Oluwatobiloba "Tobi" Oluwayemi (born 8 May 2003) is an English 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

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

for

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, also known as the William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Scotland and the highest level of the Scottish football league system. Th ...

club

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

Club career

Born and raised in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

to parents of Nigerian descent, Oluwayemi spent the first part of his youth career at

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

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 ...

, before joining

in July 2019, as he signed a three-year professional contract with the Scottish club. After progressing through the youth ranks, in the first half of 2021 Oluwayemi started training with Celtic's first team, first under manager

Neil Lennon Neil Francis Lennon (born 25 June 1971) is a Northern Irish professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. He currently manages Scottish Championship club Dunfermline Athletic. During his playing career he represe ...

and then, after his sacking,

John Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), also known as JFK, was the 35th president of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. He was the first Roman Catholic and youngest person elected p ...

. In June of the same year, the goalkeeper renewed his contract with the club until June 2024. During the 2021–22 season, following the appointment of

Ange Postecoglou Angelos "Ange" Postecoglou ( ; ; born 27 August 1965) is a soccer manager and former player who was most recently manager of club Tottenham Hotspur. Born in Greece, Postecoglou grew up in Melbourne from the age of five. As a player, he spen ...

as Celtic's new manager, Oluwayemi effectively became the club's third-choice goalkeeper, behind

Joe Hart Charles Joseph John Hart (born 19 April 1987) is an English football pundit and former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He began his career at his hometown club Shrewsbury Town in the Football Conference and League Two. In ...

and

Scott Bain Scott Bain (born 22 November 1991) is a Scottish professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for club Falkirk. Bain is an Aberdeen youth product, although never played in a competitive first team Aberdeen game. After playing on loan at E ...

, being included in several match-day squads for

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

and

UEFA Europa Conference League The UEFA Conference League (UECL), usually known simply as the Conference League, is an annual association football, football competition organised since 2021 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European foot ...

games. He kept working in the first-team environment throughout the following campaign, as well, while keeping featuring both in the

Lowland Football League The Scottish Lowland Football League (SLFL, commonly known as the Lowland League) and the Park’s Motor Group Scottish Lowland League for sponsorship reasons is a senior football league based in central and southern Scotland. The league sits a ...

(where he played for Celtic's B Team) and the

UEFA Youth League The UEFA Youth League is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) since 2013. In its current format, it is contested by the under-19 teams of the clubs competing in the UEFA Champions Le ...

. On 13 January 2023, Oluwayemi joined newly-promoted Irish side

Cork City Cork ( ; from , meaning 'marsh') is the second-largest city in Republic of Ireland, Ireland, the county town of County Cork, the largest city in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the List of settlements on the island of Ireland ...

on loan until the end of June. He went on to make his professional debut on 17 February, starting and playing 90 minutes in Cork's first

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football * ''League of Legends'', a 2009 multiplayer online battle a ...

game of the season, a 1–2 home defeat to

Bohemians Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to: *Anything of or relating to Bohemia Culture and arts * Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, originally practised by 19th–20th century European and American artists and writers. * Bohemian style, a f ...

. In August 2023, Oluwayemi joined Austrian 2. Liga side

Admira Wacker Admira Wacker is an Austrian professional Association football, football club based in Maria Enzersdorf, a town in the Mödling District of Lower Austria. The team competes in the 2. Liga (Austria), 2. Liga, the second tier of the Football in Au ...

on a season-long loan deal, making 9 appearances. In August 2024, Oluwayemi went on season-long loan to

Scottish Championship The Scottish Championship known as the William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional association footb ...

side

Dunfermline Athletic Dunfermline Athletic Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dunfermline, Fife. Founded in 1885, the club currently compete in the after winning the 2022–23 Scottish League One title. Dunfermline play at ...

. Despite missing several games through injury, Oluwayemi became first choice goalkeeper for the Pars.

International career

Thanks to his

dual citizenship Multiple citizenship (or multiple nationality) is a person's legal status in which a person is at the same time recognized by more than one sovereign state, country under its nationality law, nationality and citizenship law as a national or cit ...

, Oluwayemi is eligible to represent either England or Nigeria internationally. He has been a youth international for England, having played for all their set-ups from the under-15 to the under-20 national team.

Style of play

Oluwayemi has been described as a strong and composed

, who is mainly regarded for his shot-stopping abilities and his leadership, as well as his distribution. During his youth career, he originally played outfield before establishing himself in goal.

Personal life

He has an older brother,

Josh Josh is a masculine given name, frequently a diminutive (hypocorism) of the given names Joshua or Joseph, though since the 1970s, it has increasingly become a full name on its own. It may refer to: People A–J *Big Josh, stage name for America ...

(b. 2001), who is also a goalkeeper: he similarly played for Tottenham's youth academy and represented England at several youth international levels.

Career statistics

Club

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Oluwayemi, Tobi 2003 births Living people English people of Nigerian descent Sportspeople of Nigerian descent Footballers from London English men's footballers Black British sportsmen 21st-century Black British people Men's association football goalkeepers England men's youth international footballers Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players Celtic F.C. players Cork City F.C. players English expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's association footballers in the Republic of Ireland English expatriate sportspeople in Ireland Expatriate men's footballers in Austria Admira Wacker players English expatriate sportspeople in Austria 21st-century English sportsmen League of Ireland players