Ben Folami
Folami in 2023
Personal information
Full name Gbenga Tai Folami[1]
Date of birth (1999-06-08) 8 June 1999
Place of birth Sydney, Australia
Height 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Position(s) Winger
Team information
Current team
 Melbourne Victory
Number 11
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– Melbourne Victory 60 (4)
International career‡
2018–2019 Australia U19 4 (1)
2019– Australia U23 5 (1)
2022– Australia 1 (0)
Medal record
Men's football
Representing  Australia
AFC U-23 Asian Cup
Third place2020 ThailandU-23 Team
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 24 December 2023
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 25 March 2022 (UTC)

Gbenga Tai "Ben" Folami (born 8 June 1999) is an Australian professional footballer who plays as a winger for Melbourne Victory and the Australia national team.[2]

Club career

Ipswich Town

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.[3] 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.[4] He made his league debut for the club on 2 April 2018 in a 2–2 draw against Millwall.[5] In May 2018, Folami signed a new three-year contract at Ipswich until 2021.[6] 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.[7]

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.[8]

Stevenage (loan)

On 31 January 2020, Folami signed for Stevenage on loan until the end of the 2019–20 season.[9] He made his debut on 8 February, coming on as a second-half substitute in a 2–1 loss to Exeter City.[10] He made two substitute appearances for Stevenage before the 2019–20 season was suspended due to the Coronavirus outbreak.[11]

Return to Ipswich Town

He scored his first goal for Ipswich in an EFL Trophy tie against Gillingham on 6 October 2020.[12]

In April 2021, Ipswich announced that Folami would be released at the end of the 2020–21 season following the end of his contract.[13]

Melbourne Victory

On 28 October 2020, Folami joined Australian A-League side Melbourne Victory on loan until the end of the season.[14] 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.[15] In July 2021, after being released by Ipswich Town, Folami signed a permanent two-year contract with Melbourne Victory.[16]

International career

Folami is of Nigerian descent.[17] In October 2018, he was called up to the Australia U19 squad to compete in the 2018 AFC U-19 Championship held in Indonesia.[18] 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".[19]

Folami made his debut for the Australia U23 team in a 2–1 loss to Iran on 14 October 2019.[20] 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.[21]

He debuted with the senior Australia national team in a 2–0 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification loss to Japan on 24 March 2022.[22]

Career statistics

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
AppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Ipswich Town 2017–18[23] Championship 400010—50
2018–19[24] Championship 000000—00
2019–20[11] League One 0000001[lower-alpha 1]010
2020–21[25] League One 0000001[lower-alpha 1]111
Total 4000102171
Stevenage (loan) 2019–20[11] League Two 2000000020
Melbourne Victory (loan) 2019–20[11] A-League 0000—5[lower-alpha 2]151
2020–21[25] A-League 173———173
Melbourne Victory 2021–22[25] A-League 24310—3[lower-alpha 3]1284
2022–23[25] A-League 26100——60
Total 476100082568
Career total 5361010103659
  1. 1 2 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

As of match played 24 March 2022[26]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National teamYearAppsGoals
Australia202210
Total10

Honours

Club

Melbourne Victory

International

Australia U23

References

  1. ↑ "EFL Released and Retained List 2016-17" (PDF). English Football League. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
  2. ↑ "Ben Folami". Ipswich Town F.C. Retrieved 8 August 2017.
  3. ↑ "Meet the Aussie striker cracking into the Championship". East Anglian Daily Times. 11 May 2018. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
  4. ↑ "Crystal Palace v Ipswich Town". BBC Sport. 22 August 2017. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
  5. ↑ Watson, Stuart (2 April 2018). "'I'm not enjoying it' – McCarthy hints he may not see out his contract". East Anglian Daily Times. Retrieved 2 April 2018.
  6. ↑ "Three Year Deal for Ben". TWTD. 8 May 2018. Retrieved 25 November 2020.
  7. ↑ "Chambers to Wear Strapping at Blackburn as Folami Ruled Out for Season". TWTD. 17 January 2019. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
  8. ↑ "EFL Trophy Match Report - Colchester United 1-0 Ipswich Town". Soccerway. 12 November 2019. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
  9. ↑ "Ben Folami joins Boro".
  10. ↑ "Exeter City 2-1 Stevenage". BBC Sport. 8 February 2020. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
  11. 1 2 3 4 "Games played by Ben Folami in 2019/2020". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 8 June 2019.
  12. ↑ "Ipswich Town 2 Gillingham 0: Goals from Armando Dobra and Ben Folami settle EFL Trophy match". kentonline.co.uk. 6 October 2020. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
  13. ↑ "No New Deal for Folami and 'Keepers". Ipswich Town F.C. 8 April 2021. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
  14. ↑ "Folami Makes Loan Move". Ipswich Town F.C. 28 October 2020. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  15. ↑ "Folami Nets First Goal For Melbourne Victory". TWTD. 30 November 2020. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
  16. ↑ "Melbourne Victory signs Ben Folami". Melbourne Victory. 12 July 2021.
  17. ↑ "Nigerian-Australian Striker Ben Folami Making Inroads At The Blues:: All Nigeria Soccer - The Complete Nigerian Football Portal". www.allnigeriasoccer.com. Retrieved 7 July 2018.
  18. ↑ "Update to Young Socceroos squad for AFC U19 Championship". Football Federation Australia. 19 October 2018. Retrieved 22 October 2018.
  19. ↑ "Folami Wins Cap But Australia Exit AFC U19 Championship". TWTD. 29 October 2018. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  20. ↑ "Folami in Action for Australian U23s". TWTD. 15 October 2019. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
  21. ↑ "Folami Nets as Australia's U23s Hammer China". TWTD. 15 November 2019. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
  22. ↑ "WATCH: Socceroos fall short after Japan strike late". Socceroos. 24 March 2022.
  23. ↑ "Games played by Ben Folami in 2017/2018". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 8 June 2019.
  24. ↑ "Games played by Ben Folami in 2018/2019". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 8 June 2019.
  25. 1 2 3 4 "Games played by Ben Folami in 2020/2021". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 8 June 2019.
  26. ↑ Ben Folami at National-Football-Teams.com
  27. ↑ "Melbourne Victory 2–1 Central Coast Mariners". www.keepup.com. 5 February 2022. Retrieved 30 November 2022.
  28. ↑ "Australia 1–0 Uzbekistan". www.the-afc.com. 25 January 2020. Retrieved 30 November 2022.
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