Jonas Okétola (born 27 August 1983) is a former 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 played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. Born in Nigeria, he played for the Benin national team at international level.

Club career

Born in Nigeria, Okétola played professional football for local side

Kwara United Kwara United Football Club is a Nigerian football club based in Ilorin. They play in the top division in Nigerian football, the Nigeria Professional football League after promotion in 2017 from the Nigeria National League. Their home stadium is t ...

before signing with South African club

Thanda Royal Zulu Thanda Royal Zulu was a South African football club based in Richards Bay, KwaZulu-Natal. History The club started after a Swedish consortium that included Sven-Goran Eriksson bought the franchise from Benoni Premier United at the end of the 2006 ...

in 2008. The South Africa Soccer Association assessed a two-year ban on Okétola in January 2009, as a result of a doping violation.Benin's Oketola handed drugs ban
, BBC Sport, 16 January 2009. A random test after a league match turned up a positive result for

amphetamine Amphetamine (contracted from alpha- methylphenethylamine) is a strong central nervous system (CNS) stimulant that is used in the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), narcolepsy, and obesity. It is also commonly used ...

s, a prohibited substance.

International career

Okétola was part of the Benin national team at the

2004 African Nations Cup The 2004 African Cup of Nations, known as the NOKIA African Cup of Nations, Tunisia 2004 for sponsorship reasons (also referred to as AFCON 2004 or CAN 2004) is the 24th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial international men's footb ...

, which finished bottom of its group in the first round of competition, thus failing to qualify for the quarter-finals.

External links

References

1983 births Living people Footballers from Benin City Nigerian people of Beninese descent Beninese men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Benin men's international footballers 2004 African Cup of Nations players 2008 Africa Cup of Nations players AS Dragons FC de l'Ouémé players Enyimba F.C. players Kwara United F.C. players Thanda Royal Zulu F.C. players USS Kraké players Doping cases in association football Beninese sportspeople in doping cases Beninese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's soccer players in South Africa Beninese expatriate sportspeople in South Africa Expatriate men's footballers in Northern Cyprus Beninese expatriate sportspeople in Northern Cyprus {{Benin-footy-bio-stub