Fuad Dapo Sule (born 20 January 1997) is an Irish-Nigerian professional footballer who plays as a holding midfielder for Glentoran.

Fuad Sule
Personal information
Full name Fuad Dapo Sule[1]
Date of birth (1997-01-20) 20 January 1997 (age 27)[2]
Place of birth Ibadan, Nigeria
Height 1.64 m (5 ft 5 in)[3]
Position(s) Holding midfielder
Team information
Current team
Glentoran
Number 15
Youth career
2002–2013 Crumlin United
2013–2014 Shamrock Rovers
2014–2016 St Patrick's Athletic
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2016 St Patrick's Athletic 1 (0)
2017 Bohemians 24 (0)
2018–2019 Barnet 1 (0)
2018–2019Larne (loan) 19 (0)
2019–2023 Larne 130 (3)
2023– Glentoran 52 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 14:43, 18 November 2024 (UTC)

Early life

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Born in Ibadan, Nigeria, Sule moved to the Citywest area of Dublin aged three. He was in the academy at Crumlin United before joining Shamrock Rovers aged 16.[4]

Career

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Sule joined St Patrick's Athletic in July 2014. He made his debut for the first team on the final day of the 2016 season against Derry City. This was his only appearance for the Saints before joining Bohemians in December 2016.[2] Sule won the League of Ireland Premier Division player of the month for July 2017. Sule won the Player of the Year award for Bohemians[5] and the League of Ireland Young Player of the Year award for 2017.[6] His transfer to Barnet went through on 1 January 2018 for an undisclosed fee.[7][8] Sule made his debut as a substitute against Crawley Town on 13 January 2018,[9] but made no further appearances for the Bees for the rest of the season and joined NIFL Championship side Larne on loan on 3 September 2018.[10] Sule joined Larne permanently on a two-and-a-half-year deal on 31 January 2019. He received the club's most man of the match awards in the 2018–19 season and established himself as a firm fans favourite with his all action style.[11] Sule left Larne at the end of the 2022–23 season after turning down a new contract. He made 185 appearances in all competitions before departing.[12]

On 8 July 2023, it was announced that Sule had signed for Larne’s Irish League rival, Glentoran.

Style of play

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Sule played as a striker and attacking midfielder as a schoolboy, before switching to a defensive midfield role at St Patrick's Athletic. His style of play been compared to N'Golo Kanté.[4]

Personal life

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Sule's brother Ajibola (born 1992) is also a footballer, having played for Shelbourne and Cabinteely, as well as his cousin Ismahil Akinade who has played in the League of Ireland, as well as Vietnam, Egypt, Bangladesh and Malaysia.[4]

Career statistics

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As of 21 April 2023[13]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National cup League cup Europe Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
St Patrick's Athletic 2016 League of Ireland Premier Division 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Bohemians 2017 League of Ireland Premier Division 24 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 27 0
Barnet 2017–18 EFL League Two 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
2018–19 National League 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Larne (loan) 2018–19[14] NIFL Championship 19 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 22 0
Larne 2018–19[14] NIFL Championship 7 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 9 1
2019–20[14] NIFL Premiership 29 1 2 0 1 0 0 0 32 1
2020–21[14] NIFL Premiership 30 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 32 0
2021–22[14] NIFL Premiership 29 0 3 0 0 0 5 0 0 0 37 0
2022–23[14] NIFL Premiership 35 1 4 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 41 1
Total 130 3 13 0 2 0 6 0 0 0 151 2
Glentoran 2023–24 NIFL Premiership 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Career total 175 3 14 0 4 0 6 0 3 0 202 3

Honours

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Larne

Individual

References

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  1. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 June 2018. Retrieved 18 June 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. ^ a b "Extratime.com – Extratime.ie – Fuad Sule". www.extratime.com. Archived from the original on 16 October 2021. Retrieved 16 October 2021.
  3. ^ "Fuad Sule". 11v11.com. AFS Enterprises. Archived from the original on 18 July 2018. Retrieved 16 July 2018.
  4. ^ a b c Bailey, Ryan (25 May 2017). "'We owe our mum everything and I'm trying to make a career out of football to pay her back'". The42. Archived from the original on 23 July 2021. Retrieved 16 October 2021.
  5. ^ @bfcdublin (27 October 2017). "#Bohs Senior Player of the Year Fuad Sule" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  6. ^ @league_ireland (22 October 2018). "Sean follows in the footsteps of our previous winners Tobi Adebayo-Rowling (2016) and Fuad Sule (2017)" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  7. ^ "Transfer | Barnet FC sign midfielder Fuad Sule". Archived from the original on 31 December 2017. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  8. ^ @bfcdublin (30 December 2017). "We can confirm that Fuad Sule has joined Barnet for an undisclosed fee. We wish @Fudzer the best of luck with his…" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  9. ^ "Crawley Town 2–0 Barnet". BBC Sport. Archived from the original on 19 December 2018. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
  10. ^ "Loan | Fuad Sule joins Larne FC". Archived from the original on 4 September 2018. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
  11. ^ "Fuad Sule completes permanent Inver switch". Larne FC. 31 January 2019. Archived from the original on 23 April 2019. Retrieved 16 October 2021.
  12. ^ "Fuad Sule and Graham Kelly set to depart". Larne FC. 19 May 2023. Retrieved 21 June 2023.
  13. ^ "Republic of Ireland – F.Sule". Soccerway. Archived from the original on 12 February 2018. Retrieved 11 February 2018.
  14. ^ a b c d e f "Squad Details". Archived from the original on 7 September 2018. Retrieved 7 September 2018.
  15. ^ "County Antrim Shield final: Larne defeat Glens in Seaview shootout". BBC Sport. BBC. 2 December 2020. Archived from the original on 4 December 2020. Retrieved 19 December 2020.
  16. ^ "Co Antrim Shield: Impressive Larne see off Linfield in gripping final to retain trophy". BBC Sport. BBC. 11 January 2022. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
  17. ^ "County Antrim Shield final: Larne complete hat-trick with shootout win after lengthy injury delay". BBC Sport. BBC. 17 January 2023. Retrieved 19 January 2023.
  18. ^ "Larne secure historic first Irish League title". BBC Sport. BBC. 14 April 2023.
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