Saliu Popoola
 Popoola at the 2016 Olympics | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Saliu Popoola Sodiq | ||
| Date of birth | 7 August 1994 | ||
| Place of birth | Lagos, Nigeria | ||
| Height | 1.57 m (5 ft 2 in)[1] | ||
| Position(s) | Midfielder | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 36 Lions | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2012–2016 | Metz | 0 | (0) |
| 2014–2016 | → Seraing (loan) | 51 | (4) |
| 2017–2020 | Ittihad Khemisset | 29 | (1) |
| 2020– | Wydad Fès | 5 | (0) |
| International career | |||
| 2016 | Nigeria U23 | 5 | (0) |
Medal record | |||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 20:59, 1 August 2021 (UTC) | |||
Saliu Popoola (born 7 August 1994) is a Nigerian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Moroccan club Wydad Fès. He is also a Nigerian international.[2]
Measuring only 1.57 m, he was considered, in 2015, to be the third smallest professional player in the world.[3] With the Nigeria U23 team, he won the bronze medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics.
Career
[edit]Popoola joined FC Metz in August 2012, after a successful trial with the team. He would play for the reserves in the CFA. The following season, he made two appearances in the Coupe de France, but none in Ligue 2 where the Metz first team played.[4]
In lack of playing time, he was sent on a two-season loan to Belgian club Seraing for two seasons, until June 2016.[4] With a height of only 1.57 m, he was then the smallest professional player playing in Belgium.[5] With Seraing, he made 51 appearances in the Belgian second division, scoring 4 goals.[4] Most notably, he scored a brace against Heist on 29 November 2015, which proved to be the key to the 5–2 win.[6]
In September 2016, having still not made a league appearance for the Metz first-team, he terminated his contract with the club by mutual consent.[7]
Honours
[edit]Nigeria U23
References
[edit]- ^ Popoola Saliu Archived 26 November 2016 at the Wayback Machine. rio2016.com
- ^ Oluwashina Okeleji (24 June 2016). "Kelechi Iheanacho included in Nigeria's Olympics squad". BBC Sport. Retrieved 25 June 2016.
- ^ ""Etre le plus petit joueur en Europe est une fierté"". RTBF Sport (in French). 17 March 2015.
- ^ a b c "Saliu Popoola - Wydad Fès". footballdatabase.eu. Retrieved 1 August 2021.
- ^ "Seraing United: Saliu Popoola, le plus petit joueur en Belgique!". sudinfo.be (in French). 8 August 2014.
- ^ "RFC Seraing 5-2 Heist - 28 novembre 2015 / Division 2 2015/2016". footballdatabase.eu. Retrieved 1 August 2021.
- ^ "Popoola Saliu n'honorera pas sa dernière année de contrat". L'Équipe (in French). 20 September 2016.
External links
[edit]
- Saliu Popoola at Soccerway
- Saliu Popoola Interview
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- 1994 births
- Living people
- Yoruba sportspeople
- Footballers from Lagos
- Men's association football midfielders
- Nigerian men's footballers
- Nigerian expatriate men's footballers
- Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium
- Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in France
- Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Morocco
- Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium
- Expatriate men's footballers in France
- Expatriate men's footballers in Morocco
- Footballers at the 2016 Summer Olympics
- Olympic footballers for Nigeria
- Ligue 1 players
- Challenger Pro League players
- FC Metz players
- R.F.C. Seraing (1922) players
- IZ Khemisset players
- Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics
- Olympic bronze medalists for Nigeria
- Olympic medalists in football
- Wydad de Fès players
- 21st-century Nigerian sportsmen
- Nigerian football midfielder stubs