Tesho Akindele
Akindele with Canada in 2015
Personal information
Full name Tesho Akindele[1]
Date of birth (1992-03-31) March 31, 1992[2]
Place of birth Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Height 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)[3]
Position(s) Forward, winger
College career
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2010–2013 Colorado Mines Orediggers 83 (76)
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2013 Real Colorado Foxes 1 (0)
2014–2018 FC Dallas 133 (24)
2019–2022 Orlando City 104 (19)
2022 → Orlando City B (loan) 1 (1)
Total 139 (44)
International career‡
2009 Canada U17 1 (0)
2015–2021 Canada 19 (3)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of November 14, 2022
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of December 12, 2022

Tesho Akindele (born March 31, 1992) is a Canadian former professional soccer player who plays as a forward.

Club career

Early career

Tesho Akindele was born in Canada to a Nigerian father and a Canadian mother and moved with his family to the US at the age of eight.[4] He grew up in Thornton, Colorado, and was a standout for Northglenn High School, turning down an offer to join the Colorado Rapids academy at the age of 17 to focus on academics.[5]

Akindele played four years of college soccer at the Colorado School of Mines, where he became the school's all-time goals leader with 76 goals scored and was a four-time All-American. He ranked second in the nation in goals scored in 2012 with 22 and was named a First Team NSCAA All-American and the 2012 RMAC Offensive Player of the Year for his efforts. Also an NSCAA First Team All-American and the RMAC Freshman of the Year in 2010, Akindele was the first player in the history of his school's conference to score three consecutive hat tricks.[6]

Akindele also made a single appearance for USL PDL club Real Colorado Foxes in 2013.[7]

FC Dallas

On January 16, 2014, Akindele was drafted in the first round (sixth overall) of the 2014 MLS SuperDraft by FC Dallas,[8] becoming the highest-highest-drafted NCAA Division II player in MLS history. Akindele made his professional debut in a 2–3 loss against Seattle Sounders FC on April 12, 2014.[9] After scoring seven goals in 26 appearances, Akindele was named MLS Rookie of the Year.[10]

Orlando City

On December 9, 2018, Dallas traded Akindele to Orlando City in exchange for $100,000 of Targeted Allocation Money in 2019 and $50,000 of General Allocation Money in 2020.[11] He scored on his debut, a 2–2 draw in Orlando's season opener against New York City FC. Akindele had his option for the 2020 season exercised by Orlando, keeping him with the club for 2020.[12] On May 1, 2021, Akindele broke the record for the fastest goal scored in Orlando City history when he intercepted a backpass from Nick Hagglund to score the opener of a 3–0 win over FC Cincinnati in 31 seconds, breaking the previous record of 63 seconds set by Chris Mueller in 2018.[13] Upon completion of the 2021 season, Akindele's option for the 2022 season was picked up by Orlando.[14] The club declined Akindele's contract option as part of the end of season roster moves on November 14, 2022. At the time of his departure he ranked second all-time in appearances for the club in all competitions with 121 behind only Chris Mueller and sixth for goals with 21.[15]

In December 2022, Akindele announced his retirement from professional soccer.[16]

International career

Akindele attended a youth training camp of the Canadian youth national team in 2009[17] and played for Canada's U-17 national team in a friendly against Costa Rica on April 2, 2009.[18] On November 5, 2014, it was reported that Akindele had turned down a call-up from Canada with a view to represent the United States instead,[19] and on January 9, 2015, he was called up to the United States senior team camp ahead of friendly matches versus Chile and Panama.[20] He did not play in either friendly due to not having an American passport at the time of the friendlies.

However, on April 14, 2015, Canada coach Benito Floro told media that Akindele was "99.9 percent" going to represent Canada instead of the United States,[21][22] and on June 2, Akindele accepted a call-up to the Canada national team for two 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying matches against Dominica.[23] He made his debut for Canada against Dominica on June 11.[24] He scored his first goal for Canada on June 16 in the return leg against Dominica at BMO Field in a 4–0 victory. Akindele scored his second Canada goal in a 1–1 friendly draw in June 2016 with Azerbaijan.[25]

Having been left out of the original 23-man squad for the 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup, Akindele was called-up by Canada at the quarter-final stage on July 23 as an injury replacement for Ayo Akinola.[26] He appeared as a 70th-minute substitute against Costa Rica as Canada progressed to the semi-finals with a 2–0 win.[27]

Career statistics

Club

As of October 16, 2022[28]
Club League Season League Playoffs Domestic Cup Continental Other Total
AppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Real Colorado Foxes USL PDL 2013 100000——10
FC Dallas MLS 2014 2673141——339
2015 2854100——326
2016 316214040—417
2017 294—3040—364
2018 182101110—213
Total 13224103122900016329
Orlando City MLS 2019 2810—41——3211
2020 17320——4[lower-alpha 1]1234
2021 32310—10—343
2022 2731040——323
Total 104194081104112121
Orlando City B (loan) MLS Next Pro 2022 11————11
Career statistics 238441432031004128651
  1. ↑ Knockout Round of the MLS is Back Tournament.

International

As of July 29, 2021[17]
Canada national team
201571
201661
201700
201810
201900
202031
202120
Total193

International goals

As of match played January 7, 2020. Canada score listed first, score column indicates score after each Akindele goal.[28]
International goals by date, venue, cap, opponent, score, result and competition
No. Date Venue Cap Opponent Score Result Competition
1 June 16, 2015BMO Field, Toronto, Canada2 Dominica1–04–02018 FIFA World Cup qualification
2 June 3, 2016Stadion Rohrbach, Rohrbach an der Lafnitz, Austria11 Azerbaijan1–01–1Friendly
3 January 7, 2020Championship Soccer Stadium, Irvine, United States15 Barbados2–04–1

Honours

Club

FC Dallas

Orlando City

Individual

References

  1. ↑ "40-Player National Team Roster: 2019 Concacaf Gold Cup: Canada" (PDF). CONCACAF. p. 2. Retrieved May 20, 2019 – via Bernews.
  2. ↑ "FIFA Tournaments - Players & Coaches - Tesho AKINDELE". FIFA.com. Archived from the original on September 26, 2015.
  3. ↑ "Tesho Akindele". Orlando City SC. Retrieved August 22, 2022.
  4. ↑ Marc Weber (July 26, 2014). "Tesho Akindele's come from obscurity to No. 1 option for FC Dallas". The Province. Archived from the original on July 28, 2014.
  5. ↑ "Tesho Akindele of Colorado Mines takes unusual route to MLS". denverpost.com. January 27, 2014. Retrieved April 20, 2015.
  6. ↑ "Tesho Akindele - Colorado School of Mines". csmorediggers.com. Archived from the original on April 27, 2015. Retrieved April 20, 2015.
  7. ↑ "United Soccer Leagues (USL)". Archived from the original on April 14, 2014. Retrieved April 13, 2014.
  8. ↑ "Tesho Akindele lands with FC Dallas after whirlwind 2014 MLS SuperDraft first round". FC Dallas. Archived from the original on November 11, 2014. Retrieved April 20, 2015.
  9. ↑ "FC Dallas vs. Seattle Sounders FC - MLS MatchCenter". MLSsoccer.com MatchCenter. Retrieved April 20, 2015.
  10. 1 2 Wire, SI. "FC Dallas forward Tesho Akindele named MLS Rookie of the Year". SI.com. Retrieved March 27, 2017.
  11. ↑ Culver, Jordan (December 9, 2018). "Orlando City acquires forward Tesho Akindele from FC Dallas". prosoccerusa.com. Pro Soccer USA. Archived from the original on December 10, 2018. Retrieved December 9, 2018.
  12. ↑ "Orlando City SC Announces 2019 End-of-Season Roster Decisions". orlandocitysc.com. Orlando City SC. November 21, 2019. Retrieved May 24, 2020.
  13. ↑ "Tesho Akindele Scores Fastest Goal in Club History in 3-0 Win Over FC Cincinnati". Orlando City SC.
  14. ↑ "Orlando City Exercises Contract Options on 11 Players Following 2021 MLS Season". Orlando City. December 1, 2021.
  15. ↑ "Orlando City SC announces end-of-season statuses following 2022 MLS season". www.orlandocitysc.com.
  16. ↑ Tesho Akindele [@Tesho13] (December 20, 2022). "When I was starting my career, my mom told me, "it's great to be known as a good soccer player, but I'd rather you be known as a good person." I worked every day to live up to that" (Tweet). Retrieved December 20, 2022 – via Twitter.
  17. 1 2 Tesho Akindele at the Canadian Soccer Association. Retrieved September 30, 2020.
  18. ↑ "Canada falls 0:2 to Costa Rica". April 2, 2009. Archived from the original on July 26, 2014. Retrieved September 6, 2014.
  19. ↑ "Tesho Akindele declines Canada call-up, keeps USMNT in picture". November 2, 2014.
  20. ↑ "Klinsmann Calls 28 Players for First Training Camp of 2015". ussoccer.com. U.S. Soccer. January 9, 2015. Archived from the original on January 12, 2015.
  21. ↑ Sandor, Steven (April 14, 2015). "Akindele "99.9 per cent" committed to Canada; Floro unhappy with double standard applied to his call-ups and Klinsmann's call-ups". Archived from the original on April 22, 2015.
  22. ↑ Squizzato, Daniel (April 14, 2015). "Canadian national team manager Benito Floro says FC Dallas' Tesho Akindele close to representing Les Rouges". Archived from the original on June 21, 2015. Retrieved April 15, 2015.
  23. ↑ Rowaan, Dave (June 2, 2015). "Akindele inclusion highlights Canada roster for Dominica games".
  24. ↑ "Dominica 0, Canada 2 - World Cup Qualifying Match Recap". June 11, 2015. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved June 12, 2015.
  25. ↑ "Canada 1 - 1 Azerbaijan Player & Team ratings - 6/3/16 Friendlies - Goal.com". Retrieved June 4, 2016.
  26. ↑ "Tesho Akindele added to Canada's Gold Cup roster". Canada Soccer.
  27. ↑ "Costa Rica v Canada, 2021 Gold Cup". CONCACAF Gold Cup. March 11, 2021.
  28. 1 2 Tesho Akindele at Soccerway
  29. 1 2 "Akindele's Eyes on Cup History for Orlando City". www.ussoccer.com. Retrieved July 12, 2019.
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