Ayo_Akinola

Ayo Akinola

Ayo Akinola

Canadian soccer player (born 2000)

Ayomide Bamidele Akinola (born January 20, 2000) is a professional soccer player who plays as a forward for Major League Soccer club Toronto FC. Born in the United States, he plays for the Canada national team.

Quick Facts Personal information, Full name ...

Early life

Akinola was born in Detroit, Michigan, and moved to Brampton, Ontario in 2005.[4] As a teenager, he played in the TFC Academy.[5] He graduated from St. Marguerite d'Youville Secondary School in 2018.[6]

Club career

Toronto FC II

Akinola was called up to the Toronto FC II set-up for the 2016 USL season.[5] On June 15, 2016, he made his debut as an 80th-minute substitute for Shaan Hundal in a 1–1 draw with FC Montreal. Akinola made his first start a week later in a 4–1 defeat to Louisville City.[7] On July 11, he scored a brace in a 4–2 win against the Harrisburg City Islanders and was named to the USL Team of the Week.[8] He finished the season with two goals from 10 appearances.

Akinola tried out for Eredivisie club PSV Eindhoven in November 2017.[9]

Toronto FC

On December 18, 2017, Akinola signed as a homegrown player with Major League Soccer side Toronto FC.[10] He became the 15th player to graduate from the TFC Academy and sign for the first team, and the 34th academy graduate to sign a professional contract for one of the Toronto FC teams.[11] On March 17, 2019, Akinola scored his first ever MLS goal in Toronto FC's home opener against the New England Revolution.[12]

Akinola scored his second and third MLS goals for Toronto on July 13, 2020, in the MLS is Back Tournament in a 2–2 draw against D.C. United.[13] He scored a hat-trick in his team's second game of the tournament against the Montreal Impact.[14] He finished the 2020 season as the co-leading scorer for Toronto with Alejandro Pozuelo, both of whom scored 9 goals, although Pozuelo played nearly twice as many minutes.[15]

In July 2021, Akinola had an ACL injury while on international duty with Canada, resulting in him missing the remainder of the 2021 season.[16] In January 2022, Akinola would sign a contract extension with Toronto through the 2024 season, with an option for 2025.[17]

In July 2023, he was loaned to fellow MLS side San Jose Earthquakes for the remainder of the 2023 season, with San Jose holding a purchase option.[18]

International career

Akinola was eligible to play internationally for the United States, Canada, and Nigeria, due to birth, residency, and heritage, respectively.[19][20] While he was playing for the United States youth teams, both the Canadian Soccer Association and the Nigeria Football Federation had reached out to Akinola regarding his future at the senior international level. In 2018, Akinola commented "No time to rush. But at some point, I'm going to have to make a decision which one is the best fit for me."[21]

United States

Akinola in action with the United States U20 in 2019.

In April 2015, Akinola made his international debut for the United States U15 national soccer team, appearing in a 4–1 victory against Costa Rica. The following day he scored his first international goal, netting four in a 6–2 win against Croatia. He also scored in his final appearances for the U15s in a 3–3 draw in England.[22]

In December 2015, Akinola was called up to the United States U17 squad and played 40 minutes in a 3–2 defeat to England U16s. He scored his first goal against Brazil in March 2016, before scoring a brace against Russia a few days later. In October 2017, Akinola scored the only goal in a 1–0 victory over Ghana at the FIFA U17 World Cup in India.[23]

He was called up to the U.S. senior team for their friendly match on December 9, 2020, against El Salvador.[24] He scored a goal in his debut for the Americans against El Salvador, taking a knee and raising a fist in the air following his goal in a show of support for the racial equality movement.[25][26]

Canada

Akinola accepted an invitation to a Canada training camp held in January 2021,[27] but was forced to withdraw for health reasons.[28] He then accepted an invitation to join the Canadian team for training prior to their World Cup qualifying matches on May 29, 2021.[29] He was named to Canada's 60-man preliminary squad for the 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup on June 18, 2021.[30] The Canadian Soccer Association confirmed on June 30 that he had filed his one-time switch to represent Canada internationally,[31] and was named to the final 23-man squad for the Gold Cup on July 1,[32] Akinola made his first appearance for Canada at the tournament in their second group game against Haiti on July 15.[33] In his second match for Canada, on July 18, 2021, Akinola faced his former country, the United States in the final round of the group stage. Akinola ruptured his ACL in the 24th minute of that match, effectively ruling him out of not only the remainder of the tournament, but also the rest of the club season with Toronto FC.[16]

Personal life

Ayo's younger brother Tom is also a soccer player and was a member of the TFC Academy and has attended a Canadian under-14 camp.[27]

Career statistics

Club

As of match played April 6, 2024
More information Club, Season ...
  1. Appearance(s) in CONCACAF Champions League
  2. Includes three appearances and five goals in MLS is Back Tournament group stage
  3. Includes appearance in 2020 Canadian Championship final (played in 2022)
  4. Appearance(s) in Leagues Cup

International

As of match played March 28, 2022
More information National team, Year ...
As of match played December 9, 2020. Akinola's team's score listed first, score column indicates score after each Akinola goal.[7]
More information No., Date ...

Honours

Toronto FC

United States U20

Individual

References

  1. [1]
    "National team roster 2021 Concacaf Gold Cup" (PDF). CONCACAF.
  2. [2]
    "FIFA U-20 World Cup Poland 2019: List of players" (PDF). FIFA. May 15, 2019. Retrieved May 17, 2019.
  3. [3]
    "Ayo Akinola". Toronto FC. Retrieved August 21, 2022.
  4. [4]
    "How Brampton shaped these 4 professionals". 9:15: CBC Toronto.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  5. [5]
    "Ayo Akinola". Toronto FC. Retrieved June 30, 2016.
  6. [6]
    "Tweet – St. Marguerite d'Youville CSS". Twitter.
  7. [7]
    "USA – A. Akinola – Profile with news, career statistics and history – Soccerway". Soccerway. Retrieved June 30, 2016.
  8. [8]
    "Ayo Akinola Named To USL Team Of The Week". Toronto FC. July 12, 2016. Retrieved March 15, 2018.
  9. [9]
    Grossi, James (November 15, 2017). "Toronto FC academy player, US U-17 Ayo Akinola takes trial with PSV". MLS Soccer. Retrieved March 15, 2018.
  10. [10]
    "Teenage forward Ayo Akinola signs as Toronto FC homegrown player". Toronto Sun. December 18, 2017. Retrieved March 15, 2018.
  11. [11]
    "Toronto FC Sign Ayo Akinola". torontofc.ca. MLS. December 18, 2017. Retrieved January 27, 2018.
  12. [12]
    Boehm, Charles (March 17, 2019). "Dual-national US U-20 forward Ayo Akinola scores first MLS goal for TFC". Major League Soccer. Archived from the original on June 11, 2019. Retrieved December 11, 2020.
  13. [13]
    "D.C. United's late rally nets two goals earning 2–2 draw against Toronto FC". Fox Sports. July 13, 2020. Retrieved July 13, 2020.
  14. [14]
    "Ayo Akinola hat trick lifts TFC past the Montreal Impact". Toronto Star. July 16, 2020.
  15. [15]
    Tierney, Mitchell; Bailey, Martyn (November 13, 2020). "By The Numbers: Where have the goals gone for Toronto FC?". Waking the Red. Archived from the original on August 30, 2022. Retrieved December 3, 2020.
  16. [16]
    "Ayo Akinola suffers ACL injury". July 20, 2021.
  17. [17]
    "Toronto FC sign Ayo Akinola to new deal". Toronto FC. January 20, 2022.
  18. [18]
    "Toronto FC loan forward Ayo Akinola to San Jose Earthquakes". Toronto FC. July 25, 2023.
  19. [19]
    Kingsley, Igho (September 19, 2017). "Toronto FC wonderkid Akinola set to follow in the footsteps of Man Utd's Olosunde". All Nigeria Soccer. Retrieved October 6, 2017.
  20. [20]
    "Toronto FC II's Akinola Ascending with U.S. U17s". USL Soccer. December 10, 2016. Retrieved December 15, 2016.
  21. [21]
    "TFC's Ayo Akinola has tough choice on international future". Toronto Star. Retrieved February 28, 2019.
  22. [22]
    "Ayo Akinola". ussoccer.com. Archived from the original on July 8, 2016. Retrieved June 30, 2016.
  23. [23]
    "TFC's Akinola scores as US U-17s edge Ghana in key U-17 World Cup clash". October 9, 2017.
  24. [24]
    Reid, Brady (November 30, 2020). "Ayo Akinola named to American squad for upcoming friendly vs El Salvador". Waking the Red. Archived from the original on August 30, 2022. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
  25. [25]
    "Mueller, Akinola lead US rout of El Salvador in exhibition". TSN. December 9, 2020.
  26. [26]
    Singh, Michael (December 9, 2020). "Ayo Akinola takes a knee after scoring 1st goal in 1st appearance for U.S. national team". Waking the Red. Archived from the original on August 30, 2022. Retrieved December 10, 2020.
  27. [27]
    Davidson, Neil (December 23, 2020). "TFC's Ayo Akinola accepts invite to Canadian national team camp". CBC.
  28. [28]
    "Toronto FC's Ayo Akinola unable to attend Canada camp due to injury". Sportsnet. January 14, 2021.
  29. [29]
    Singh, Michael (May 31, 2021). "Ayo Akinola among 6 Toronto FC players named to 'extended' Canada squad". Waking the Red. Archived from the original on August 30, 2022. Retrieved May 31, 2021.
  30. [30]
    "Canada names 60 man preliminary roster for Gold Cup". June 18, 2021.
  31. [31]
    "Ayo Akinola Joins Canada's Men's National Team Program". Canadian Soccer Association. June 30, 2021.
  32. [32]
    "CANADA SOCCER ANNOUNCES 2021 CONCACAF GOLD CUP ROSTER". July 1, 2021.
  33. [33]
    Singh, Michael (July 15, 2021). "Akinola makes first appearance as Canada defeats Haiti to move on to Gold Cup quarter-finals". Waking the Red. Archived from the original on August 30, 2022. Retrieved July 16, 2021.
  34. [34]
    "At last, Toronto FC capture 2020 Canadian Championship over Forge FC". Major League Soccer. June 4, 2022. Retrieved June 4, 2022.
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