Tesilimi Olawale Ayinde "Teslim" Balogun (1927 – 30 July 1972) was a Nigerian football player and coach. Balogun played at both professional and international levels as a striker, before becoming Africa's first qualified professional football coach.

Playing career

Educated in Port Harcourt and graduating from St. Mary's Catholic School, Balogun played in his native Nigeria for a number of teams, including Apapa Bombers, Marine Athletics, UAC XI, Railways XI, Jos XI, Pan Bank Team, Dynamos Club and SCOA XI. During his time in Nigeria, Balogun won the

Challenge Cup The Challenge Cup is a knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, with the exception of 1915–1919 and 1939–1940, due to World War I and World War II respectively. It involves a ...

a total of five times in seven finals. He was the first player to have a hat-trick in the competition, in Pan Bank's 6–1 rout of Warri in 1953. After originally touring with a Nigerian select team in 1949, Balogun returned to the UK in August 1955 to sign with

Peterborough United Peterborough United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Peterborough have a long-standin ...

. However, Balogun never made a league appearance for Peterborough, and spent time with

Skegness Town Skegness Town Association Football Club is an English association football club based in the town of Skegness, Lincolnshire. The club currently competes in the . Skegness Town play at the Vertigo Stadium, Skegness after moving there from Bu ...

before signing with

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 ...

, scoring 3 goals in 13 appearances in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

during the 1956–57 season. After leaving QPR, Balogun returned to non-League football, playing with

Holbeach United Holbeach United Football Club is a football club based in Holbeach, Lincolnshire, England. They are currently members of the and play at Carters Park. History The club was established in 1929 and joined the King's Lynn League, before playin ...

. Balogun was also a member of the Nigerian national side for 12 years.

Coaching career

Balogun became the first African to qualify as a professional coach. He was a coach for Nigeria at the

1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1968), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XIX Olimpiada) and commonly known as Mexico 1968 ( es, México 1968), were an international multi-sport eve ...

Legacy

The Teslim Balogun Stadium in the Nigerian city of

Lagos Lagos ( Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national capital of Nigeria until December 1991 f ...

is named in his honour. The Teslim Balogun Foundation was founded after his death to assist the families of Nigerian ex-international footballers who may have fallen on hard times.

Personal life

Balogun was nicknamed "Thunder" because of his powerful shot, and was also known as "Balinga" for a similar reason. During his time touring schools to coach youngesters, he was nicknamed "Baba Ball." Balogun died in his sleep on 30 July 1972, at the age of 45. He had eight children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Balogun, Teslim 1927 births 1972 deaths Yoruba sportspeople Nigerian footballers Nigeria international footballers Peterborough United F.C. players Skegness Town A.F.C. players Queens Park Rangers F.C. players Holbeach United F.C. players English Football League players Association football forwards Association football coaches Nigerian expatriate footballers Nigerian expatriates in England Expatriate footballers in England