Jesse Tamunobaraboye Sekidika (born 14 July 1996) 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 winger for

Ümraniyespor Ümraniyespor is a Turkish professional football club located in Ümraniye, Istanbul. The club plays in red and white kits, and have done so since their formation in 1938. They have secured promotion to Süper Lig for their first time 3 weeks be ...

, on loan from

Eyüpspor Eyüpspor is a Turkish professional football club that is located in the Eyüp district of Istanbul. The team colours are lavender and yellow. Their home ground is Eyüp Stadium, which has a capacity of 2,500. History Eyüpspor played in the Ista ...

Early career

United Kingdom

Born in Nigerian metropolis Port Harcourt, Sekidika was first scouted in England while playing as winger at Leicestershire-based private boarding school Brooke House College.The new recruit of the Portuguese giants is expected to make his way up the ladder after impressing in various youth academies
at goal.com, 5-2-2015, retrieved 18-10-2016 After impressing there, he trialed at

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

at the 2013 Keele Cup and caught the attention of

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

scouts who invited him to train at their Carrington training ground. However, due to the stringent requirement of a British work permit and not having a European Passport, Jesse could not be offered a contract at Stoke City or Manchester United.

Portugal

In August 2014, Sekidika left UK and moved to Portugal where he joined the youth team of , located in the suburb of the same name of the capital

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

, which has been a traditional feeder for the country´s bigger teams. At Oeiras, he played the first half of 2014–15 season. By then, he had already been invited to take part of the gatherings and training sessions of the Flying Eagles, the

Nigeria national under-20 football team The Nigerian men's national under-20 football team represents Nigeria in men's international football also known as the Nigeria Under-20s or nicknamed the ''Flying Eagles.'' The Flying Eagles is the youth team for the national soccer in Nigeria. ...

. During last days of the 2014–15 winter-break, he signed with

S.L. Benfica Sport Lisboa e Benfica (), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional association football, football club based in Lisbon, Portugal, that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football league system, Portuguese footba ...

youth team In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team in the future if t ...

. He was part of the Benfica squad that played in the

2014–15 UEFA Youth League The 2014–15 UEFA Youth League was the second season of the UEFA Youth League, a European youth club football competition organised by UEFA. It was contested by the under-19 youth teams of the 32 clubs qualified for the group stage of the 2014–1 ...

in which Benfica reached the quarter finals. At league level, he made six appearances and scored once for Benfica in the second-half of the 2014–15 First Portuguese youth league.

Club career

Napredak Kruševac

In June 2015, his contract with Benfica expired. However, in the winter break of the 2015–16 season, along with Bohdan Sichkaruk, he joined

FK Napredak Kruševac Fudbalski klub Napredak Kruševac (), commonly known as Napredak Kruševac, is a Serbian professional football club based in the city of Kruševac. The word ''Napredak'' means "progress" in Serbian. The club's nickname is the Čarapani which t ...

who sought to confirm their second-level title and return to top-flight status. This endeavor left Sekidika mostly off the field. The coach chose to stick with the starting eleven that was giving him good results. Sekidika played the 6 last rounds of the

2015–16 Serbian First League The Serbian First League (Serbian: Prva liga Srbije) is the second-highest football league in Serbia. The league is operated by the Serbian FA. 16 teams compete in the league for the 2015–16 season. Two teams were promoted to the Serbian SuperLi ...

season, scoring in all but one and helped them to a dominant finish as champion and gain promotion to the Serbian top-flight, the SuperLiga. Inconsistencies at management positions and an uncertain starting line-up, left Napredak end

2016–17 Serbian SuperLiga The 2016–17 Serbian SuperLiga was the eleventh season of the Serbian SuperLiga since its establishment. Red Star are the defending champions. The fixtures were announced on 15 June 2016. Red Star Belgrade drew the highest average home attendanc ...

season in 6th place. Sekidika failed to score that season. After a weak start under

Nenad Sakić Nenad Sakić (; born 15 June 1971) is a Serbian Association football, football manager and former player. He currently assistant manager Hungarian club Ferencvárosi TC. Club career Sakić came to FK Napredak Kruševac, Napredak Kruševac in 1989 ...

, in September brought in

Milorad Kosanović Milorad Kosanović ( sr-Cyrl, Милорад Косановић, ; born 4 January 1951) is a Serbian former football player and manager. During his playing career, Kosanović represented Proleter Zrenjanin, Vojvodina, Kikinda and Novi Sad, com ...

who made Sekidika a regular in the line up. Napredak finished the season in 7th. Sekidika appeared in 28 games, racking up 3 goals. In July 2018, Napredak participated in a summer tournament in Portugal where it played against

. Napredak lost 3–0 in a game played on July 10. Portuguese media put the focus on Sekidika as a former Benfica player and how he had played against several former teammates. Kosanović convinced the board to sell Sekidika and replace him with domestic players he had coached in previous clubs.

Eskişehirspor

Sekidika moved to Turkey and signed with

Eskişehirspor Eskişehirspor Kulübü is a Turkish professional football club located in Eskişehir. Eskisehirspor has a total of six trophies, making them the sixth most trophies holders in Turkey. Founded in 1965, Eskişehirspor competed in the top division ...

for a symbolic amount.

Galatasaray

In January 2020 he signed with

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), officially known as Spor Toto Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional league for association football clubs. It is the top-flight of the Turkish football league system and is run by the ...

side

Galatasaray Galatasaray Spor Kulübü (, ''Galatasaray Sports Club'') is a Turkish sports club based on the European side of the city of Istanbul in Turkey. Most notable for its association football department, the club also consists of various other de ...

. Sekidika trained hard and played in a friendly against Altay. After the friendly match Sekidika stated that "this is just beginning and I am so excited to play such a great football club". His contract was terminated by Galatasaray on 15 August 2022.

Konyaspor

He moved to

Konyaspor Konyaspor Kulübü (, Konya Sports Club) is a Turkish professional football club based in Konya. They are better known as Konyaspor. In 1922 Konyaspor were founded with the name Konya Gençlerbirliği and have played at their current home stadium ...

on loan until the end of the 20-21 Season on 29 January 2021.

OH Leuven

On 27 August 2021, Galatasaray announced that the 25-year-old football player was loaned to

Oud-Heverlee Leuven Oud-Heverlee Leuven (), also called OH Leuven or OHL, is a Belgian football club from the city of Leuven. It was created in 2002 from the merger of three clubs, '' F.C. Zwarte Duivels Oud-Heverlee'', whose registration number it inherited, '' ...

, one of the

Belgian First Division A The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 team ...

teams, until the end of the season.

Eyüpspor

On 1 February 2022, Sekidika was loaned out to 1.Lig club

, until the end of the season.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

;Napredak Kruševac *

Serbian First League The Serbian First League ( sr, Прва лига Србије / Prva liga Srbije), referred to as the Mozzart Bet First League ( sr, Моцарт Бет Прва лига / Mozzart Bet Prva liga) for sponsorship reasons, is the name for the second ...

: 2015–16

References

External links

* *
Jesse Sekdika profile
at FK Napredak Kruševac official website {{DEFAULTSORT:Sekidika, Jesse 1996 births Living people Sportspeople from Port Harcourt Association football wingers Nigerian footballers Galatasaray S.K. footballers Eskişehirspor footballers FK Napredak Kruševac players Konyaspor footballers Oud-Heverlee Leuven players Eyüpspor footballers Ümraniyespor footballers Süper Lig players TFF First League players Belgian Pro League players Serbian First League players Serbian SuperLiga players Nigerian expatriate footballers Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate footballers in England Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Expatriate footballers in Portugal Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Serbia Expatriate footballers in Serbia Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Expatriate footballers in Turkey Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate footballers in Belgium