A quick dive into Awoniyi’s success story!
Taiwo Awoniyi was born on the 12th of August 1997 in Ilorin Nigeria. He grew up in Ilorin where he had his primary education, for secondary school he attended GDSS Airport in Ilorin from where he graduated in 2010. Although his parents wanted him to become a medical doctor, Taiwo developed a keen interest in football early on and decided to become a professional player.
He was discovered at an early age by the Imperial Soccer Academy which former Super Eagles player Seyi Olofinjana in partnership with Atiba Bankole. The academy was situated in Lagos and because Taiwo was young and his parents were keen on him furthering his education it took some convincing for his parents to agree to the move. That move would eventually be the beginning of Taiwo’s football career.
At the academy, he had all he needed to concentrate on his football career as the owners of the academy made sure that everything was provided for the kids–the good part was they didn’t have to pay any dime. They also ensured that the kids paid attention to their education as much as they did with their football. It was at the academy that Taiwo decided to build on his muscle mass and work on himself because even though he was pretty tall for his age he had a tiny frame.
Taiwo’s hard work eventually paid off as he was invited to represent Nigeria at the FIFA U-17 world cup in 2013. Some of his teammates in that world cup were Kelechi Ihenacho and Wilfred Ndidi who both play for Leicester City in England. Taiwo went on to score 4 goals in that tournament that helped Nigeria clinch the title and emerge winners.
Taiwo’s performance at the tournament caught the eyes of big clubs across Europe and they began to scout him. The Academy initially didn’t want him to go to a big European club because the pressure might be too much and affect his career growth but Liverpool was able to convince them about their plans for him and Taiwo eventually signed for them in 2015. He was immediately loaned out to FSV Frankfurt in the German Bundesliga to continue his growth and get playing time. He didn’t have a convincing season at the club and he returned to Liverpool at the end of the season.
In 2016, Taiwo was loaned out to Dutch club NEC and he had another unconvincing loan spell at the club. Taiwo further had 3 more not-so-convincing loan spells between 2017-2019 twice with Belgian club Mouscron and once with Gent. He was loaned back to the Bundesliga in the 2019-2020 season but this time to Mainz 05 and he had a fair spell. In the 2020-2021 season, Taiwo was loaned again to the Bundesliga but to Union Berlin and he had his first decent season in a long time. Union Berlin was impressed with his performance and decided to sign him permanently the following season from Liverpool. The fee was in the region of 6 million. Taiwo had a fantastic season with Union Berlin, he also broke one of Union’s long-standing records in the league, and he became the first Union player to score 13 league goals in a season.
Newly promoted English club Nottingham Forest was obviously keeping tabs on Taiwo throughout the season and they decided to break their transfer record fee to sign the big Nigerian forward. He will play in the biggest league in the world starting from the 2022-2023 season.
In 2018, he got married to his heartthrob, Taiwo Jesudun. They have a child together.
#Spotlight takes you through success stories of various Africans in all spheres of life achieving amazing feats and breaking boundaries either in Africa or abroad. In this edition, we are looking at Taiwo Awoniyi’s Road to stardom.
