Dipo Akinyemi

Dipo Akinyemi
Personal information
Full name Afolabi Oladipo Christopher Akinyemi[1]
Date of birth (1997-06-10) 10 June 1997 (age 27)[2]
Place of birth Enfield, England[3]
Height 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)[2]
Position(s) Forward
Team information
Current team
 York City
Number 9
Youth career
2011–2014 Potters Bar Town
2014–2015 Stevenage
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2014 Potters Bar Town 7 (1)
2015–2018 Stevenage 15 (1)
2015 → Aldershot Town (loan) 4 (1)
2016 → St Neots Town (loan) 6 (1)
2016 → Dulwich Hamlet (loan) 5 (5)
2016 → St Albans City (loan) 15 (3)
2016–2017 → Billericay Town (loan) 7 (1)
2017 → Dulwich Hamlet (loan) 16 (5)
2017–2018 → Bishop's Stortford (loan) 29 (8)
2018–2019 Dulwich Hamlet 53 (17)
2019 → Cheshunt (loan) 10 (5)
2019 Braintree Town 2 (0)
2019–2022 Welling United 62 (28)
2022–2023 Ayr United 36 (20)
2023– York City 54 (16)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 15:13, 17 November 2024 (UTC)

Afolabi Oladipo Christopher "Dipo" Akinyemi (born 10 June 1997) is a professional footballer who plays as a forward for National League club York City.

Akinyemi began his career in the youth academy at Potters Bar Town in 2011, breaking into the first team in 2014. He joined Stevenage's academy at the end of that year, before making his first-team debut at the start of the 2015–16 season. During his time at Stevenage, Akinyemi was loaned out to Aldershot Town, St Neots Town, Dulwich Hamlet on two occasions, St Albans City, Billericay Town and Bishop's Stortford respectively.

Akinyemi signed for Dulwich on a permanent basis in March 2018 and helped the club to promotion to the National League South during the remainder of the 2017–18 season. Akinyemi joined Cheshunt on loan in August 2019. He left Dulwich to sign for Braintree Town in November 2019, before joining divisional rivals Welling United a month later. After spending three seasons at Welling, Akinyemi signed for Scottish Championship club Ayr United in June 2022. He finished the 2022–23 season as the league's top goalscorer, before moving to York City of the National League for an undisclosed fee in July 2023.

Career

Potters Bar Town

Akinyemi started his career playing in the youth team of Potters Bar Town, joining the Hertfordshire club's youth set-up in 2011 having impressed youth manager John Gibbs whilst playing Sunday league football.[4] Akinyemi was part of the Potters Bar under-18 team that defeated full-time academy teams in consecutive years in the FA Youth Cup.[4] After three years playing in the youth team for Potters Bar,[4] Akinyemi made his first-team debut on 6 September 2014, starting the match and scoring in the second-half in a 4–0 away victory against Bedford Town.[5] He made seven league appearances in the Southern Football League Division One Central over the next two months.[6]

Stevenage

After gaining first-team experience at Potters Bar, Akinyemi joined League Two club Stevenage's academy at the end of 2014.[4] He trained with the Stevenage first team towards the end of the 2014–15 season and was an unused substitute in two of the club's league matches in April 2015.[3] Akinyemi signed a professional contract with Stevenage in the summer of 2015,[4] before making his debut under new manager Teddy Sheringham when he started in the opening league game of the 2015–16 season, a 2–0 defeat to Notts County at Broadhall Way.[7] He scored his first goal for the club in his third appearance, scoring the first goal of the game when he "finished off a fine counter attack" in an eventual 2–2 draw away at Newport County on 15 August 2015.[8] Akinyemi made 16 appearances during the season, the majority of which came in the first half of the season, scoring one goal.[9]

Loan spells

Akinyemi joined National League club Aldershot Town on a one-month loan agreement on 10 November 2015.[10] The loan move was to help aid Akinyemi's development and gain further first-team experience.[11] He scored on his debut for Aldershot a day after signing, in an eventual 2–1 home defeat to Lincoln City.[12] Akinyemi made four appearances during the month's loan,[9] scoring once, before returning to his parent club at the start of December 2015.[3] Aside from two substitute appearances upon his return from Aldershot, Akinyemi found first-team opportunities limited at Stevenage,[9] and he joined Southern Football League Premier Division club St Neots Town on 6 February 2016 on a one month loan.[13] Akinyemi made six appearances there, his one goal coming in St Neots' 3–1 home victory against Bideford in his second appearance.[14] He then joined Isthmian League Premier Division club Dulwich Hamlet on loan on 25 March 2016, for the remainder of the season.[15][16] He scored on his debut for Dulwich, scoring the club's second goal in a 2–2 draw away at Enfield Town on 27 March 2016.[17] He scored five goals in seven games during the loan spell as Dulwich missed out on promotion via the play-offs, returning to Stevenage upon the expiry of the loan agreement.[14]

Ahead of the 2016–17 season, Akinyemi joined St Albans City of the National League South on a loan deal until January 2017.[18] He scored on his debut on the opening day of the season when he scored the first goal in a 2–0 home victory against Concord Rangers at Clarence Park.[19] Akinyemi was recalled by Stevenage at the end of November 2016 having made 21 appearances in all competitions during the loan spell, 11 of which as a substitute, scoring five times.[3][14][20] Stevenage stated their intention to loan out Akinyemi straight away and he joined Isthmian League Premier Division club Billericay Town on 6 December 2016 on a one-month loan deal.[21] He made seven appearances during the month at Billericay, scoring one goal.[14] At the start of January 2017, Akinyemi rejoined Dulwich Hamlet on loan for the remainder of the season,[22] scoring the first goal of his second spell in a 2–0 victory against Needham Market on 18 February 2017.[23] Three days later, Akinyemi scored four goals in Dulwich's 7–1 victory against Barkingside in the London Senior Cup, all four goals coming within the space of 14 second-half minutes.[24][25] He scored 10 times in 19 appearances in all competitions during the loan spell.[14]

Akinyemi signed for Southern Football League Premier Division club Bishop's Stortford on a season-long loan agreement on 26 July 2017.[26] The move meant that Akinyemi was playing under Bishop's Stortford manager Kevin Watson, who was assistant manager at Stevenage when Akinyemi debuted for the club.[27] He made his Bishop's Stortford debut on the opening day of the 2017–18 season, playing the whole match in a 2–1 defeat away at Tiverton Town on 12 August 2017.[14][28] Akinyemi scored his first goal for the club in a 5–0 away victory against Dunstable Town on 26 September 2017.[29] He scored 10 times in 36 appearances in all competitions, including four goals in his final four games for the club throughout February 2018.[14] The season-long loan agreement was cut short when he was recalled by Stevenage at the start of March 2018.[30]

Dulwich Hamlet

Upon his recall, Akinyemi signed for Isthmian League Premier Division club Dulwich Hamlet on a permanent basis on 6 March 2018, having previously been on loan at the south London club on two separate occasions earlier in his career.[31] Stevenage allowed him to join Dulwich on a free transfer, in return for a "significant percentage of any future sale".[31] He made his third Dulwich debut on the same day his signing was announced, scoring twice in a 3–1 away victory at league leaders Billericay Town.[32] He made 14 appearances and scored four goals in all competitions as Dulwich won promotion to the National League South after winning the Isthmian League Premier Division play-offs.[14][33] Akinyemi scored the decisive penalty in the final as Dulwich earned a 4–3 victory on penalties over Hendon after the two teams had played out a 1–1 draw after extra-time.[34] He played regularly during Dulwich's first season in the National League South, scoring 16 times in 41 appearances.[3]

Having made three appearances for Dulwich at the start of the 2019–20 season,[3] Akinyemi joined Cheshunt of the Isthmian League Premier Division on a two-month loan deal on 25 August 2019.[35] He made his debut for Cheshunt in the club's 1–1 draw with Corinthian Casuals a day later and scored his first goal for the club in a 2–1 home defeat to Bognor Regis Town on 14 September 2019.[36] Akinyemi scored five times in 10 appearances during the two-month loan agreement.[36]

Welling United

With first-team opportunities limited back at Dulwich,[3] he signed for fellow National League South club Braintree Town on 22 November 2019.[37] After three appearances at Braintree,[3] he moved to another National League South club in the form of Welling United on 13 December 2019.[38] He scored four times in 12 appearances during the remainder of the 2019–20 season, which was curtailed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020.[3] Akinyemi scored three goals in nine matches in the opening two months of the 2020–21 season, as Welling's season was curtailed for the second successive season due to restrictions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.[3] Akinyemi scored 18 times in 38 appearances during the 2021–22 season as Welling avoided relegation on the final day of the season.[3]

Ayr United

Akinyemi joined Scottish Championship club Ayr United on a two-year contract on 3 June 2022.[39] He debuted for Ayr in the club's 3–0 victory against Elgin City in the Scottish League Cup on 9 July 2022.[40] Akinyemi scored his first two goals for the club in a 3–2 league victory away at Queen's Park on 5 August 2022, including a 92nd-minute penalty to win the match.[40][41] The goals served as the catalyst for a run of 14 goals in 16 matches,[42] which included Akinyemi's first career league hat-trick in a 5–0 victory against Queen's Park on 8 October 2022.[40] He scored 24 times in 45 appearances in all competitions during the 2022–23 season, finishing the season as the league's top goalscorer and earning the Scottish Championship Player of the Year award.[40][43]

York City

Akinyemi signed for National League club York City for an undisclosed fee on 15 July 2023.[44]

Style of play

Akinyemi has always been deployed as a centre forward.[4] His youth manager at Potters Bar Town, John Gibbs, stated he was particularly impressed with Akinyemi's work ethic and strength, also singling out his attitude and dedication as plus-points.[4] He has also been described as being "pacy and strong" and "a real threat".[45]

Career statistics

As of match played 21 December 2024
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League Cup League Cup Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Potters Bar Town 2014–15[46] SL Division One Central 7 1 0 0 — 0 0 7 1
Stevenage 2014–15[47] League Two 0 0 — — — 0 0
2015–16[9] League Two 15 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 16 1
Total 15 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 16 1
Aldershot Town (loan) 2015–16[9] National League 4 1 — — — 4 1
St Neots Town (loan) 2015–16[14] SL Premier Division 6 1 — — — 6 1
Dulwich Hamlet (loan) 2015–16[48] IL Premier Division 5 5 — — 2[a] 0 7 5
St Albans City (loan) 2016–17[49] National League South 15 3 3 1 — 3[b] 1 21 5
Billericay Town (loan) 2016–17[50] IL Premier Division 7 1 — — — 7 1
Dulwich Hamlet (loan) 2016–17[51] IL Premier Division 16 5 — — 3[c] 5 19 10
Bishop's Stortford (loan) 2017–18[14][52] SL Premier Division 29 8 1 0 — 6[d] 2 36 10
Dulwich Hamlet 2017–18[14][33] IL Premier Division 11 4 0 0 — 3[e] 0 14 4
2018–19[3][14] National League South 38 13 3 3 — 0 0 41 16
2019–20[3] National League South 4 0 0 0 — 0 0 4 0
Total 53 17 3 3 — 3 0 59 20
Cheshunt (loan) 2019–20[36] IL Premier Division 10 5 — — 0 0 10 5
Braintree Town 2019–20[3] National League South 2 0 — — 1[f] 0 3 0
Welling United 2019–20[3] National League South 12 4 — — 0 0 12 4
2020–21[3] National League South 13 6 0 0 — 1[f] 0 14 6
2021–22[3] National League South 37 18 1 0 — 0 0 38 18
Total 62 28 1 0 — 1 0 64 28
Ayr United 2022–23[3][40] Scottish Championship 36 20 4 4 4 0 1[g] 0 45 24
York City 2023–24[3][53] National League 40 15 2 0 — 0 0 42 15
2024–25[3][54] National League 19 2 2 1 — 1[f] 0 22 3
Total 59 17 4 1 — 1 0 64 18
Career Total 326 113 16 9 5 0 21 8 368 130
  1. ^ Two appearances in Isthmian League Premier Division play-offs
  2. ^ Two appearances in the FA Trophy, one appearance and one goal in the Herts Senior Cup
  3. ^ Three appearances and five goals in the London Senior Cup
  4. ^ Two appearances and one goal in the FA Trophy, one appearance and one goal in the Southern Combination Challenge Cup, two appearances in the Herts Charity Cup and one appearance in the Herts Senior Cup
  5. ^ Two appearances in the Alan Turvey Trophy and one in Isthmian League Premier Division play-offs
  6. ^ a b c Appearance(s) in FA Trophy
  7. ^ Appearance(s) in Scottish League Challenge Cup

Honours

Dulwich Hamlet

Individual

References

  1. ^ "Retained List 2015–16" (PDF). English Football League. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 December 2016. Retrieved 26 June 2016.
  2. ^ a b "Dipo Akinyemi". 11v11. Retrieved 7 July 2016.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t "Soccerway – Dipo Akinyemi". Soccerway. Retrieved 13 February 2018.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g "Nice one Dipo". Potters Bar Town F.C. Retrieved 13 February 2018.
  5. ^ "Super Scholars back to winning ways". Potters Bar Town F.C. 6 September 2014. Retrieved 13 February 2018.
  6. ^ "Potters Bar Town – Dipo Akinyemi". Potters Bar Town F.C. Retrieved 13 February 2018.
  7. ^ "Stevenage 0–2 Notts County". BBC Sport. 8 August 2015. Retrieved 13 February 2018.
  8. ^ "Newport County 2–2 Stevenage". BBC Sport. 15 August 2015. Retrieved 13 February 2018.
  9. ^ a b c d e "Games played by Dipo Akinyemi in 2015/2016". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 13 February 2018.
  10. ^ "Dipo Akinyemi: Aldershot Town sign Stevenage striker on loan". BBC Sport. 10 November 2015. Retrieved 13 February 2018.
  11. ^ "Dipo Akinyemi joins Aldershot Town on loan". Stevenage F.C. 10 November 2015. Retrieved 13 February 2018.
  12. ^ "Aldershot Town 1–2 Lincoln City". BBC Sport. 11 November 2015. Retrieved 13 February 2018.
  13. ^ "Dipo Akinyemi joins St Neots Town on loan". Stevenage F.C. 6 February 2016. Retrieved 13 February 2018.
  14. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Aylesbury United – Dipo Akinyemi". Aylesbury United F.C. Retrieved 9 February 2018.
  15. ^ "Dipo Akinyemi joins Dulwich Hamlet on loan". Stevenage F.C. 25 March 2016. Retrieved 13 February 2018.
  16. ^ "Dulwich Hamlet have signed Stevenage striker Dipo Akinyemi on loan until the end of the season". Dulwich Hamlet F.C. 25 March 2016. Retrieved 13 February 2018.
  17. ^ "Enfield Town 2–2 Dulwich Hamlet". Dulwich Hamlet F.C. 27 March 2016. Retrieved 13 February 2018.
  18. ^ "Duo join St Albans City on loan". Dulwich Hamlet F.C. 1 August 2016. Retrieved 13 February 2018.
  19. ^ "St Albans City 2–0 Concord Rangers". Soccerway. 6 August 2016. Retrieved 13 February 2018.
  20. ^ "Dipo Akinyemi returns to Stevenage from St Albans City". Hertfordshire Advertiser. 30 November 2016. Retrieved 13 February 2018.
  21. ^ "Dipo Akinyemi loaned to Billericay". Stevenage F.C. 6 December 2016. Retrieved 13 February 2018.
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  24. ^ "Dulwich Hamlet 7–1 Barkingside". Dulwich Hamlet F.C. 21 February 2017. Retrieved 13 February 2018.
  25. ^ "Dipo flying at Dulwich Hamlet". Stevenage F.C. 23 February 2017. Retrieved 13 February 2018.
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  27. ^ "Midweek loan round-up". Stevenage F.C. 22 February 2018. Retrieved 6 March 2018.
  28. ^ "Tiverton Town 2–1 Bishop's Stortford". Tiverton Town F.C. 13 August 2017. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
  29. ^ "Dunstable Town 0–5 Bishop's Stortford" (PDF). Bishop's Stortford F.C. 26 September 2017. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
  30. ^ "Dipo (sort of) returns to Borough". Bishop's Stortford F.C. 6 March 2018. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
  31. ^ a b "Dipo Akinyemi joins Dulwich Hamlet". Stevenage F.C. 6 March 2018. Retrieved 6 March 2018.
  32. ^ "Billericay Town 1–3 Dulwich Hamlet". Football Web Pages. 6 March 2018. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
  33. ^ a b "Dulwich Hamlet – Fixtures & Results". Dulwich Hamlet F.C. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
  34. ^ a b "Dulwich Hamlet rip up the script to earn promotion to National League South". South London Press & Mercury. 8 May 2018. Retrieved 3 June 2018.
  35. ^ "Dulwich Hamlet's Akinyemi and Yusuff head out on loan". Non-League Daily. 25 August 2019. Archived from the original on 25 August 2019. Retrieved 15 September 2019.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  36. ^ a b c "Cheshunt – Appearances – Afolabi Akinyemi". Football Web Pages. Retrieved 15 September 2019.
  37. ^ "Dipo Akinyemi departs Dulwich for Braintree". Braintree Town F.C. 22 November 2019. Retrieved 23 November 2019.
  38. ^ "Welling sign Henry and Akinyemi". Non-League Daily. 13 December 2019. Archived from the original on 13 December 2019. Retrieved 26 August 2020.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  39. ^ "Dipo Akinyemi Joins The Honest Men". ayrunitedfc.co.uk. Ayr United F.C. 3 June 2022. Retrieved 9 June 2022.
  40. ^ a b c d e "Games played by Dipo Akinyemi in 2022/2023". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 8 August 2022.
  41. ^ "Queen's Park 2–3 Ayr United". BBC Sport. 5 August 2022. Retrieved 8 August 2022.
  42. ^ Canavan, Amy (20 November 2022). "Scottish Championship: Why you should be following 'the best league in the world'". BBC Sport. Retrieved 28 July 2023.
  43. ^ "Player of the Year awards". spfl.co.uk. 23 May 2023. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
  44. ^ "Dipo Akinyemi joins the Minstermen". www.yorkcityfootballclub.co.uk. York City F.C. 15 July 2023. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
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  46. ^ "Games played by Dipo Akinyemi – Potters Bar". Potters Bar Town FC. Retrieved 5 July 2016.
  47. ^ "Games played by Dipo Akinyemi in 2014/2015". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 5 July 2016.
  48. ^ "Games played by Dipo Akinyemi – Dulwich Hamlet". Dulwich Hamlet F.C. Retrieved 5 July 2016.
  49. ^ "St Albans City Match Results 2016–17". St Albans City F.C. Retrieved 14 January 2017.
  50. ^ "First Team Fixtures & Results 16/17". Billericay Town F.C. Archived from the original on 8 October 2016. Retrieved 14 January 2017.
  51. ^ "Dipo Akinyemi". Dulwich Hamlet F.C. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
  52. ^ "Fixtures & Results – 2017–18". Bishop's Stortford F.C. Retrieved 23 February 2018.
  53. ^ "Games played by Dipo Akinyemi in 2023/2024". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 28 July 2023.
  54. ^ "Games played by Dipo Akinyemi in 2024/2025". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 21 December 2024.
  55. ^ "Celtic's Kyogo Furuhashi and Caitlin Hayes win PFA Scotland player of the year awards". BBC Sport. 14 May 2023. Retrieved 14 May 2023.