Mutiu Adepoju (born 22 December 1970) is a former 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 lea ...

who played as a

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 ...

. He spent most of his career in Spain, amassing

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

totals of 175 games and 22 goals over the course of seven seasons and representing mainly Racing de Santander and

Real Sociedad Real Sociedad de Fútbol, more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad ( ; ''Royal Society'') in English, and Erreala or Reala in Basque language, Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Donostia / San Sebastián, ...

. A Nigeria international for 12 years, Adepoju appeared for the country in three World Cups and as many

Africa Cup of Nations The Africa Cup of Nations, commonly abbreviated as AFCON and officially known as the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, is the main biennial international men's association football competition in Africa. It is s ...

Club career

Born in

Ibadan Ibadan (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and most populous city of Oyo State, in Nigeria. It is the List of Nigerian cities by population, third-largest city by population in Nigeria after Lagos and Kano (city), Kano, with a total populatio ...

, Adepoju (also called by his first name in Spain) left Nigeria in 1989 to join

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

, but never made it past their reserves. The 1992–93 season was impressive as he scored 11

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

goals to help Racing de Santander return to

, and he continued to feature regularly for the

Cantabria Cantabria (, ; ) is an autonomous community and Provinces of Spain, province in northern Spain with Santander, Cantabria, Santander as its capital city. It is called a , a Nationalities and regions of Spain, historic community, in its current ...

ns over the next three years. Mutiu left for

for 1996–97 but, after a solid first campaign, struggled heavily to hold down a regular place with the

Basques The Basques ( or ; ; ; ) are a Southwestern European ethnic group, characterised by the Basque language, a Basque culture, common culture and shared genetic ancestry to the ancient Vascones and Aquitanians. Basques are indigenous peoples, ...

. In 2001–02 he represented Saudi Arabia's Al-Ittihad Club (Jeddah), but quickly returned to Spain where he featured rarely for second division club UD Salamanca. After two more weak years, in Turkey and Cyprus, Adepoju retired in 2006 in Spain's lower leagues. He subsequently returned to his first team Shooting Stars FC, as

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

International career

Adepoju was a member of the Nigeria U20 team that played in the 1989 FIFA World Youth Championship. His brace against the

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(which featured

Kasey Keller Kasey C. Keller (born November 29, 1969) is an American former professional association football, soccer player who played in Europe and the United States, and was the starting Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper for the United State ...

in goal) in the semi-finals ensured a final against

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, a 2–0 defeat. Adepoju went on to collect 48 caps for the full side, with six goals. He made his debut against

Togo Togo, officially the Togolese Republic, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to Ghana–Togo border, the west, Benin to Benin–Togo border, the east and Burkina Faso to Burkina Faso–Togo border, the north. It is one of the le ...

in August 1990, but his breakthrough came during the 1992 Africa Cup of Nations, and he helped his nation win the next continental edition. Adepoju was part of Nigeria's squads for the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

s in

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

– where he scored in a 3–2 win against

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

Nigeria rallies to stun Spain with late goal

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

, 13 June 1998– and

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

, although he did not play in the latter tournament.

References

External links

Nigerian Players profile
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Mutiu Adepoju X(Twitter)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adepoju, Mutiu 1970 births Living people Footballers from Ibadan Yoruba sportspeople Nigerian men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Nigeria Professional Football League players Shooting Stars S.C. players La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Real Madrid Castilla footballers Racing de Santander players Real Sociedad footballers UD Salamanca players CD Eldense footballers Saudi Pro League players Al-Ittihad Club (Jeddah) players Süper Lig players Samsunspor footballers Cypriot First Division players AEL Limassol players Nigeria men's under-20 international footballers Nigeria men's international footballers 1992 African Cup of Nations players 1994 African Cup of Nations players 1994 FIFA World Cup players 1995 King Fahd Cup players 1998 FIFA World Cup players 2000 African Cup of Nations players 2002 FIFA World Cup players Africa Cup of Nations–winning players Nigerian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Saudi Arabia Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus