Michael Babatunde (born 24 December 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 jo ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

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 ...

, who plays for

Wydad AC Wydad Athletic Club ( ar, نادي الوداد الرياضي, ) commonly referred to as Wydad AC and known as Wydad, or simply as WAC, is a Moroccan sports club based in Casablanca. Wydad AC is best known for its professional football team that ...

in Botola Pro. He has played for various clubs in Nigeria, Ukraine and other countries.

Club career

He was born on December 24, 1992, in Lagos, Nigeria. As a young boy, he tagged along when he turned 5 years old. He was playing soccer with friends, not intimidated by the bigger boys. At the age of 8, he was recruited to join the youth academy club in Lagos. Recognized smaller than most of the kids in his age group, Michael eventually got recognized by a bigger academy Water FC Academy Abuja, where he was groomed as a professional, later linked with

Heartland Heartland or Heartlands may refer to: Businesses and organisations * Heartland Bank, a New Zealand-based financial institution * Heartland Inn, a chain of hotels based in Iowa, United States * Heartland Alliance, an anti-poverty organization ...

. He played several games for U-17, U-20 and Super Eagle the National Team of Nigeria. Michael has played a total of 14,420 minutes, has had 188 appearances, 163 lineups, 35 substitutes, 10 substitute out, 25 substitute on the bench, 101 goals, 19 yellow cards, 0 red cards. He has been in Ukraine from 2010 to 2015. Babatunde moved to Ukraine at the age of 19, signed by Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih of Ukraine from Heartland of Nigeria. He became noted in Ukrainian football after scoring his first goal against

FC Chornomorets Odesa FC Chornomorets Odesa ( ) is a Ukrainian professional football club based in Odesa. The club's home ground is the 34,164 capacity Chornomorets Stadium opened in 1935 and rebuilt in 2011. According to the club's website, it was formed in 1936 a ...

, scoring 2 goals at will with the team which lead his club to stay at the Ukrainian Premier League from 2010 to 2013. The club eventually went bankrupt. In 2012–2013, he set a record for most goals to assist in a calendar year, and has scored 6 goals in total at the Ukrainian Premier League from 2010–2015. He later went on a free transfer to Volyn Lutsk. Babatunde signed for

Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk Football Club Dnipro ( uk, Футбо́льний Клуб «Дніпро́», ) was a Ukrainian football club based in Dnipro. The club was owned by the Privat Group that also owns BC Dnipro and Budivelnyk Kyiv. In 2018 FC Dnipro was forced i ...

in August 2015. In December 2015, he joined Moroccan club

Raja Casablanca Raja Club Athletic ( ar, نادي الرجاء الرياضي, Nādī ar-Rajāʾ ar-Riyāḍī, zgh, ⴰⵙⵔⵉⵔ ⵏ ⵕⴰⵊⴰ ⴰⵎⴰⵏⵓⵏ), commonly referred to as Raja CA, Raja Casablanca or simply RCA is a professional footb ...

. On 31 May 2016, Babatunde joined

Qatar SC Qatar Sports Club ( ar, نادي قطر الرياضي) is a sports club based in Doha, Qatar. It is best known for its football team which competes in the Qatar Stars League. The club was founded in 1961 as a merger of two Qatari football clubs ...

in the

Qatar Stars League The Qatar Stars League ( ar, دوري نجوم قطر), or the QSL, also called QNB Stars League for sponsorship reasons, is the top level football league in Qatar football league system. Contested by 12 teams, it operates on a system of promoti ...

. In 2018, Babatunde returned to Morocco to join

International career

Babatunde is a frequent player in the Nigeria national team, playing for Nigeria in the

2013 FIFA Confederations Cup The 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup was the ninth FIFA Confederations Cup, which was held in Brazil from 15 to 30 June 2013 as a prelude to the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The most recent winners of the six continental championships appeared in the tour ...

and the

2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for list of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from ...

in Brazil.

Honours

Qatar SC *

Qatari Second Division The Qatari Second Division ( ar, دوري الدرجة الثانية القطري), QSD or Second Division League, also was known as Qatargas League due to sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of football league competition in Qatar. Contested ...

: 2016–17 Wydad *

Botola The Botola Pro ( ar, البطولة الاحترافية, translit=al-buṭūla l-iḥtirāfiyya), is a Moroccan professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the Moroccan football league system, it is the country's prim ...

: 2018–19 *

CAF Champions League The CAF Champions League, known for sponsorship purposes as the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League and formerly the African Cup of Champions Clubs, is an annual football club competition organized by the Confederation of African Football and con ...

runner-up: 2018–19

References

External links

* 1992 births Living people Nigerian footballers Nigeria international footballers Association football midfielders Yoruba sportspeople Nigerian expatriate footballers Heartland F.C. players FC Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih players Ukrainian Premier League players Expatriate footballers in Ukraine 2011 CAF U-23 Championship players 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup players 2014 FIFA World Cup players FC Volyn Lutsk players FC Dnipro players Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Ukraine Raja CA players Expatriate footballers in Morocco Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Morocco Qatar SC players Expatriate footballers in Qatar Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Qatar Qatar Stars League players Qatari Second Division players Wydad AC players {{Nigeria-footy-midfielder-stub