Leon Aderemi Balogun (born 28 June 1988) is a 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 defender for

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus ...

and the Nigeria national team. Balogun has previously played for

Türkiyemspor Berlin Türkiyemspor Berlin is a Turkish association football club from Berlin. The club began in 1978 as a loose association of young footballers playing recreationally as ''Kreuzberg Gençler Birliği'' (Kreuzberg Youth Union), named after the Ber ...

Hannover 96 Hannoverscher Sportverein von 1896, commonly referred to as Hannover 96 (), Hannover, HSV or simply 96, is a German professional football club based in the city of Hanover, Lower Saxony. They played in the Bundesliga for a total of 30 years betw ...

Werder Bremen Sportverein Werder Bremen von 1899 e. V. (), commonly known as Werder Bremen (), Werder or simply Bremen, is a German professional sports club based in Bremen, Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. Founded on 4 February 1899, they are best known for the ...

Fortuna Düsseldorf Düsseldorfer Turn- und Sportverein Fortuna 1895 e.V., commonly known as Fortuna Düsseldorf (), is a German football club in Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, which competes in the 2. Bundesliga. Founded in 1895, Fortuna entered the league ...

Darmstadt 98 Sportverein Darmstadt 1898 e.V., commonly known as Darmstadt 98 (), is a German football club based in Darmstadt, Hesse. The club was founded on 22 May 1898 as FC Olympia Darmstadt. Early in 1919, the association was briefly known as ''Rasen-Sp ...

Mainz 05 1. Fußball- und Sportverein Mainz 05 e. V., usually shortened to 1. FSV Mainz 05, Mainz 05 () or simply Mainz (), is a German sports club, founded in 1905 and based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. 1. FSV Mainz 05 play in the Bundesliga, the top ...

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club (), commonly referred to simply as Brighton, is an English professional football club based in the city of Brighton and Hove. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league ...

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 193 ...

and

Rangers A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...

Club career

Early career

He made his

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footbal ...

debut on 19 April 2009 for

in a game against

Hamburger SV Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its football section. Though the current HSV was founded in June 1919 from a merger of thr ...

. After his contract with

2. Bundesliga The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...

side

expired in summer 2014, he was without a club for three months until he joined fellow leaguer

. He signed a contract until the end of the 2014–15 season.

Brighton & Hove Albion

On 22 May 2018, Balogun signed a two-year deal with

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

club

. Balogun made his competitive debut for the Sussex club coming on as an early substitute against

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

replacing injured

Lewis Dunk Lewis Carl Dunk (born 21 November 1991) is an English professional footballer who plays as a centre-back and is captain of club Brighton & Hove Albion. He has also one appearance for the England national football team. Starting his youth ca ...

. The Seagulls went on to beat United 3–2 at

Falmer Stadium The Falmer Stadium, known for sponsorship purposes as the American Express Community Stadium and also referred to as the Amex, is a football stadium in the village of Falmer, in the City of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex. With a capacity of 3 ...

. He scored his first goal for the Albion to make it 2–0 against bitter rivals

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition buildin ...

at Falmer Stadium where he scored in 25 seconds after being subbed on replacing Pascal Groß as a result of a

Shane Duffy Shane Patrick Michael Duffy (born 1 January 1992) is an Irish professional association football, footballer who plays as a defender (association football), defender for club Fulham F.C., Fulham and the Republic of Ireland national football tea ...

red card for head butting. The game finished 3–1 to the Albion to claim the boasting rights in the

M23 derby M, or m, is the thirteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''em'' (pronounced ), plural ''ems''. History Th ...

. On 27 August 2019, Balogun played in his first ever

EFL Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by th ...

match in a 2–1 away win over

Bristol Rovers Bristol Rovers Football Club are a professional football club in Bristol, England. They compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play home matches at the Memorial Stadium in Horfield, they have been ...

Wigan Athletic

Balogun signed for

on 31 January 2020 on a six-month loan deal. On 25 June 2020, he signed a short term permanent contract with the Latics until the end of the 2019–20 season.

Rangers

Balogun signed for

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, known as the cinch Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottis ...

club

on 24 July 2020 on a one-year contract, with an option in the club's favour to extend for a further year. He made his debut for Rangers a week later, on 1 August, in a

match against

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), ...

where he impressed during a 1–0 win. During February 2021, he deputised at right back after an injury to club captain James Tavernier and the suspension of reserve player Nathan Patterson. Balogun previously played at right back earlier in his career when in Germany. On 9 April 2021, Balogun signed a new one-year contract with

. He scored his first goal for the club on 27 October 2021, in a

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...

group stage match against

Brøndby IF Brøndbyernes Idrætsforening (, usually abbreviated to Brøndby IF (), is a professional association football club based in Brøndbyvester, Capital Region of Denmark. The club was founded in 1964 as a merger between two local clubs and was pr ...

. Balogun left Rangers in June 2022 after his contract expired, with his final appearance coming in their

2022 Scottish Cup Final The 2022 Scottish Cup Final was the 137th final of the Scottish Cup and the final of the 2021–22 Scottish Cup, the most prestigious knockout football competition in Scotland. The match was played on 21 May 2022 at Hampden Park, Glasgow. St Jo ...

victory. Rangers legend

Ally McCoist Alistair Murdoch McCoist, (; born 24 September 1962) is a Scottish former footballer who has since worked as a manager and TV pundit. McCoist began his playing career with Scottish club St Johnstone before moving to English side Sunderland i ...

commented two months later that he had been "surprised" by Balogun's departure, and suggested that the club should re-sign him.

QPR

Balogun signed a one-year contract with

on 26 August 2022. He scored his first goal for the club on 22 October 2022, which proved to be the winner, against his former club Wigan Athletic.

International career

FWC 2018 - Group D - NGA v ISL - Photo 21

Born to a Nigerian father and German mother, Balogun was called up by

Nigeria 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 ...

for a March 2014 friendly against Mexico as a replacement for

Joseph Yobo Joseph Michael Yobo (born 6 September 1980) is a Nigerian former professional footballer who played as a centre back. He was the captain of the Nigerian national team until his international football retirement in June 2014, and was Nigeria's r ...

. Balogun entered at half-time, but was injured after 20 minutes in a collision with signage on the touchline. He fractured his foot and was set to miss 2–3 months after surgery. However, he later confirmed to news media that his injury did not require surgery. On 25 March 2015, he played his second game for Nigeria in a 1–0 loss against Uganda. He played his third game for the country on 13 June 2015 when he featured in a 2–0 win over Chad in the opening game of qualifying for the 2017 African Nations Cup. In June 2018, he was named in Nigeria's final 23-man squad for the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded the hosting righ ...

in Russia. Balogun played in every minute of the three games Nigeria played in, including a 2–0 win over

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its ...

, but were eliminated after finishing 3rd in their group. Balogun was included in Nigeria's squad for the

2019 Africa Cup of Nations The 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (abbreviated as AFCON 2019 or CAN 2019), known as the Total 2019 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 32nd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial international men's football championshi ...

. His first appearance in the competition came in Nigeria's second group game against Guinea in which Nigeria won 1–0 to seal qualification into the knockouts. Balogun made 4 appearances in the competition where The Super Eagles finished as bronze medallists.

Personal life

Balogun was born in

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

, West Germany to a Nigerian-Yoruba father and a German mother. Balogun was raised

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

and sent to Catholic school from a young age, but he resented his strict upbringing and became an

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

in his formative years. However, during the hardships of early footballing career Balogun started believing in God again and is now a devout

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words '' Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρ ...

. Balogun speaks fluent

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national id ...

and

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

, but does not speak

Yoruba The Yoruba people (, , ) are a West African ethnic group that mainly inhabit parts of Nigeria, Benin, and Togo. The areas of these countries primarily inhabited by Yoruba are often collectively referred to as Yorubaland. The Yoruba consti ...

, the language of his father as his parents tried to assimilate him into German culture. In November 2019 Balogun said there needed to be a collective response from players to

racism in football Racism in association football is the abuse of players, officials, and fans because of their skin colour, nationality, or ethnicity. Some may also be targeted because of their association with an opposing team. However, there have been instances ...

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Nigeria's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Balogun goal.''

Honours

Rangers *

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,2021–22 *

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...

runner-up: 2021–22 Nigeria *

Africa Cup of Nations The Africa Cup of Nations referred to as AFCON (french: Coupe d'Afrique des Nations, sometimes referred to as CAN, or TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons), and sometimes as African Cup of Nations, is the main internati ...

third place:

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Balogun, Leon 1988 births Living people German Christians Nigerian Christians Converts to Christianity from atheism or agnosticism Footballers from Berlin Citizens of Nigeria through descent German footballers Nigerian footballers Association football defenders Nigeria international footballers 2018 FIFA World Cup players 2019 Africa Cup of Nations players Türkiyemspor Berlin players Hannover 96 II players Hannover 96 players SV Werder Bremen II players SV Werder Bremen players Fortuna Düsseldorf II players Fortuna Düsseldorf players SV Darmstadt 98 players 1. FSV Mainz 05 players 1. FSV Mainz 05 II players Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players Wigan Athletic F.C. players Rangers F.C. players Regionalliga players Bundesliga players 3. Liga players 2. Bundesliga players Premier League players English Football League players Scottish Professional Football League players German expatriate footballers Nigerian expatriate footballers German expatriate sportspeople in England Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate footballers in England German expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Expatriate footballers in Scotland German sportspeople of Nigerian descent German people of Yoruba descent Nigerian people of German descent Yoruba sportspeople Queens Park Rangers F.C. players