Jamilu Collins (born 5 August 1994) 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 ...

who plays as a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for Welsh club

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Caerdydd) is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1899 as R ...

and the

Nigeria national team Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya 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 G ...

Club career

Rijeka and loans

Born in

Kaduna Kaduna is the capital city of Kaduna State, and the former political capital of Northern Nigeria. It is located in north-western Nigeria, on the Kaduna River. It is a trade Centre and a major transportation hub as the gateway to northern Nig ...

, Collins spent his youth years with Abuja Football College Academy. He was one of several players who moved from Abuja to the HNK Rijeka youth team in mid-2012. In October 2012, Collins signed his first professional contract with

HNK Rijeka Hrvatski nogometni klub Rijeka ( en, Croatian Football Club Rijeka), commonly referred to as NK Rijeka or simply Rijeka, is a Croatian professional football club from the city of Rijeka. HNK Rijeka compete in Croatia's top division, HT Prva li ...

. In August 2013, he was loaned to

NK Pomorac NK Pomorac 1921 is a Croatian football club based in Kostrena, a suburb of Rijeka which currently plays in Croatian third tier 3. HNL West. Kostrena is known for its maritime tradition, which is reflected in the club's name, as the word " pomo ...

Druga HNL The Prva nogometna liga ( en, First football league), commonly Prva NL or 1. NL, is the second tier of the football league system in Croatia. The league was formed in 1991 with the breakup of Yugoslavia and the dissolution of the Yugoslav Secon ...

, where he collected 29 caps. In the following season, he played for HNK Rijeka's reserve side in Croatia's

Treća HNL The Druga nogometna liga ( eng, Second football league), commonly Druga NL or 2. NL) is the third tier of the football league system. The league was established in 1991 following the dissolution of the Yugoslav League. It is operated by the Cro ...

, where he was capped on 24 occasions. In May 2015, he signed a new one-year contract with the club, with an option to extend it for an additional year. In June 2015, Rijeka sent Collins on loan to

NK Krka Nogometni klub Krka ( en, Krka Football Club), commonly referred to as NK Krka or Krka, is a Slovenian football club based in Novo Mesto that competes in the Slovenian Second League, the second tier of Slovenian football. The team play its home ...

in the

Slovenian PrvaLiga The Slovenian PrvaLiga ( sl, Prva slovenska nogometna liga, ), currently named Prva liga Telemach due to sponsorship reasons, also known by the abbreviation 1. SNL, is the top level of the Slovenian football league system. Contested by ten club ...

, where he made 13 appearances before returning to Rijeka in January 2016. The following month, Collins was loaned to

HNK Šibenik Hrvatski nogometni klub Šibenik ( en, Croatian Football Club Šibenik), better known as HNK Šibenik or simply Šibenik (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Šibenik. It competes in the Croatian Football League, and plays the ...

in Druga HNL, where he was a regular starter. Following return from the loan, Rijeka extended Collins' contract until June 2017. He was immediately loaned to fellow

Prva HNL The Hrvatska nogometna liga () ( en, Croatian football league), also known as HNL or for sponsorship reasons the SuperSport HNL, is the top Croatian professional football league competition, established in 1992. Previously, it was called Prva H ...

club

NK Istra 1961 Nogometni klub Istra 1961 ( en, Istra 1961 Football Club), commonly referred to as NK Istra 1961, or simply Istra 1961 or Istra, is a Croatian professional football club from Pula, currently playing in the Croatian First League. It is a commo ...

SC Paderborn

On 6 September 2017, free agent Collins joined

3. Liga The 3. Liga is a professional association football league and the third division in Germany. In the German football league system, it is positioned between the 2. Bundesliga and the fourth-tier Regionalliga. The modern 3. Liga was formed for t ...

side

SC Paderborn 07 Sport-Club Paderborn 07 e.V., commonly known as simply SC Paderborn 07 () or SC Paderborn, is a German association football club based in Paderborn, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club has enjoyed its greatest successes since the turn of the mille ...

on a two-year contract following trials at the club. He scored his first goal for the club two years later with a 35-yard shot against Bayern Munich in a 3-2 defeat.

Cardiff City

On 20 May 2022, Collins signed for

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the E ...

team

. Collins said “I’m really excited to be in Cardiff, and I can’t wait to get started. The Club has great history, and when I got the call to come to Cardiff, I was so excited, I couldn’t resist. I’m looking forward to the challenge of the new season. The goal is to fight for the Premier League. I can’t wait to meet the supporters and to fight for the jersey."

International career

Collins received his first call-up to the

for an

Africa Cup of Nations qualification Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

match against

Seychelles Seychelles (, ; ), officially the Republic of Seychelles (french: link=no, République des Seychelles; Creole: ''La Repiblik Sesel''), is an archipelagic state consisting of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city, ...

on 11 September 2018. He made his debut a day later in a friendly against

Liberia Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean to its south and southwest. It ...

. After talking up his qualities, coach Gernot Rohr handed the 24-year-old his competitive debut in the next Afcon qualifying fixture against

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Su ...

Uyo Uyo is the capital city of Akwa Ibom in South South Nigeria. Ibibio is the language spoken in Uyo. It became the capital on September 23, 1987 when Akwa Ibom was created from the former Cross River State. According to the 2006 Nigerian Censu ...

. Nigeria defeated their visitors 4–0 and the left-back was impressive, coming close to marking his Super Eagles debut with a goal. He featured in the reverse fixture in

Sfax Sfax (; ar, صفاقس, Ṣafāqis ) is a city in Tunisia, located southeast of Tunis. The city, founded in AD849 on the ruins of Berber Taparura, is the capital of the Sfax Governorate (about 955,421 inhabitants in 2014), and a Mediterran ...

, Tunisia, which ended in a 3–2 victory for Nigeria to top

Group E Group E may refer to: * E-Group: E-Groups are unique architectural complexes found among a number of ancient Maya settlements * Group E (vase painting), a group of Attic vase painters of the black-figure style, active between 560 and 540 BC. * One ...

. On 25 December 2021, He was shortlisted in 2021 AFCON Nations Cup by Caretaker Coach Eguavoen as part of the 28-Man Nigeria Squad

Career statistics

Club

International

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Jamilu 1994 births Living people Sportspeople from Kaduna Nigerian footballers Nigeria international footballers Nigerian expatriate footballers Association football fullbacks HNK Rijeka players HNK Rijeka II players NK Pomorac 1921 players NK Krka players HNK Šibenik players NK Istra 1961 players SC Paderborn 07 players Cardiff City F.C. players Slovenian PrvaLiga players First Football League (Croatia) players Croatian Football League players 3. Liga players 2. Bundesliga players Bundesliga players Expatriate footballers in Croatia Expatriate footballers in Slovenia Expatriate footballers in Germany Expatriate footballers in Wales Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Slovenia Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Croatia Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Wales 2019 Africa Cup of Nations players 2021 Africa Cup of Nations players English Football League players