Michael Babatunde

Michael Babatunde (born 24 December 1992) is a Nigerian football midfielder, who plays for Wydad AC in Botola Pro. He has played for various clubs in Nigeria, Ukraine and other countries.

Michael Babatunde
Personal information
Date of birth (1992-12-24) 24 December 1992
Place of birth Lagos, Nigeria
Height 1.79 m (5 ft 10 1⁄2 in)
Position(s) Winger
Club information
Current team
 Wydad AC
Number 10
Youth career
Water FC
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2010 Heartland 29 (15)
2011–2013 Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih 64 (32)
2013–2015 Volyn Lutsk 46 (24)
2015 Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk 15 (7)
2015–2016 Raja Casablanca 25 (15)
2016–2018 Qatar SC 40 (23)
2018– Wydad AC 38 (13)
National team‡
2013– Nigeria[1] 17 (2)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 5 November 2016
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 5 November 2016

Club career

He was born on December 24, 1992, in Lagos, Nigeria. As a young boy, he tagged along when he turned 5 years old. He was playing soccer with friends, not intimidated by the bigger boys. At the age of 8, he was recruited to join the youth academy club in Lagos. Recognized smaller than most of the kids in his age group, Michael eventually got recognized by a bigger academy Water FC Academy Abuja, where he was groomed as a professional, later linked with Heartland. He played several games for U-17, U-20 and Super Eagle the National Team of Nigeria. Michael has played a total of 14,420 minutes, has had 188 appearances, 163 lineups, 35 substitutes, 10 substitute out, 25 substitute on the bench, 101 goals, 19 yellow cards, 0 red cards. He has been in Ukraine from 2010 to 2015.

Babatunde moved to Ukraine at the age of 19, signed by Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih of Ukraine from Heartland of Nigeria. He became noted in Ukrainian football after scoring his first goal against FC Chornomorets Odesa, scoring 2 goals at will with the team which lead his club to stay at the Ukrainian Premier League from 2010 to 2013. The club eventually went bankrupt. In 2012–2013, he set a record for most goals to assist in a calendar year, and has scored 6 goals in total at the Ukrainian Premier League from 2010–2015. He later went on a free transfer to Volyn Lutsk. Babatunde signed for Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk in August 2015.

In December 2015, he joined Moroccan club Raja Casablanca.[2] On 31 May 2016, Babatunde joined Qatar SC in the Qatar Stars League.[3] In 2018, Babatunde returned to Morocco to join Wydad AC.[4]

International career

Babatunde is a frequent player in the Nigeria national team, playing for Nigeria in the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup and the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

Honours
Qatar SC
Wydad AC

References
  1. "Michael Babatunde". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmerman.
  2. "Nigeria's Michael Babatunde joins Raja Casablanca". Television Africa.
  3. "Babatunde joins relegated Qatar SC" – via www.bbc.co.uk.
  4. "Michael Babatunde seals Wydad Casablanca move". Goal.com. 6 February 2018.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.