Ben Folami

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Ben Folami
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Folami in 2023
Personal information
Full name Gbenga Tai Folami[1]
Date of birth (1999-06-08) 8 June 1999 (age 26)
Place of birth Sydney, Australia
Height 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)[2]
Position Winger
Team information
Current team
 Adelaide United
Number 17
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)
2021–2024 Melbourne Victory 82 (6)
2024– Adelaide United 12 (0)
International career‡
2018–2019 Australia U19 4 (1)
2019– Australia U23 5 (1)
2022 Australia 1 (0)
Medal record
Men's football
Representing File:Flag of Australia (converted).svg Australia
AFC U-23 Asian Cup
Third place 2020 Thailand U-23 Team
* Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 11 January 2025
‡ National team caps and goals as of 25 March 2022 (UTC)

Gbenga Tai "Ben" Folami (Yoruba: [ɡbɛ̀ŋɡa táj fòlámì];[3] born 8 June 1999) is an Australian professional soccer player who plays as a winger for Adelaide United and the Australia national team.[4]

Club career

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Ipswich Town

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File:BenFolamiBntIps1.jpg
Folami playing for Ipswich Town in 2018

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.[5] 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.[6] He made his league debut for the club on 2 April 2018 in a 2–2 draw against Millwall.[7] In May 2018, Folami signed a new three-year contract at Ipswich until 2021.[8] 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.[9]

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.[10]

Stevenage (loan)

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On 31 January 2020, Folami signed for Stevenage on loan until the end of the 2019–20 season.[11] He made his debut on 8 February, coming on as a second-half substitute in a 2–1 loss to Exeter City.[12] He made two substitute appearances for Stevenage before the 2019–20 season was suspended due to the Coronavirus outbreak.[13]

Return to Ipswich Town

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He scored his first goal for Ipswich in an EFL Trophy tie against Gillingham on 6 October 2020.[14]

In April 2021, Ipswich announced that Folami would be released at the end of the 2020–21 season following the end of his contract.[15]

Melbourne Victory

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On 28 October 2020, Folami joined Australian A-League side Melbourne Victory on loan until the end of the season.[16] 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.[17] In July 2021, after being released by Ipswich Town, Folami signed a permanent two-year contract with Melbourne Victory.[18]

International career

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Folami is of Nigerian descent.[19] In October 2018, he was called up to the Australia U19 squad to compete in the 2018 AFC U-19 Championship held in Indonesia.[20] 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".[21]

Folami made his debut for the Australia U23 team in a 2–1 loss to Iran on 14 October 2019.[22] 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.[23]

He debuted with the senior Australia national team in a 2–0 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification loss to Japan on 24 March 2022.[24]

Career statistics

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As of match played 11 November 2022
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season Division League National Cup League Cup Other Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Ipswich Town 2017–18[25] Championship 4 0 0 0 1 0 — 5 0
2018–19[26] Championship 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 0
2019–20[13] League One 0 0 0 0 0 0 1[a] 0 1 0
2020–21[27] 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[13] League Two 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0
Melbourne Victory (loan) 2019–20[13] A-League 0 0 0 0 — 5[b] 1 5 1
2020–21[27] A-League 17 3 — — — 17 3
Melbourne Victory 2021–22[27] A-League 24 3 1 0 — 3[c] 1 28 4
2022–23[27] A-League 26 1 0 0 — — 6 0
Total 47 6 1 0 0 0 8 2 56 8
Career total 53 6 1 0 1 0 10 3 65 9
  1. ^ a b Appearance in EFL Trophy
  2. ^ Appearances in AFC Champions League
  3. ^ One appearance and one goal in AFC Champions League, Two appearances in A-League Finals series

International

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As of match played 24 March 2022[28]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team Year Apps Goals
Australia 2022 1 0
Total 1 0

Honours

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Club

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Melbourne Victory

International

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Australia U23

References

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  27. ^ a b c d Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
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