September 1974) is a Welsh Manager (association football), football manager and former association football, player who was most recently the manager of the Wales national football team, Wales national team. In an 18-yea ...

stated that the initial focus was on developing Sonupe — "we will work with him, we will develop him and we think he can develop into an asset for us". He made his debut as a substitute in a 0–0 draw with

AFC Wimbledon AFC Wimbledon is an English professional association football club based in Wimbledon, London, Wimbledon, London Borough of Merton, London. The team competes in , the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in ...

on 20 August 2016. Sonupe went on to make just three further appearances during the season, all of which were in the

EFL Trophy The English Football League Trophy, officially known as the Vertu Motors, Vertu Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English association football, football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL League Two and ...

. Having not made any first-team appearances for four months, Sonupe was loaned out to

club

on 23 March 2017 for the remainder of the season. He made five appearances during the brief loan spell, scoring his first goal in senior football in a 4–1 away victory over

Altrincham Altrincham ( , locally ) is a market town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, south of the River Mersey. It is southwest of Manchester, southwest of Sale, Greater Manchester, Sale and east of Warrington. At the 2021 United Kingdom ce ...

on 17 April 2017. On his return to Northampton, Sonupe was released when his contract expired in May 2017.

Kidderminster Harriers

After making "a big impression" during his loan spell, Sonupe signed for Kidderminster on a permanent basis on 30 June 2017. He joined the National League North club on a one-year contract. The 2017–18 season was to serve as Sonupe's first full season of regular first-team football. He started the season by scoring three goals in as many games, which included scoring twice in a 2–1 victory away at

FC United of Manchester Football Club United of Manchester, more commonly known as FC United, is a semi-professional football club based in Moston, Manchester, England, that competes in the , the seventh tier of the English football league system, and plays home m ...

on 12 August 2017. Sonupe's goal tally reached double figures before the end of the calendar year having scored eleven times in all competitions. He went on to score 15 times during the season, making 46 appearances, as Kidderminster's season ended with defeat at the National League North play-off qualifying round stage.

Stevenage

Sonupe signed for League Two club

for an undisclosed five-figure fee on 13 June 2018. He made his Stevenage debut in the club's opening match of the 2018–19 season, a 2–2 draw with

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club are a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ...

Broadhall Way Broadhall Way, known as the Lamex Stadium for sponsorship purposes, is an association football stadium in Stevenage, Hertfordshire. It has been the home ground of Stevenage (formerly Stevenage Borough and Stevenage Town) since the early 1960s, a ...

, coming on as a 64th-minute substitute in the match. Sonupe scored his first goal for Stevenage in a 3–1 home victory against

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its ea ...

on 6 October 2018. He played predominantly as a substitute during his first season with the club, although ended the season by starting in the last five league matches. This included him scoring twice in a 4–1 away victory at

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in , the third tier of the English football league system. Vale are named after the valley of ports on the Trent and Mersey Canal ...

on 19 April 2019. Sonupe made 37 appearances in all competitions during the season, of which 26 were as a substitute, scoring three goals, as Stevenage finished in tenth position in League Two, one point off of the play-off places. He made 14 appearances during the 2019–20 season, scoring once. Sonupe was released by the club upon the expiry of his contract in June 2020.

Yeovil Town

Having started the 2020–21 season without a club, Sonupe signed for

club

on 28 November 2020, on a contract for the remainder of the season. He debuted for Yeovil in the club's 2–1 victory away at

on 8 December 2020, playing the first 73 minutes of the match. Sonupe scored his first goal in a 3–1 victory against King's Lynn Town on 15 May 2021. He made 15 appearances during the season, scoring twice, as Yeovil finished the season in 16th-place in the National League. Sonupe was released by Yeovil upon the expiry of his contract at the end of the season.

Dartford

On 28 September 2021, Sonupe played for

Dartford Dartford is the principal town in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, England. It is located south-east of Central London and is situated adjacent to the London Borough of Bexley to its west. To its north, across the Thames Estuary, is Thurrock in ...

in the

London Senior Cup The London Senior Cup is the County Senior Cup of the London FA. The London Senior Cup was first won by Upton Park in 1882. Although the leading professional sides in London no longer compete, the Cup has been won in the past by the likes of ...

against Athletic Newham at Princes Park. He started the match and scored two of the goals as Dartford ran out 5-2 winners.

El Paso Locomotive

On 16 December 2021, it was announced that Sonupe would join

USL Championship The USL Championship (USLC) is a men's professional association football, soccer league in the second tier of the United States soccer league system#Men's leagues, United States league system. It is organized by the United Soccer League (USL) a ...

side

El Paso Locomotive El Paso Locomotive FC is an American professional soccer team based in El Paso, Texas. Founded in 2018, the team made its debut in the USL Championship in 2019. History First season In February 2018, the United Soccer League announced that El P ...

ahead of their 2022 season. The club confirmed on 25 October 2022 that Sonupe would return for the 2023 season. On 1 November 2023, it was announced that Sonupe would not be returning to El Paso for the 2024 season.

United Arab Emirates

On 1 February 2024, Sonupe joined

UAE First Division League UAE First Division League is the second tier of football league competition in the United Arab Emirates. As of 2020–21, the league features 15 sides who play each other in a home and away round-robin format, with a total of 28 games for each t ...

club

Masafi Club Masafi Sports Club is an Emirati football club based in Masafi. The team currently plays in the UAE First Division League. See also * List of football clubs in the United Arab Emirates References Masafi Masafi () is a village located on t ...

. In September 2024, Sonupe joined

UAE Second Division League UAE Second Division League is the third tier of football (soccer), football league competition in the United Arab Emirates, the league is organised by United Arab Emirates Football Association, UAE Football Association for private funded clubs a ...

side Precision Football.

International career

Sonupe has represented England at both under-16 and under-18 level. He is also eligible to play for

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, ...

owing to his Nigerian ancestry.

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sonupe, Emmanuel Living people 1996 births English men's footballers Footballers from the London Borough of Southwark Black British sportsmen People from Denmark Hill Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players St Mirren F.C. players Northampton Town F.C. players Kidderminster Harriers F.C. players Stevenage F.C. players Yeovil Town F.C. players Dartford F.C. players El Paso Locomotive FC players Masafi Club players Precision Football players Men's association football midfielders England men's youth international footballers Scottish Professional Football League players National League (English football) players English Football League players USL Championship players UAE First Division League players UAE Second Division League players English people of Nigerian descent Sportspeople of Nigerian descent English expatriate men's footballers English expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States English expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates Expatriate men's footballers in the United Arab Emirates 21st-century English sportsmen