Fuad Sule

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)
2018–2019	→ Larne (loan)	19	(0)
2019–2023	Larne	130	(3)
2023-	Glentoran	37	(0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 1 June 2024

Early life

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

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

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

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

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

Larne

• NIFL Championship: 2018–19^{[citation needed]}
• County Antrim Shield: 2020–21,^[15] 2021–22,^[16] 2022–23 ^[17]
• NIFL Premiership: 2022–23^[18]

Individual

• NIFL Championship Team of the Year: 2018–19^{[citation needed]}
• League of Ireland Player of the Month: July 2017

References

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. "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. 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. "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.

External links

• Fuad Sule
• Fuad Sule at Soccerway