Saliu Popoola

Saliu Popoola (born 7 August 1994) is a Nigerian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Moroccan club Wydad Fès. He is also a Nigerian international.[2]

Saliu Popoola
Popoola at the 2016 Olympics
Personal information
Full name Saliu Popoola Sodiq
Date of birth (1994-08-07) 7 August 1994
Place of birth Lagos, Nigeria
Height 1.57 m (5 ft 2 in)[1]
Position(s) Midfielder
Youth career
36 Lions
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2012–2016 Metz 0 (0)
2014–2016 → Seraing (loan) 51 (4)
2017–2020 Ittihad Khemisset 29 (1)
2020– Wydad Fès 5 (0)
International career
2016 Nigeria U23 5 (0)
Medal record
Olympic Games
Bronze medal – third place2016 Rio de JaneiroTeam
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 20:59, 1 August 2021 (UTC)

Measuring only 1.57 m, he was considered, in 2015, to be the third smallest professional player in the world.[3] With the Nigeria U23 team, he won the bronze medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Career

Popoola joined FC Metz in August 2012, after a successful trial with the team. He would play for the reserves in the CFA. The following season, he made two appearances in the Coupe de France, but none in Ligue 2 where the Metz first team played.[4]

In lack of playing time, he was sent on a two-season loan to Belgian club Seraing for two seasons, until June 2016.[4] With a height of only 1.57 m, he was then the smallest professional player playing in Belgium.[5] With Seraing, he made 51 appearances in the Belgian second division, scoring 4 goals.[4] Most notably, he scored a brace against Heist on 29 November 2015, which proved to be the key to the 5–2 win.[6]

In September 2016, having still not made a league appearance for the Metz first-team, he terminated his contract with the club by mutual consent.[7]

Honours

Nigeria U23

References
  1. Popoola Saliu Archived 26 November 2016 at the Wayback Machine. rio2016.com
  2. Oluwashina Okeleji (24 June 2016). "Kelechi Iheanacho included in Nigeria's Olympics squad". BBC Sport. Retrieved 25 June 2016.
  3. ""Etre le plus petit joueur en Europe est une fierté"". RTBF Sport (in French). 17 March 2015.
  4. "Saliu Popoola - Wydad Fès". footballdatabase.eu. Retrieved 1 August 2021.
  5. "Seraing United: Saliu Popoola, le plus petit joueur en Belgique!". sudinfo.be (in French). 8 August 2014.
  6. "RFC Seraing 5-2 Heist - 28 novembre 2015 / Division 2 2015/2016". footballdatabase.eu. Retrieved 1 August 2021.
  7. "Popoola Saliu n'honorera pas sa dernière année de contrat". L'Équipe (in French). 20 September 2016.
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