Rabiu Afolabi (born 18 April 1980) is a Nigerian former 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

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

Club career

Born in

Osogbo Osogbo (also known as ''Oṣogbo'', and seldomly as ''Oshogbo'') is a city in Nigeria. It became the capital city of Osun State in 1991. Osogbo city seats the Headquarters of both Osogbo Local Government Area (situated at Oke-Baale Area of th ...

Osun State Osun (; ), is a state in southwestern Nigeria; bounded to the east by Ekiti and Ondo states for 84 km and for 78 km respectively, to the north by Kwara State for 73 km, to the south by Ogun State for 84 km and to the wes ...

, Nigeria, Afolabi started his football career at

NEPA Lagos NEPA Lagos was a Nigerian football team based in Lagos, which participated in the top league in Nigeria in 1974, 1995 and 1996. The club is owned by the National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) of Nigeria and was previously known as Lagos ECN. I ...

Standard Liège and Napoli loan

Afolabi soon left his home country by moving to Belgium to

Standard Liège Royal Standard de Liège, commonly referred to as Standard Liège ( ; ; ) or simply Standard in Belgium, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Liège. They are one of the most successful clubs in Belgium, having won t ...

after impressing at the 1997 Meridian Cup. Once he made a move to Belgium, Afolabi immediately fell in love with the style of play. In the 1997–98 season, he played in three matches in the

Eerste Klasse The Eerste Klasse () started as the 1st tier of football in the Netherlands and is now the 6th tier. The league is divided into ten divisions. These divisions correspond to the six districts of the Royal Dutch Football Association: each district i ...

, of which two in the first team. Standard, however, played a poor season and finished 9th place in the table. In the next season he played in 26 league games, scored a goal and with Liège finishing in sixth place in the league. Standard has also played in the final of Cup of Belgium, losing 3–1 to Lierse In the 1999–2000 season, Standard finished fifth place; Afolabi made 24 appearances scoring 1 goal. Having become a regular player at Standard Liège, Afolabi signed for

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

side

Napoli Naples ( ; ; ) is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its province-level municipality is the thir ...

on loan ahead of the 2000–01 season. At Napoli, he failed to break into the first team, in part due to injuries. When fit, he played in the club's reserves. After half a season in Italy, he returned to Liège. After the 2001–02 season he was named the best defender in Belgium, Standard finished fifth. The next season was not as successful: Afolabi played only 14 league matches, Standard completed the season in the 7th position.

Austria Wien

In 2003, Afolabi decided to move to an Austrian club

Austria Wien Fußballklub Austria Wien AG (), known in English as Austria Vienna, and Austria Wien in German-speaking countries, is an Austrian professional association football club from the capital city of Vienna. It has won the most trophies of any Aust ...

on a free transfer. He made his debut for the club in the

Austrian Supercup The Austrian Supercup (German: ÖFB-Supercup) was a football competition held annually from 1986 until 2004 between the winners of the Austrian Football Bundesliga and the Austrian Cup. 19 editions were played during the short history of the com ...

, which Wien won 2–1 against

FC Kärnten FC Kärnten was an Football in Austria, Austrian association football club based in Klagenfurt, Carinthia (state), Carinthia. It was founded in 1920 under the name of KSK Klagenfurt. History Austria Klagenfurt Austria Klagenfurt played success ...

. Five days, he made his league debut for the club, again versus FC Kärnten, in a 2–1 loss. In his first season, Afolabi played a total of 33 matches. In summer 2004 interest for was reported from

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

, as well as other clubs. He played in 27 league games in the 2004–05 season, all from the first until the last minute, and scored one goal in a 3–0 win away match against

FC Wacker Tirol FC Wacker Innsbruck is an Austrian association football club from Innsbruck. The club was formed in June 2002 as ''FC Wacker Tirol'', and play their home games at Tivoli-Neu. The club regard themselves as the spiritual continuation of the team ...

. Austria finished third place, just behind rival

Rapid Wien Sportklub Rapid (), commonly known as Rapid Wien or Rapid Vienna in English, is an Austrian professional football club playing in the country's capital city of Vienna. Rapid has won the most Austrian championship titles (32), including the f ...

and

Grazer AK Grazer Athletiksport Klub (; abbreviated as GAK), better known simply as Grazer AK, is an Austrian sports club based in the city of Graz in the federal state of Styria. The football section was once among Austria's most popular clubs, enjoying s ...

. The following season, Afolabi played in the

2004–05 UEFA Cup The 2004–05 UEFA Cup was the 34th edition of the UEFA Cup. The format of the competition had changed from previous seasons, replacing that from the previous one after the abolition of the Cup Winners' Cup in 1999; an extra qualifying round was ...

tournament with Austria Wien, until the club was eliminated by Italian side

Parma Parma (; ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmesan, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,986 inhabitants as of 2025, ...

. Like last season, the club also won the

Sochaux

After the 2004–05 season, some Austria Wien players were linked a move away from clubs. Among them was also Afolabi, who joined

Sochaux Sochaux () is a commune in the Doubs department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in eastern France. Geography Sochaux lies east of Montbéliard, and southeast of Paris. Population Inhabitants are known as ''Sochaliens''. Economy ...

for a €2 million transfer fee. In his Ligue 1 debut on 13 August 2005 he came on as a substitute for youngster

Jérémy Ménez Jérémy Ménez (born 7 May 1987) is a French former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football), forward. Ménez has been described as an ambipedal, Dribbling#Association football, technically sk ...

. Sochaux won the away match against

Nice Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one million Troyes Troyes () is a Communes of France, commune and the capital of the Departments of France, department of Aube in the Grand Est region of north-central France. It is located on the Seine river about south-east of Paris. Troyes is situated within ...

. The club finished in 15th place. Afolabi spent four seasons at Sochaux. In his time there, he earned one title, the

2006–07 Coupe de France The Coupe de France's results of the 2006–07 season. 6577 clubs participated in the cup and the final was played on May 12. The cup winner qualified for UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is ...

. He later stated that winning the cup was the greatest moment of his career.

Red Bull Salzburg

After leaving

at the end of 2008–09 season as 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 ...

, Afolabi returned to Austria, signing a two-year contract with Red Bull Salzburg having been previously linked with newly promoted Premier League side

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2021 population of 78,266. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River B ...

. He became a regular starter in central defence. In February 2010, he scored the winning goal away to title rivals

which helped keep the Red Bulls on course for the championship. Eventually, Red Bull Salzburg would win the title. On 7 November 2010, he made his 100th Austrian Bundesliga match having made 60 appearances for FK Austria Wien and 40 for Red Bull Salzburg). In December, it was reported that Salzburg were looking to transfer Afolabi in the winter transfer window. After his second season in Salzburg, his contract was not renewed.

Monaco

Following his release from Salzburg, Afolabi was linked with German side

Eintracht Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt e.V. () is a German professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse. It is best known for its football club, which was founded on 8 March 1899. The club currently plays in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the German footb ...

but on 31 August 2011, he returned to France joining recently relegated

Monaco Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a Sovereign state, sovereign city-state and European microstates, microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria, in Western Europe, ...

on a free transfer, agreeing to a two-year contract with the club. On 19 September 2011, he scored his debut goal in a 1–0 victory over against Arles-Avignon. Over time, he featured less and less at Monaco and after one year at the club, it was announced he had left the club by mutual consent with one year of his contract remaining.

SønderjyskE and retirement

After eight months without a club, Afolabi went on trial at

Danish Superliga The Danish Superliga (, ) is a professional association football league in Denmark and the highest level of the Danish football league system. The league is currently contested by 12 teams each year, with 2 teams relegated. It is the current ...

club

SønderjyskE SønderjyskE is a Denmark, Danish sport corporation. They have a Football (soccer), football team (SønderjyskE Fodbold, based in Haderslev), two team handball, handball teams (SønderjyskE Håndbold, one male based in Sønderborg, one female bas ...

, with a view of earning a contract. On 13 March 2013, he eventually signed with the club for the rest of the 2012–13 season. On his debut for SønderjyskE, a match against

Silkeborg IF Silkeborg Idrætsforening, (; commonly known as Silkeborg IF or SIF in short) is a professional football club based in Silkeborg, Denmark. The club was founded in 1917, reached the highest level of Danish football in 1987, and afterwards became ...

on 28 March 2013, Afolabi helped his team to a 5–0 victory over its bottom-table rivals. He was named as one of the best players on the field. Having played three matches he fractured a rib and was substituted during a match against

Midtjylland The Central Denmark Region (), or more directly translated as the Central Jutland Region and sometimes simply Mid-Jutland, is an administrative region of Denmark established on 1 January 2007 as part of the 2007 Danish municipal reform. The refo ...

. Afterwards, it was announced he would be out for between three and four weeks. Following his return, he went on to make five appearances in total helping the club survive relegation and finishing in eighth place. At the end of the season, the club remained keen on keeping him by offering him a new contract. However, Afolabi chose to leave the club after three months there. After leaving Denmark, he announced his retirement and the intent to pursue a career in football management and scouting, having earned a certificate.

International career

Afolabi played a vital role for Nigeria in the 1999

African Youth Championship The U-20 Africa Cup of Nations, known for short as the U-20 AFCON and for sponsorship purposes as TotalEnergies U-20 Africa Cup of Nations, previously known as the African Youth Championship and the African U-20 Championship, is the biennial int ...

, coming from defence to score the two goals against Cameroon in the semi-final. Nigeria eventually finished second in the tournament after losing 0–1 to the hosts, Ghana, in the final. He then captained the Nigerian under-20 team in the

1999 FIFA World Youth Championship The 1999 FIFA World Youth Championship took place in Nigeria between 3 and 24 April 1999. This was the 12th edition of the tournament. Qualification The following 24 teams qualified for the 1999 FIFA World Youth Championship. :1.Teams tha ...

in Nigeria. On 17 June 2000, Afolabi made his full international debut 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, ...

in a

2002 World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea/Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

qualifier against

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is . It has a tropical climate and envi ...

. He was part of the Nigeria squads at the

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 ...

and 2010 World Cups.

Style of play

Afolabi is a strong and lanky central defender, who is good aerially and has a thunderous shot. He is also very versatile and can play as a fullback or defensive midfielder as well. Offensively, he is dangerous on set pieces.

Trivia

His name, Afolabi, means "''Born into wealth''". His nickname in Nigeria is Robocop because of his stiff movements. In 2011, Afolabi was involved in a charity called ''"The Rabiu Afolabi Educational Foundation"'' by setting up a foundation, which he started out with a donation of 50,000 customised books worth about $20,000 to selected public primary and secondary schools in his home state of Oshun State.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Afolabi, Rabiu 1980 births Living people Yoruba sportspeople Sportspeople from Osogbo Men's association football defenders Nigerian men's footballers Nigeria men's international footballers Nigeria men's under-20 international footballers 2002 FIFA World Cup players 2008 Africa Cup of Nations players 2010 FIFA World Cup players Belgian Pro League players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Austrian Football Bundesliga players Danish Superliga players SSC Napoli players Standard Liège players FC Sochaux-Montbéliard players FK Austria Wien players FC Red Bull Salzburg players AS Monaco FC players Sønderjyske Fodbold players NEPA Lagos F.C. players Nigerian expatriate men's footballers Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Austria Expatriate men's footballers in Austria Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate men's footballers in France Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Monaco Expatriate men's footballers in Monaco Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark 21st-century Nigerian sportsmen