Ayo Akinola

Ayomide Bamidele Akinola (born January 20, 2000) is a professional soccer player who plays as a forward for Major League Soccer club Toronto FC. Born in the United States and raised in Canada, he represents the Canada national team.

Club Career

Toronto FC II

Akinola was called up to the Toronto FC II set-up for the 2016 USL season. On June 15, 2016, he made his debut as an 80th-minute substitute for Shaan Hundal in a 1–1 draw with FC Montreal. Akinola made his first start a week later in a 4–1 defeat to Louisville City. On July 11, he scored a brace in a 4–2 win against the Harrisburg City Islanders and was named to the USL Team of the Week. He finished the season with two goals from 10 appearances.

Akinola tried out for Eredivisie club PSV Eindhoven in November 2017.

Toronto FC

On December 18, 2017, Akinola signed as a homegrown player with Major League Soccer side Toronto FC. He became the 15th player to graduate from the TFC Academy and sign for the first team, and the 34th academy graduate to sign a professional contract for one of the Toronto FC teams. On March 17, 2019, Akinola scored his first ever MLS goal in Toronto FC's home opener against the New England Revolution.

Akinola scored his second and third MLS goals for Toronto on July 13, 2020 in the MLS is Back Tournament in a 2–2 draw against D.C. United. He scored a hat-trick in his team's second game of the tournament against the Montreal Impact. He finished the 2020 season as the co-leading scorer for Toronto with Alejandro Pozuelo, both of whom scored 9 goals, although Pozuelo played nearly twice as many minutes.

In July 2021, Akinola suffered an ACL injury while on international duty with Canada, resulting in him missing the remainder of the 2021 season.

This page also has a version in other languages :  Айо Акинола (russian)