Gbolahan Salami

Gbolahan Salami Biography / Profile

Fuad Gbolahan Salami was born on April 15th, 1991 in Lagos, Nigeria. He is a professional footballer who plays as striker for FC Irtysh Pavlodar of Kazakhstan and the Nigerian national team.

Gbolahan Salami Age

Gbolahan Salami is 33 years old.

Gbolahan Salami Early Life

Salami grew up in Lagos before moving to the youth team of Akure based club, Sunshine Stars.

Gbolahan Salami Career

After breaking into the first team of Sunshine Stars, Salami moved to Ibadan-based Shooting Stars F.C. in 2010. In 2010, he was suspended by the league for using threatening language after scoring in a league game against his old team. He joined Warri Wolves ahead of the 2014 season, and with ten games left was second in scoring with 13 league goals. In the 2014/2015 season, he finished as Nigerian Premier Football League runners-up with Wolves. In January 2015, Salami transferred to Serbian side Red Star Belgrade by signing a loan deal for remainder of the season, with an option for permanent deal. He returned to Warri less than two months later when Red Star was having financial problems. In 2016, he moved to Finnish football club Kuopion Palloseura (KuPS) where he spent two years and won silver medal of Championship with the club. In his first season with KuPS, he distinguished himself with his goalscoring prowess by setting a new club goalscoring record of the highest number of goals scored in a single season, supassing the record held by Ilja Venalainen (2012) and Peter Sampoalso (2001) with 12 goals each. He ended the season with 14 goals. In January 2018, he signed for Kazakhstan Premier League club FC Irtysh Pavlodar.

Salami was part of the Nigeria national under-20 football team at the 2009 African Youth Championship. Then, he was part of the Nigeria national under-23 football team during their failed attempt to qualify for the 2012 London Olympics. In January 2014, coach Stephen Keshi, invited him to be a part of the Nigeria national football team squad for the 2014 African Nations Championship. He scored the only goal for the Home-based Eagles in their opening 2-1 loss to Mali. He was called into the squad for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualification and scored a late goal as a substitute against Congo, but Nigeria lost 3-2 at home. His form earned him a start in the next game away to South Africa. He has scored three goals for the national team.

Gbolahan Salami Personal Life

In December 2014, Gbolahon Salami tied the knot with Ololade Opeloyeru in Lagos. The striker threatened to quit football in 2017 after his spouse and one-year-old son were denied a visa by the Finnish Embassy in Abuja. The Finnish authorities argued that they could not ascertain that his wife had the intention to leave the territory of the Member States before the expiry of the visa.

Gbolahan Salami Awards

In the 2014/2015, Salamai won the award for the Nigerian Premier League Top Scorer with 17 goals. He also won the 2016/2017 top scorer award in the Veikkausliiga with 14 goals.