Gbenga Tai "Ben" Folami (born 8 June 1999) is an Australian professional footballer who plays as a winger for Melbourne Victory and the

Australia national team Sport is an important part of Australia that dates back to the early colonial period. Australian rules football, rugby league, rugby union, association football, cricket and tennis are among the earliest organised sports in Australia. Sport ha ...

Club career

Ipswich Town

Born in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, Folami joined Ipswich Town's academy in 2015, having previously played for the Football NSW Institute and the

Sutherland Sharks Sutherland Sharks Football Club is an Australian Association football club based in the suburb of Sutherland in Sydney New South Wales. The club currently competes in the National Premier Leagues NSW. The club's home games are played at Seymour ...

at youth level. After working his way through the youth system at Portman Road, he went on to make his full senior debut in a 2–1 defeat against Crystal Palace in the

EFL Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

second round on 22 August 2017. He made his league debut for the club on 2 April 2018 in a 2–2 draw against Millwall. In May 2018, Folami signed a new three-year contract at Ipswich until 2021. On 14 January 2019, Folami tore his achilles tendon during an under-23 match against

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Caerdydd) is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1899 as R ...

, ruling him out for the remainder of the season. Following his recovery from injury Folami appeared for Ipswich’s under-23 side before returning to first-team action on 12 November 2019, starting in a 0–1 away loss to Colchester United in an

EFL Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Le ...

group stage match.

Stevenage (loan)

On 31 January 2020, Folami signed for

Stevenage Stevenage ( ) is a large town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, about north of London. Stevenage is east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1(M), between Letchworth Garden City to the north and Welwyn Garden City to the south. In 1946, Stevena ...

on loan until the end of the 2019–20 season. He made his debut on 8 February, coming on as a second-half substitute in a 2–1 loss to Exeter City. He made two substitute appearances for Stevenage before the 2019–20 season was suspended due to the

Coronavirus Coronaviruses are a group of related RNA viruses that cause diseases in mammals and birds. In humans and birds, they cause respiratory tract infections that can range from mild to lethal. Mild illnesses in humans include some cases of the com ...

outbreak.

Return to Ipswich Town

He scored his first goal for Ipswich in an

tie against Gillingham on 6 October 2020. In April 2021, Ipswich announced that Folami would be released at the end of the 2020–21 season following the end of his contract.

Melbourne Victory

On 28 October 2020, Folami joined Australian

A-League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...

side Melbourne Victory on loan until the end of the season. He scored his first goal for Melbourne Victory in a 2–2 draw with Thai side

Chiangrai United Chiangrai United Football Club (Thai: สโมสรฟุตบอลเชียงราย ยูไนเต็ด) is a professional Football Club based in Chiangrai Province. The club plays in the Thai League 1. The club is also known ...

in the

AFC Champions League The AFC Champions League (abbreviated as ACL) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's top-division football clubs. It is the most prestigious club competition ...

on 30 November. In July 2021, after being released by Ipswich Town, Folami signed a permanent two-year contract with Melbourne Victory.

International career

Folami is of Nigerian descent. In October 2018, he was called up to the Australia U19 squad to compete in the

2018 AFC U-19 Championship The 2018 AFC U-19 Championship was the 40th edition of the biennial international youth football championship organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the men's under-19 national teams of Asia. It took place in Indonesia, which wa ...

held in Indonesia. He made 4 appearances during the tournament, scoring one goal, as the Young Socceroos exited the U-19 championships at the quarter-final stage. Folami impressed with his performances during the tournament, with Fox Sports describing him as "an absolute revelation" and stating that he had been "Australia's best player". Folami made his debut for the Australia U23 team in a 2–1 loss to Iran on 14 October 2019. He scored his first goal for the under-23s while winning his second cap, appearing as a second-half substitute and scoring in a 5–1 victory over

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

on 15 November 2019. He debuted with the senior

in a 2–0

2022 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2022 FIFA World Cup qualificationAlso the "FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Qualifiers". was the qualifying process which decided the 31 teams that would join hosts Qatar, who received an automatic spot, at the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Parallel tour ...

loss to

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

on 24 March 2022.

Career statistics

International

Honours

Club

Melbourne Victory * FFA Cup:

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

International

Australia U23 * AFC U-23 Asian Cup third place:

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Folami, Ben 1999 births Living people Soccer players from Sydney Australian soccer players Australia international soccer players Australia youth international soccer players Australia under-20 international soccer players Association football forwards Ipswich Town F.C. players Stevenage F.C. players Melbourne Victory FC players Australian people of Nigerian descent Australian expatriate soccer players Australian expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate footballers in England English Football League players