Rilwan Salawu

Rilwan Salawu (born 3 December 1987) is an Nigerian-born soccer player of heritage who plays for Atlanta SC in the National Independent Soccer Association. He plays primarily as a defensive midfielder, but has played as a striker or holding midfielder in the past.

Rilwan Salawu
Personal information
Full name Rilwan Oluwatobi Salawu
Date of birth (1992-12-03) 3 December 1992
Place of birth Lagos, Nigeria
Height 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Playing position(s) Midfielder
Club information
Current team
 Atlanta SC
Number 55
Youth career
1996–1998 Pepsi Academy
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2009–2010 Max Bees F.C.
2012 Brooklyn Knights F.C. 16 (4)
2012 FC JAX Destroyers 14 (3)
2013 Kurtalanspor
2014 Westchester Flames 6 (2)
2015–2016 Kjellerup IF
2016–2017 Bulancakspor
2017–2018 Belmopan Bandits 26 (0)
2019– Atlanta SC 0 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

He was born in Lagos, Nigeria where he was a member of the Pepsi Academy, who trained at the Agege Stadium, in Lagos Nigeria. He moved to Brooklyn New York at a young age, and soon developed an interest in basketball and played varsity basketball at Franklin Delano Roosevelt High School, but he opted to play soccer at the college level.[1]

Club career

He played soccer briefly for SUNY Cobleskill, in upstate New York and then transferred to SUNY Binghamton in 2008, where he played at soccer at the NCAA Division-1 level. He was officially invited to join the Nigerian U-20 side, while on a trip to Nigeria in the summer of 2008. The team was then coached by Ladan Bosso and they were preparing for the 2009 U-20 African Qualification Tournament in Sudan. His late birthday was days before the cut-off and this prevented him from making the final selection of the Nigeria U-20 team, however this opportunity kick-started his professional football career.[2]

He went on to play for Maxbees FC, a second division team in Ghana, and several Premier Development League (PDL) teams in the United States, most notably the Brooklyn Knights F.C., the Westchester Flames and the FC JAX Destroyers. He then moved to Europe and played for Kjellerup IF in the Danish 2nd Division, where he featured in the DBU Cup, and in Turkey for Kurtalanspor and Bulancakspor.[3]

He joined the Belmopan Bandits in Belize in 2017, and featured in their inaugural CONCACAF League appearance. In 2018, he continued with the Belmopan Bandits and won the Belize Premier League and a second qualification for the CONCACAF League.[4] He won the 2018–19 Belize Premier League again and also featured in the 2018 CONCACAF League.

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References
  1. "FDR Edges Brooklyn Tech in Tourney", NewsDay, December 12, 2003. Retrieved June 8 2018.
  2. Mark Lungariello, "FAR FROM THE WORLD CUP", Wag Mag, July 25, 2014. Retrieved June 8 2018.
  3. Olusola Alao, "Ex-Flying Eagles star Rilwan Salawu wants Eagles, USA call-up", Score Nigeria, February 27, 2018, Retrieved June 8 2018.
  4. "Bandits’ Rilwan Salawu looking forward to second consecutive championship", "Breaking News Belize", April 22, 2018, Retrieved June 8 2018.


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