Michael Richie Onovwigun (born 9 April 1996 in

Clapham Clapham () is a district in south London, south west London, England, lying mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, but with some areas (including Clapham Common) extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth. History Ea ...

, England) is an English semi-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

central midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for club Tooting & Mitcham United. Onovwigun was a product of the

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...

academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

and began his professional career with Chesterfield in 2014. After his release in 2016, Onovwigun embarked on a

journeyman A journeyman is a worker, skilled in a given building trade or craft, who has successfully completed an official apprenticeship qualification. Journeymen are considered competent and authorized to work in that field as a fully qualified employee ...

career in

non-League football Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is ...

Playing career

Brentford

Born in

Clapham, London Clapham () is a district in south London, south west London, England, lying mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, but with some areas (including Clapham Common) extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth. History Ea ...

, Onovwigun began his career in the

and signed a two-year scholarship during the 2012 off-season. After featuring regularly for the Development Squad in

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sport, sporting event whose prize money and impact on th ...

es during the 2012–13

pre-season In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of S ...

, Onovwigun was called into the first team squad for a friendly versus

Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 188 ...

on 7 August 2012 and he replaced Jake Reeves after 73 minutes of the 4–1 victory. Onovwigun made over 50 appearances for the

youth team In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or Sports league, league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team (a ...

and 9 for the Development Squad between 2011 and 2014 and departed the club at the end of the 2013–14 season, after failing to be offered a professional contract.

Chesterfield

2014–15 and loans to Sheffield and Stalybridge Celtic

On 31 July 2014, Onovwigun signed a one-year professional Development Squad contract at

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 ...

club Chesterfield after a successful trial. He received his maiden call into the first team squad for a league match versus

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England, and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale. In the United Kingdom 2021 Census, 2021 Census, the town had a population of 111,261, compared to 223,773 for the wid ...

on 16 August and made his professional debut when he came on as an 89th-minute substitute for Jimmy Ryan in a 2–1 win. Onovwigun joined

Northern Premier League The Northern Premier League is an English Association football, football league that was founded in 1968. Together with the Isthmian League and the Southern Football League, Southern League it forms levels seven and eight of the English footba ...

First Division South club

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

on a

loan In finance, a loan is the tender of money by one party to another with an agreement to pay it back. The recipient, or borrower, incurs a debt and is usually required to pay interest for the use of the money. The document evidencing the deb ...

that was later extended until 3 January 2015. He made eight appearances and scored two goals for the club. On 6 February 2015, Onovwigun and Chesterfield teammate Charlie Dawes joined

Conference 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 Leagues and step 2 o ...

club

Stalybridge Celtic Stalybridge Celtic Football Club is an English football club based in Stalybridge, Greater Manchester. They are currently members of the and play at Bower Fold. The team traditionally plays in a blue and white strip. In 1921, Stalybridge Celti ...

on one month loans. He made just one appearance and after his return to Chesterfield, he had a run of three first team calls in March 2015 and made one substitute appearance against Gillingham in the middle of the month. Onovwigun finished the 2014–15 season with three appearances and the option to extend his contract was taken up for another season.

2015–16 and loan to Gateshead

Onovwigun made his only appearance of the 2015–16 season as a substitute during a 3–1 League Cup first round

extra time Overtime (OT) or extra time (ET) is an additional period of play to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only if the game is required t ...

defeat to

Carlisle United Carlisle United Football Club ( , ) is a professional association football club based in Carlisle, Cumbria, England. The team currently compete in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. They have played their ...

on 11 August 2015. On 24 March 2016, he joined

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 ...

club

Gateshead Gateshead () is a town in the Gateshead Metropolitan Borough of Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank. The town's attractions include the twenty metre tall Angel of the North sculpture on the town's southern outskirts, ...

on loan until the end of the 2015–16 season. Onovwigun made three appearances he departed Chesterfield when his contract expired.

Non-League football

2016–17

On 16 August 2016, Onovwigun transferred to

Isthmian League The Isthmian League () is a regional Association football, football league covering Greater London, East of England, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, th ...

Premier Division club

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 ...

. He made just two appearances, before moving within the division to join Kingstonian on 31 August. After making 11 appearances and scoring two goals, he transferred to Southern League First Division Central club Farnborough on 24 November. Onovwigun moved back up to the National League to join

Southport Southport is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. It lies on the West Lancashire Coastal Plain, West Lancashire coastal plain and the east coast of the Irish Sea, approximately north of ...

on 7 January 2017 and returned to the Isthmian League Premier Division to sign for

Merstham Merstham is a town in the borough of Reigate and Banstead in Surrey, England. It lies 17 miles south of Charing Cross just beyond the Greater London border. Part of the North Downs Way runs along the northern boundary of the town. Merstham has ...

on 6 March.

2017–2019

Onovwigun rejoined Dulwich Hamlet at the beginning of the 2017–18 season and was a part of the team which secured promotion to the

National League South The National League South, officially Vanarama National League South, is a professional Association football league in England. National League South is the second division of the National League (English football), National Leagues and step ...

, though he did not feature in Hamlet's successful Isthmian League Premier Division play-off campaign. After signing a new contract, Onovwigun joined Isthmian League Premier Division club Carshalton Athletic on a three-month loan in September 2018 and after returning to Dulwich Hamlet for the second half of the 2018–19 season, he rejoined Carshalton on a permanent basis during the 2019 off-season.

2019–20

Onovwigun made two early- 2019–20 season appearances for Carshalton Athletic, before transferring to division rivals

Lewes Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. The town is the administrative centre of the wider Lewes (district), district of the same name. It lies on the River Ouse, Sussex, River Ouse at the point where the river cuts through the Sou ...

in late August 2019. Until his release in December 2019, Onovwigun was a regular member of the Lewes team and he moved up to the National League South to join

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 January 2020. After just one appearance for the Darts, he joined Isthmian League South Central Division club Staines Town on a dual-registration deal in February and then moved to North Division club Maldon & Tiptree on a permanent transfer in early March. Onovwigun made three appearances for the Jammers, before the 2019–20 Isthmian League season was ended early. He announced his retirement from

in July 2020.

2022–present

Onovwigun made five appearances for

Southern Counties East League The Southern Counties East Football League is an English football league established in 1966, which has teams based in Kent and Southeast London. Its two divisions are allocated at Step 5 and Step 6 of the National League System (which equates ...

First Division club AFC Whyteleafe during the

2022–23 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 ...

season. He made 21 appearances for

Combined Counties League The Combined Counties Football League is a regional men's football league in south-eastern England with members in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hampshire, Hertfordshire, Kent, Middlesex, Oxfordshire, Surrey, and the western half of Greater Lond ...

Premier Division South club Corinthian-Casuals during the 2024–25 season. In July 2025, Onovwigun transferred across the division to Tooting & Mitcham United.

Sunday league football

In 2020, Onovwigun dropped into

Sunday league football Sunday league football is a term used in Britain, Ireland and Australia to describe the amateur association football competitions which take place on Sunday rather than the more usual Saturday. The term ''pub league'' may also be used, owing to ...

and joined Orpington & Bromley District Sunday League Senior Division club Lambeth Allstars.

Personal life

Onovwigun attended a football and education programme at the

University of East London University of East London (UEL) is a public university located in the London Borough of Newham, London, England, based at three campuses in Stratford, London, Stratford and London Docklands, Docklands, following the opening of University Squar ...

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Onovwigun, Michael 1996 births Living people English men's footballers Footballers from the London Borough of Lambeth People from Clapham English Football League players Brentford F.C. players Chesterfield F.C. players Men's association football midfielders Sheffield F.C. players Northern Premier League players Stalybridge Celtic F.C. players National League (English football) players Gateshead F.C. players Isthmian League players Dulwich Hamlet F.C. players Kingstonian F.C. players Southport F.C. players Southern Football League players Farnborough F.C. players Merstham F.C. players Carshalton Athletic F.C. players Alumni of the University of East London Lewes F.C. players Dartford F.C. players Staines Town F.C. players Maldon & Tiptree F.C. players Southern Counties East Football League players 21st-century English sportsmen Corinthian-Casuals F.C. players Combined Counties Football League players Tooting & Mitcham United F.C. players