Leke Samson James (born 1 November 1992) is a

Nigerian Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was taken from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jour ...

professional

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

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 ...

for

Sivasspor Sivasspor Kulübü, known as Demir Grup Sivasspor due to sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish sports club based in Sivas. The primary department of the club is men's football. Formed in 1967, its football department competes in Süper Lig, as of 201 ...

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 ...

Club career

Early career

He started out his career in his native homeland playing for Bridge Boys.

Aalesund

He transferred to Aalesund on 6 January 2012. An injury obtained during pre-season hindered his path into the first team and he did not get back into full training until the start of July. On 26 July 2012 he made his first appearance for Aalesund coming on as a substitute at the start of the second half of the game versus

Tirana Tirana ( , ; aln, Tirona) is the capital and largest city of Albania. It is located in the centre of the country, enclosed by mountains and hills with Dajti rising to the east and a slight valley to the northwest overlooking the Adriatic Sea ...

in Europe League scoring twice in Aalesund's 5–0 win. On 29 July 2012 he made his debut in

Tippeligaen Eliteserien () is a Norwegian professional league for association football clubs. At the top of the Norwegian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion ...

and also started his first match, against Stabæk.

Beijing Enterprises Group

Between 2016 and 2017 he played for Chinese club

Beijing Enterprises Group Beijing Sport University Football Club (), commonly known as BSU (), is a Chinese professional football club that currently participates in the China League One division under license from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team is base ...

China League One The Chinese Football Association China League (), also known as China League One or Chinese Jia League (中甲联赛), is the second level of professional football in China. Above League One is the Chinese Super League. Prior to the formation of ...

Molde

On 30 April 2018,

Molde FK Molde Fotballklubb () is a professional football club based in Molde, Norway, that competes in Eliteserien, the top flight of Norwegian football. Founded on 19 June 1911, the club was originally known as International and changed its name to ...

announced the signing of James on a three-year contract. He got his Molde debut on 26 July 2018 when he came on as a 67th minute substitute in Molde's 3–0 win against Laçi in the

2018–19 UEFA Europa League The 2018–19 UEFA Europa League was the 48th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 10th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. The final was played at the Olympic St ...

second qualifying round. James scored Molde's third goal in the game. On 22 June 2019, James scored a

perfect hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

in the first half in Molde's 4–0 away win against

Strømsgodset Strømsgodset is a former municipality in Vestfold county (from 1964 Buskerud county), Norway, today a part of the city of Drammen. History Strømsgodset was originally a small rural annex to the city parish of Bragernes (Drammen). But since th ...

. He scored with his right foot, left foot and his head and completed his hat-trick in 13 minutes and 45 seconds. On 11 July 2019, James scored his second hat-trick for the club, his first in

UEFA competitions UEFA competitions (french: competitions de l'UEFA), referred improperly by the mass media as European football, are the set of tournaments organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), generally in professional and amateur asso ...

, in Molde's 7–1 win over KR in the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

first qualifying round. James scored a brace in Molde's 4–0 win against Strømsgodset on

Aker Stadion The Aker Stadion (known as Molde Stadion for UEFA competitions and prior to sponsorship) is an all-seater football stadium located at Reknes in Molde, Norway, and is the home of Eliteserien club Molde. The stadium has a current capacity of ...

. He scored the third and fourth goal of the game that secured Molde their fourth league title, his first. James finished the 2019 season scoring 24 goals in 38 matches in all competitions.

Career statistics

Club

莱克
at sodasoccer.com 2016-11-01

Honours

Molde *

Eliteserien Eliteserien () is a Norwegian professional league for association football clubs. At the top of the Norwegian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion ...

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

Sivasspor *

Turkish Cup The Turkish Cup ( Turkish: ''Türkiye Kupası'') is a football cup competition in Turkish football, run by the Turkish Football Federation since 1962. During a brief sponsorship period with Fortis, its sponsored name was ''Fortis Türkiye Kupası ...

: 2021–22

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:James, Leke 1992 births Living people Sportspeople from Kaduna Nigerian footballers Yoruba sportspeople Aalesunds FK players Beijing Sport University F.C. players Molde FK players Al-Qadsiah FC players Sivasspor footballers Eliteserien players China League One players Saudi Professional League players Süper Lig players Nigerian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Norway Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Norway Expatriate footballers in China Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in China Expatriate footballers in Saudi Arabia Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia Expatriate footballers in Turkey Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Association football forwards