Ramon Olamilekan Azeez (born 12 December 1992) is a Nigerian

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 le ...

who plays as a

central midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. He spent the vast majority of his professional career in Spain, starting at Almería B. In

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

, he appeared for the first team of that club and

Granada Granada (,, DIN 31635, DIN: ; grc, Ἐλιβύργη, Elibýrgē; la, Illiberis or . ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the fo ...

. An international since 2014, Azeez represented

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

at the

2014 World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting righ ...

Club career

Almería

Born in

Abuja Abuja () is the capital and eighth most populous city of Nigeria. Situated at the centre of the country within the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), it is a planned city built mainly in the 1980s based on a master plan by International Plann ...

, Azeez began playing football in the Future Pro Academy. In 2010 he agreed a move to UD Almería in Spain, but had to wait until July 2011 to complete the transfer.Ramon Azeez sigue mostrando un excelente nivel en el Mundial sub-20 con Nigeria (Ramon Azeez keeps showing excellent level at the under-20 World Cup with Nigeria)

Ideal Ideal may refer to: Philosophy * Ideal (ethics), values that one actively pursues as goals * Platonic ideal, a philosophical idea of trueness of form, associated with Plato Mathematics * Ideal (ring theory), special subsets of a ring considere ...

, 12 August 2011 (in Spanish) On 17 August 2012, after one full season with the reserves in the

Segunda División B Segunda División B ( en, Second Division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish Foot ...

, Azeez made his debut with the first team: he came on as a substitute for Javier Casquero in the 55th minute of an away fixture against

FC Barcelona Atlètic Futbol Club Barcelona Atlètic, commonly referred to as Barça Atlètic or Barça B, is a football team based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in Primera Federación – Group 2, the third tier of the Spanish football league system ...

in the

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commercially known as LaLiga SmartBank for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spanish football league system. Administrated by the Lig ...

(5–4 win), but was himself replaced after just ten minutes after being booked and, according to manager Javi Gracia, risking a subsequent

sending off In sports, an ejection (also known as dismissal, sending-off, disqualification, or early shower) is the removal of a participant from a contest due to a violation of the sport's rules. The exact violations that lead to an ejection vary depending ...

. Azeez was definitely promoted to the

Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a ...

ns' main squad on 28 June 2013, with the club having just

promoted Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

. He made his debut in the competition on 30 August, playing 23 minutes of the 2–2 home draw with Elche CF. On 21 December 2013, Azeez scored his first professional goal, the game's only in a win at

Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () or just Betis, is a Spanish professional football club based in Seville in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1907, it plays in La Liga. It holds home games at the Estadio Benito Vill ...

. He repeated the feat in the second meeting between the two sides, scoring in the 94th minute for a 3–2 victory at the

Estadio de los Juegos Mediterráneos Power Horse Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Almería, Spain. It is the home ground of UD Almería, and holds 15,274 people. History Inaugurated on 31 July 2004 and originally built for the 2005 Mediterranean Games, the stadium cost around ...

. Azeez featured sparingly during the 2014–15 campaign, as Almería suffered relegation. In June 2015 he requested a transfer, and after failing to sign a professional contract he was demoted back to the reserves in August. On 26 January 2016, Azeez returned to the main squad, seriously threatened with relegation, after agreeing to a professional deal.

Lugo and Granada

On 13 July 2017,

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

Azeez signed with

CD Lugo Club Deportivo Lugo is a Spanish football team based in Lugo, in the autonomous community of Galicia. Founded on 8 July 1953, it plays in Segunda División, holding home games at '' Estadio Anxo Carro''. History The new board of directors was o ...

also of the Spanish second tier. On 1 February 2019, he joined Granada CF of the same league on a three-and-a-half-year contract. On 21 September 2019, Azeez headed home from close range following an Antonio Puertas cross, in the first minute of a 2–0 home win over defending champions

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Founded ...

. In February 2021, he was loaned to FC Cartagena until the end of the second-division season.

International career

Azeez appeared with the Nigeria under-17's at the 2009 FIFA World Cup, and was a regular in a team that finished runners-up. Two years later, also as a starter, he participated in the

U-20 World Cup The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members’ men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 wh ...

. On 3 February 2014, Azeez was called up to the full side for a friendly with

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. He made his debut on 5 March, playing the second half of the 0–0 draw at Georgia Dome. Azeez was named in the provisional 30-man squad ahead of the

2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

on 6 May. He was included in Stephen Keshi's final list for the tournament, and made his debut on 16 June by starting in a 0–0 draw against

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

. In September 2019, Azeez was recalled to the national team after five years.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Nigeria U17 *

FIFA U-17 World Cup The FIFA U-17 World Cup, founded as the FIFA U-16 World Championship, later changed to U-17 in 1991 and to its current name in 2007, is the world championship of association football for male players under the age of 17 organized by ''Fédération ...

runner-up:

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Azeez, Ramon 1992 births Living people People from Abuja Yoruba sportspeople Nigerian footballers Association football midfielders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players UD Almería B players UD Almería players CD Lugo players Granada CF footballers FC Cartagena footballers Nigeria under-20 international footballers Nigeria international footballers 2014 FIFA World Cup players Nigerian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Spain Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Spain