Ben Folami
Personal information | ||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Full name | Gbenga Tai Folami[1] | |||||||||||||||
Date of birth | 8 June 1999 | |||||||||||||||
Place of birth | Sydney, Australia | |||||||||||||||
Height | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) | |||||||||||||||
Position(s) | Winger | |||||||||||||||
Club information | ||||||||||||||||
Current team | Melbourne Victory | |||||||||||||||
Number | 11 | |||||||||||||||
Youth career | ||||||||||||||||
2012–2014 | Football NSW Institute | |||||||||||||||
2014–2015 | Sutherland Sharks | |||||||||||||||
2015–2017 | Ipswich Town | |||||||||||||||
Senior career* | ||||||||||||||||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | |||||||||||||
2017–2021 | Ipswich Town | 4 | (0) | |||||||||||||
2020 | → Stevenage (loan) | 2 | (0) | |||||||||||||
2020–2021 | → Melbourne Victory (loan) | 17 | (3) | |||||||||||||
2021– | Melbourne Victory | 3 | (1) | |||||||||||||
National team‡ | ||||||||||||||||
2018–2019 | Australia U19 | 4 | (1) | |||||||||||||
2019– | Australia U23 | 5 | (1) | |||||||||||||
Honours
| ||||||||||||||||
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 21:00, 5 December 2021 ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 20:01, 26 January 2020 |
Gbenga Tai "Ben" Folami (born 8 June 1999) is an Australian professional footballer who plays as a winger for Melbourne Victory.[2]
Club career[]
Ipswich Town[]
Born in Sydney, Folami joined Ipswich Town's academy in 2015, having previously played for the Football NSW Institute and the Sutherland Sharks at youth level.[3] After working his way through the youth system at Portman Road, he went on to make his full senior debut in a 2–1 defeat against Crystal Palace in the EFL Cup second round on 22 August 2017.[4] He made his league debut for the club on 2 April 2018 in a 2–2 draw against Millwall.[5] In May 2018, Folami signed a new three-year contract at Ipswich until 2021.[6] On 14 January 2019, Folami tore his achilles tendon during an under-23 match against Cardiff City, ruling him out for the remainder of the season.[7]
Following his recovery from injury Folami appeared for Ipswich’s under-23 side before returning to first-team action on 12 November 2019, starting in a 0–1 away loss to Colchester United in an EFL Trophy group stage match.[8]
Stevenage (loan)[]
On 31 January 2020, Folami signed for Stevenage on loan until the end of the 2019–20 season.[9] He made his debut on 8 February, coming on as a second-half substitute in a 2–1 loss to Exeter City.[10] He made two substitute appearances for Stevenage before the 2019–20 season was suspended due to the Coronavirus outbreak.[11]
Return to Ipswich Town[]
He scored his first goal for Ipswich in an EFL Trophy tie against Gillingham on 6 October 2020.[12]
In April 2021, Ipswich announced that Folami would be released at the end of the 2020–21 season following the end of his contract.[13]
Melbourne Victory[]
On 28 October 2020, Folami joined Australian A-League side Melbourne Victory on loan until the end of the season.[14] He scored his first goal for Melbourne Victory in a 2–2 draw with Thai side Chiangrai United in the AFC Champions League on 30 November.[15] In July 2021, after being released by Ipswich Town, Folami signed a permanent two-year contract with Melbourne Victory.[16]
International career[]
Folami is of Nigerian descent.[17] In October 2018, he was called up to the Australia U19 squad to compete in the 2018 AFC U-19 Championship held in Indonesia.[18] He made 4 appearances during the tournament, scoring one goal, as the Young Socceroos exited the U-19 championships at the quarter-final stage. Folami impressed with his performances during the tournament, with Fox Sports describing him as "an absolute revelation" and stating that he had been "Australia's best player".[19]
Folami made his debut for the Australia U23 team in a 2–1 loss to Iran on 14 October 2019.[20] He scored his first goal for the under-23s while winning his second cap, appearing as a second-half substitute and scoring in a 5–1 victory over China on 15 November 2019.[21]
Career statistics[]
- As of match played 6 June 2021
Club | Season | Division | League | FA Cup | EFL Cup | Other | Total | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | |||
Ipswich Town | 2017–18[22] | Championship | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 5 | 0 | |
2018–19[23] | Championship | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | ||
2019–20[11] | League One | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1[a] | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
2020–21[24] | League One | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1[a] | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
Total | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 1 | ||
Stevenage (loan) | 2019–20[11] | League Two | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
Melbourne Victory (loan) | 2019–20[11] | A-League | 0 | 0 | — | — | 5[b] | 1 | 5 | 1 | ||
2020–21[24] | 17 | 3 | — | — | — | 17 | 3 | |||||
Total | 17 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 22 | 4 | ||
Career total | 21 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 31 | 5 |
- ^ a b Appearance in EFL Trophy
- ^ Appearances in AFC Champions League
Honours[]
Club[]
- Melbourne Victory
References[]
- ^ "EFL Released and Retained List 2016-17" (PDF). English Football League. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
- ^ "Ben Folami". Ipswich Town F.C. Retrieved 8 August 2017.
- ^ "Meet the Aussie striker cracking into the Championship". East Anglian Daily Times. 11 May 2018. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
- ^ "Crystal Palace v Ipswich Town". BBC Sport. 22 August 2017. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
- ^ Watson, Stuart (2 April 2018). "'I'm not enjoying it' – McCarthy hints he may not see out his contract". East Anglian Daily Times. Retrieved 2 April 2018.
- ^ "Three Year Deal for Ben". TWTD. 8 May 2018. Retrieved 25 November 2020.
- ^ "Chambers to Wear Strapping at Blackburn as Folami Ruled Out for Season". TWTD. 17 January 2019. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
- ^ "EFL Trophy Match Report - Colchester United 1-0 Ipswich Town". Soccerway. 12 November 2019. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
- ^ "Ben Folami joins Boro".
- ^ "Exeter City 2-1 Stevenage". BBC Sport. 8 February 2020. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
- ^ a b c d "Games played by Ben Folami in 2019/2020". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 8 June 2019.
- ^ "Ipswich Town 2 Gillingham 0: Goals from Armando Dobra and Ben Folami settle EFL Trophy match". kentonline.co.uk. 6 October 2020. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
- ^ "No New Deal for Folami and 'Keepers". Ipswich Town F.C. 8 April 2021. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
- ^ "Folami Makes Loan Move". Ipswich Town F.C. 28 October 2020. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
- ^ "Folami Nets First Goal For Melbourne Victory". TWTD. 30 November 2020. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
- ^ "Melbourne Victory signs Ben Folami". Melbourne Victory. 12 July 2021.
- ^ "Nigerian-Australian Striker Ben Folami Making Inroads At The Blues:: All Nigeria Soccer - The Complete Nigerian Football Portal". www.allnigeriasoccer.com. Retrieved 7 July 2018.
- ^ "Update to Young Socceroos squad for AFC U19 Championship". Football Federation Australia. 19 October 2018. Retrieved 22 October 2018.
- ^ "Folami Wins Cap But Australia Exit AFC U19 Championship". TWTD. 29 October 2018. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
- ^ "Folami in Action for Australian U23s". TWTD. 15 October 2019. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
- ^ "Folami Nets as Australia's U23s Hammer China". TWTD. 15 November 2019. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
- ^ "Games played by Ben Folami in 2017/2018". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 8 June 2019.
- ^ "Games played by Ben Folami in 2018/2019". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 8 June 2019.
- ^ a b "Games played by Ben Folami in 2020/2021". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 8 June 2019.
External links[]
- Ben Folami at Soccerbase
- 1999 births
- Living people
- Soccer players from Sydney
- Australia youth international soccer players
- Australia under-20 international soccer players
- Association football forwards
- Ipswich Town F.C. players
- Stevenage F.C. players
- Melbourne Victory FC players
- Australian people of Nigerian descent
- Australian expatriate soccer players
- Australian expatriate sportspeople in England
- Expatriate footballers in England
- English Football League players
- Australian soccer players