Kehinde Feyi Fatai (born 19 February 1990) is a Nigerian professional footballer who plays as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

Club career

Early career & Romanian Liga I

Fatai was in Nigeria with the Anwar-ul-Islam College and played for JUTH F.C. He left for

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

in July 2007, joining

FC Farul Constanța FC may refer to: Businesses, organisations, and schools * Fergusson College, a science and arts college in Pune, India * Finncomm Airlines (IATA code) * FranklinCovey company, NYSE stock symbol FC * Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force in Pakis ...

of Romania. Initially, he played in the third league of Romania for the reserve team and scored 11 goals in 20 games. In the following 2008–2009 season Fatai was promoted to Farul Constanța's senior team. On 16 June 2010, he signed with

Liga I The Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1, is a Romanian professional league for men's association football clubs. Currently sponsored by betting company Superbet, it is officially known as the SuperLiga. It is the country's top ...

club

Astra Giurgiu Asociația Fotbal Club Astra Giurgiu (), commonly known as Astra Giurgiu or simply Astra, was a Romanian football club based in the city of Giurgiu, Giurgiu County. Founded in 1921 in Ploiești as ''Clubul Sportiv Astra-Română'', it spent th ...

on a free transfer, after his contract with Farul Constanța had ended.

Club Brugge

On 1 September 2013, Belgian club

Club Brugge (), known simply as Club Brugge (in English also: ''Club Bruges''), is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges, Belgium. It was founded in 1891 and its home ground is the Jan Breydel Stadium, which has a capacity of 29,062.

confirmed Fatai’s signing on a season long loan from Astra, with an option to buy. On 22 September 2013, he came on for his debut as an 80th-minute substitute and needed only seven minutes to break the deadlock with a shot in Club Brugge's 4-0 win over fierce rivals

Anderlecht Anderlecht (, ) is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the south-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Forest, Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, and Saint-Gilles, as well as the ...

AC Sparta Prague

In May 2015, Fatai signed for

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places *Czech, ...

club

AC Sparta Prague ) but refer to Spartans as "''Rudí''" ( en, The Dark Reds/The Maroons).'' Letenští'' , ground = Generali Česká pojišťovna Arena , capacity = 19,416 , clubname = Sparta Prague , image = Sparta Praha logo.png , image_size = 160px , fu ...

on a three-year contract. As a striker, he scored only one goal in eight league matches for Sparta Prague. This bad form in front of goal led to his playing as a wide midfielder instead. After this position change, he went on to score five goals in three matches.

FC Ufa

On 12 August 2016, he signed a 3-year contract with the

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; russian: Российская премьер-лига; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is the top division professional association football league in Russia. It was established at the end of 2001 ...

side

FC Ufa FC Ufa (russian: ФК «Уфа», ba, Өфө, Öfö) is a Russian football club based in Ufa that will play in the second-tier Russian First League in the 2022–23 season. History During the summer of 2010, Rustem Khamitov, the second Preside ...

. He was released from his Ufa contract by mutual consent on 14 August 2018.

International career

Fatai was called up to the Nigeria U-23 team in 2011 for a friendly against

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

. On 4 June he was selected for a qualifying match for the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

against

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...

. On 24 October 2015, Fatai said he had promised the Romanian national team officials that he would represent

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

on the senior level upon gaining citizenship.

Personal life

Kehinde Fatai's twin brother, Taiye is also a footballer who spent most of his career in the lower leagues of Romania playing for teams like FCM Alexandria or

ACS Berceni ACS Berceni was a Romanian professional football club from Berceni, Romania, founded in 2008 and dissolved in 2016. In their last season, they played in the Liga II, in the 2016–17 season. History Founded in 1957, the team from Berceni did ...

. Another one of his brothers, Yunus is a footballer who played in the lower leagues of Romania at Astra II and

Dacia Unirea Brăila Dacia (, ; ) was the land inhabited by the Dacians, its core in Transylvania, stretching to the Danube in the south, the Black Sea in the east, and the Tisza in the west. The Carpathian Mountains were located in the middle of Dacia. It thus ...

. He has a total of four brothers and a sister.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Astra Giurgiu *

Supercupa României The Supercupa României ( en, Romanian Supercup) is a Romanian football championship contested by the winners of the Liga I and the Cupa României. It is usually played at the Arena Națională in Bucharest. The competition started off in 1994, ...

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fatai, Kehinde 1990 births Living people Sportspeople from Jos Yoruba sportspeople Nigerian footballers Romanian people of Nigerian descent Nigeria under-20 international footballers Association football forwards Nigerian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Romania Expatriate footballers in Belgium Expatriate footballers in the Czech Republic Expatriate footballers in Russia Expatriate footballers in Belarus Romanian expatriates in Russia Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Russia Naturalised citizens of Romania Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Romania Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in the Czech Republic Romanian expatriates in the Czech Republic Liga I players Liga III players Belgian First Division A players Czech First League players Russian Premier League players JUTH F.C. players FCV Farul Constanța players FC Astra Giurgiu players Club Brugge KV players AC Sparta Prague players FC Ufa players FC Dinamo Minsk players FC Argeș Pitești players Nigerian twins