Michael Babatunde
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 05/2016
Personal information
Date of birth
24 December 1992
Place of birth
Lagos, Nigeria
Height
1.79 m (5 ft 10 1⁄2 in)
Playing position
Left Winger
Club information
Current team
Qatar
Number
--
Qatar SC 2016 -
Youth career
Water FC
Senior career*
Heartland
2010
FC Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih
2011-2013
44x apps / 2x goals
FC Volyn Lutsk
2013-2015
36x apps / 4x goals
FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk
2015
2x apps / 0x goal
Raja Casablanca
2016
9x apps / 2x goals
Qatar
2016-
National team‡
Nigeria
2013-
9x apps / 0x goal
(* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 14 December 2015. - ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 14 August 2015)
Michael Babatunde (born 24 December 1992) is a Nigerian football midfielder, who plays for Qatar sc in the in Qatar second division.
Nigerian native Michael Babatunde has established records for goals scored and great performances en route to worldwide recognition as Midfielder, Forward.
Biography
Born on December 24, 1992, in Lagos, Nigeria, soccer player Michael Babatunde moved to Ukraine at the age of 19, signed by FC Kryvbas of Ukraine from Heartland FC of Nigeria.
Michael Babatunde became a star in Ukraine after Scoring his first goal against FC Chornomorets Odesa, scoring 2 goals at will with the team which lead his club to stay at the Ukrainian Premier League from 2010 to 2013 before the club went bankrupt.
In 2012-2013 he set a record for most goals 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 FC Volyn, he was invited a couple of times to the Nigeria National Team, and later played in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
Early years
Michael Babatunde was born on December 24, 1992, in Lagos, Nigeria.
As a young boy, he tagged along when he turns 5 years, played soccer with friends, un-intimidated by the bigger boys.
At the age of 8, he was recruited to join the youth academy club in Lagos.
Recognizably smaller than most of the kids in his age group, Michael eventually got recognized by a bigger academy FC Watermark Academy where he was groomed as a professional, later linked with FC Heartland, played several games for U-17, U-20 and Super Eagle the National Team of Nigeria.
Michael has played a total of 4649 minutes, 81 Appearances, 44 Lineups, 37 Substitutes, 21 Substitute out, 47 Substitute on bench, 6 Goals, 13 Yellow Cards, 0 Red Cards.
He has been in Ukraine from 2010 to 2015.
He currently plays for Raja Casablanca of Morocco.
The 52-year-old, who became the first Nigerian to lead the side into the second round at a World Cup, is attracting the interest of other countries.
He becomes the sixth manager to leave his job during the World Cup, following the departures of Honduras's Luis Suarez, Iran's Carlos Queiroz, Japan's Alberto Zaccheroni, Italy's Cesare Prandelli and Ivory Coast's Sabri Lamouchi.
Keshi, who captained Nigeria at the 1994 World Cup finals, was previously in charge of Mali and Togo.
LAST SIXTEEN
30th June 2014
France vs Nigeria 2:0
Teams who have reached the round of the last sixteen
Nigeria vs Argentina 2:3
Nigeria vs Bosnia and Herzegovina 1:0
Iran vs Nigeria 0:0
The former Dutch football-star, Ruud Gullit, hopes a team from Africa will perform well and prove to be the surprise package at the World Cup in Brazil.
The United States completed their World Cup preparations with victory over Nigeria.
Keshi feels these games have given him and his players an insight into what lies ahead. "All I need is the mentality and discipline to dominate the game and take chances," he added. "In friendlies you can correct your mistakes but in a tournament it can cost us dearly.
