Abiola Dauda

Abiola Adedeji Dauda (born 3 February 1988) is a Nigerian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Greek club Apollon Smyrnis.[1] After over five years of playing competitive football in Sweden, Dauda gained Swedish citizenship in June 2013.[2]

Abiola Dauda

Dauda training with Kalmar in 2008
Personal information
Full name	Abiola Adedeji Dauda
Date of birth	(1988-02-03) 3 February 1988
Place of birth	Lagos, Nigeria
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Playing position(s)	Striker
Club information
Current team	Apollon Smyrnis
Youth career
2005–2006	Grassroot Highlanders
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2006–2007	Sölvesborgs GoIF	25	(23)
2008–2012	Kalmar FF	130	(34)
2013–2014	Red Star Belgrade	31	(15)
2014–2017	Vitesse	28	(9)
2016	→ Hearts (loan)	15	(5)
2017–2018	Atromitos	40	(11)
2018–2019	Giresunspor	25	(11)
2019–2020	AEL	12	(2)
2020	Panetolikos	12	(6)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 30 June 2020

Early life

Dauda has vertical scars under each of his eyes which are family markings that were given to him shortly after birth.[3] He has eleven siblings in his family.

Club career

Early career

Dauda was discovered in Nigeria by an agent Victor Mcdonald at age eighteen. He was playing with Grassroot Highlanders.[4] Mcdonald helped him to get signed with Swedish fourth tier club Sölvesborgs GoIF.[5] His time there was very successful and he was named the best forward of the division in 2007 which made several Allsvenskan clubs want to sign him.[6]

Kalmar

In the end he decided to join Kalmar FF the following year. During his time there he very rarely got to play the full 90 minutes in games[7] but he still had a prolific 2012 season where he scored a total of 14 goals. After the season had ended he declared that he was leaving the club to look for a new challenge.[8] During his spell with Kalmar, he won the Swedish championship in 2008 and the Swedish Supercup in 2009, besides having been twice runner-up of the Swedish Cup, in 2008 and 2011.[9]

Red Star Belgrade

On 8 February 2013, which was the last day of the transfer market window in Jelen Super Liga Dauda signed a contract with Red Star Belgrade.[10] The first occasion on which Dauda scored for Red Star came on 3 April 2013, when he scored two goals and provided an assist for teammate Darko Lazović in a 3–0 win at home against Hajduk Kula.[11]

Vitesse

On 21 July 2014, Red Star Belgrade announced they had agreed a €500,000 fee for the transfer of Dauda to Eredivisie club Vitesse Arnhem.

Heart of Midlothian

On 1 February 2016, Scottish Premiership side Heart of Midlothian signed him on a loan deal for the remainder of the season.[12] He scored his first goals for the club when he scored a brace in the league against Ross County on 10 February 2016.[13]

Atromitos

On 9 January 2017, Dauda signed a one-and-a-half-year contract with Greek Superleague club Atromitos on a free transfer from Vitesse.[14] His five goals in the 2016–17 Greek Cup made him top scorer for the season.[15]

Dauda scored as Atromitos beat AEK Athens 1–0 to go top of the table on 23 October 2017.[16] His goal on 28 January 2018 secured a 1–0 home win over AEL, and two goals in the last match of the season took his personal total to nine.[17] The 4–0 home win against Kerkyra gave Atromitos a fourth-place finish.[18]

Giresunspor

Dauda spent the 2018–19 season with TFF First League (Turkish second-tier) club Giresunspor, for which he scored 12 goals from 28 league appearances.[19][9]

AEL

Dauda returned to the Greek Superleague with AEL on a three-year contract.[20]

Panetolikos

On 16 January 2020, following his release from AEL, he joined Panetolikos on a six-month contract.[21] In his debut, two days later, he salvaged a point in a home game against Lamia, with a last-minute penalty.[22] On 22 January 2020, Abiola Dauda, who recently moved from Larissa to Panetolikos a few days ago, struck a brace, first in the 28th minute after dribbling past the goalkeeper and slotting the ball into the net, and in the 63rd minute when his left-footed strike gave the visitors a 0–2 lead in a thrilling 2–2 away draw against AEL.[23]

Career statistics

As of 22 January 2020

Club	Season	League			Cup		Continental		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Sölvesborgs GoIF	2007	Division 2	25	23	—		—		—		25	23
Kalmar	2008	Allsvenskan	21	5	0	0	5	3	—		26	8
	2009		29	8	1	0	1	0	1	0	32	8
	2010		29	5	3	0	4	1	—		36	6
	2011		26	2	3	2	—		—		29	4
	2012		25	14	1	1	6	3	—		32	18
	Total		130	34	7	3	16	7	1	0	154	44
Red Star	2012–13	SuperLiga	11	4	—		—		—		11	4
	2013–14		20	11	3	2	4	0	—		27	13
	Total		31	15	3	2	4	0	—		38	17
Vitesse Arnhem	2014–15	Eredivisie	16	6	2	0	—		—		18	6
	2015–16		11	3	0	0	—		—		11	3
	2016–17		1	0	0	0	—		—		1	0
	Total		28	9	2	0	—		—		30	9
Heart of Midlothian (loan)	2015–16	Scottish Premiership	13	5	2	0	—		—		15	5
Atromitos	2016–17	Superleague Greece	12	2	3	5	—		—		15	7
	2017–18		28	9	6	0	—		—		34	9
	Total		40	11	9	5	—		—		49	16
Giresunspor	2018–19	TFF First League	25	11	3	1	—		—		28	12
AEL	2019–20	Superleague Greece	12	2	2	0	—		—		14	2
Panetolikos	2019–20		2	3	0	0	—		—		2	3
Career total			305	112	28	11	20	7	1	0	353	130

Honours

Kalmar FF

• Allsvenskan: 2008
• Svenska Supercupen: 2009

Red Star

• Serbian SuperLiga: 2013–14

Vitesse Arnhem

• KNVB Cup: 2016–17

References

1. "Ανακοίνωσε τον επιθετικό Ντάουντα η ΑΕΛ". athleticlarissa.gr (in Greek). Retrieved 10 July 2019.
2. fotbollskanalen.com (Swedish): Hamrén letar anfallare – nu är Dauda svensk medborgare: "En dröm att få spela för Sverige" – 21 June 2013
3. "– När jag kom hit blev jag kär i klubben" (in Swedish). Östran. Archived from the original on 6 July 2013. Retrieved 15 April 2013.
4. Abiola Dauda at Srbijafudbal
5. "Fotbolliblekinge.se möter Abiola Dauda" (in Swedish). fotbolliblekinge.se. Archived from the original on 19 April 2013. Retrieved 1 December 2012.
6. "Abiola Dauda är Sveriges mest jagade spelare" (in Swedish). Kristianstadsbladet. Archived from the original on 14 February 2013. Retrieved 1 December 2012.
7. "Mysterium #4: Den halva spelaren" (in Swedish). Offside. Archived from the original on 10 July 2012. Retrieved 1 December 2012.
8. "Abiola Dauda lämnar Kalmar FF" (in Swedish). Sportal. Archived from the original on 18 April 2013. Retrieved 1 December 2012.
9. Abiola Dauda at Soccerway
10. Zvezda dovela napadača u minut do 12 at MONDO, 9 February 2013 (in Serbian)
11. Debitantski gol Daude Archived 8 May 2013 at the Wayback Machine at Blic, 3 April 2013 (in Serbian)
12. "Hearts sign Abiola Dauda to replace striker Osman Sow". bbc.co.uk/sport. BBC Sport. 1 February 2016. Retrieved 1 February 2016.
13. "Ross County 0-3 Hearts". BBC. 10 February 2016. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
14. Emmanuel, Ifeanyi (9 January 2017). "Official : Greek Club Atromitos Shake Hands With Abiola Dauda". All Nigeria Soccer. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
15. "Greece: Kypello Elladas 2016/2017: Top Scorer". worldfootball.net. Heim:Spiel. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
16. "Atromitos stun AEK and hit Greek championship top-spot". SDNA. 23 October 2017. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
17. "Abiola Dauda: Super League 2017/2018". worldfootball.net. Heim:Spiel. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
18. Wood, Graham (5 May 2018). "Atromitos give fans four-star sendoff". AgonaSport. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
19. Olasoji, Tolu (18 July 2018). "Abiola Dauda signs for Turkish outfit Giresunspor". Goal.com. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
20. "Στην ΑΕΛ ο Abiola Dauda" [Abiola Dauda to AEL]. sportsup.gr (in Greek). 10 July 2019. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
21. "Παναιτωλικός: Ανακοίνωσε τον Ντάουντα". 16 January 2020.
22. "Παναιτωλικός - Λαμία 1-1: Ο νεοαποκτηθείς Ντάουντα "λύτρωσε" στο 95' τους γηπεδούχους". 18 January 2020.
23. "ΑΕΛ - Παναιτωλικός 2-2: Ο Ουάρντα έσωσε την Λάρισα". sport24.gr (in Greek). Retrieved 22 January 2020.

External links

• Abiola Dauda at SvFF (in Swedish)
• "Eliteprospects Profile". Archived from the original on 12 February 2013. Retrieved 27 November 2012.