Simeon Oluwatimelehin Akinola Olaonipekun (born 6 August 1992) is a retired 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 ...

Career

Born in

Lagos Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the List of cities in Africa by population, second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national ca ...

, Nigeria, Akinola moved to

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

aged three. He started playing

futsal Futsal is a football-based game played on a hardcourt, hard court smaller than a football pitch, and mainly indoors. It has similarities to five-a-side football and Indoor soccer, indoor football. Futsal is played between two teams of five players ...

aged nine before joining

Alcorcón Alcorcón () is a city and municipality of Spain located in the Community of Madrid. as of 2020, it had a population of 172,384. Geography The municipality, largely flat, lies at an average altitude of 711 metres above sea level, with the h ...

after a successful trial, later moving to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. He joined the academy at Boreham Wood, and made his senior debut in January 2011, a season in which he scored 53 goals for the reserve team. He was loaned out to

Billericay Town Billericay Town Football Club is a football club based in Billericay, Essex, England. The club are currently members of and play at New Lodge. They are the second most successful club in FA Vase history, having won the competition on three o ...

in November 2011, and then Harrow Borough in February 2012, before signing for Borough permanently for a fee of £2,400, set by tribunal after Boreham Wood rejected an initial offer of £750. In August 2014, Akinola joined

Braintree Town Braintree Town Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Braintree, Essex, England. They are currently members of and play at Cressing Road. History The club was formed on 24 September 1898 as Manor Works, the works team o ...

for an undisclosed fee. He joined

Barnet Barnet may refer to: People *Barnet (surname) * Barnet (given name) Places United Kingdom *Chipping Barnet or High Barnet, commonly known as Barnet, one of three focal towns of the borough below. *East Barnet, a district of the borough below; an ...

on 1 January 2017 for a fee of £40,000. He made his debut the following day against

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park, ...

On 31 August 2017 - transfer deadline day - Barnet agreed terms with Lincoln City for the transfer of Akinola, pending verification from the EFL. On 5 September it was confirmed that the EFL had refused to ratify the transfer and that Akinola would remain at Barnet. He left the club at the end of the 2019-20 season, having scored 24 goals in 106 games. On 17 September 2020, Akinola signed for Southend United on a two-year deal with an option for a third. In November 2020 it was reported that Akinola's debut for the Shrimpers was being held up by an embargo on player registrations against the club. Akinola made his Southend United debut on 12 December 2020, starting in a 1–0 win at Roots Hall over

Scunthorpe United Scunthorpe United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, England. The side currently competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The tea ...

. On 8 October 2022, Akinola signed for

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

side Wealdstone. He scored his first goal for the club on the same day, scoring in his first appearance from the bench, in a 2–1 defeat to Boreham Wood. Akinola made seven appearances before leaving the club.

International career

Akinola is eligible to play for Nigeria and Spain at international level. He was called up by England C in May 2015, but was forced to withdraw.

Personal life

Akinola has a degree in

systems engineering Systems engineering is an interdisciplinary field of engineering and engineering management that focuses on how to design, integrate, and manage complex systems over their enterprise life cycle, life cycles. At its core, systems engineering util ...

from the

University of Westminster , mottoeng = The Lord is our Strength , type = Public , established = 1838: Royal Polytechnic Institution 1891: Polytechnic-Regent Street 1970: Polytechnic of Central London 1992: University of Westminster , endowment = £5.1 million ...

. In February 2023, he joined J.P. Morgan & Co. through its athlete transition programme.

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Akinola, Simeon 1992 births Living people Nigerian men's footballers Spanish men's footballers Nigerian emigrants to Spain Naturalised citizens of Spain Sportspeople of Nigerian descent Alumni of the University of Westminster Men's association football forwards AD Alcorcón footballers Boreham Wood F.C. players Billericay Town F.C. players Harrow Borough F.C. players Braintree Town F.C. players Barnet F.C. players Southend United F.C. players Wealdstone F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players Isthmian League players