Footballers from Ajegunle: the pitches that made stars

Ajegunle has been called many things, but in Nigerian football one label keeps coming back: the home of football in Nigeria. That was how Jonathan Akpoborie, a former Super Eagles striker who honed his game there, put it to ThisDay in 2017, and a BusinessDay feature three years earlier called AJ City “the Mecca of Nigeria football”. Since at least the early 1990s, boys who learned the game on its sand and dirt pitches have gone on to Olympic finals, World Cups and Europe’s biggest clubs.

Here are some of the best-known names, the places they played, and what local people say explains it. For the neighbourhood itself, see our guide to Ajegunle, Lagos.

The players

Everyone below is named in national press as a player who started out in Ajegunle. Some were born elsewhere and moved there as children, which is very AJ: almost everyone’s family came from somewhere else.

Jonathan Akpoborie

Born in Lagos, Akpoborie was in the Nigeria team that won the first FIFA under-16 world championship in 1985, scoring in the final against West Germany. He went on to play in the Bundesliga for VfB Stuttgart, Hansa Rostock and VfL Wolfsburg in the 1990s, and in 2017 he was back in Ajegunle helping to spot the next generation.

Samson Siasia

Born in Lagos in 1967, Siasia spent six seasons at Lokeren in Belgium, was part of the Nigeria squad that won the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations, and then won the French league with Nantes in 1994–95. As a coach he took Nigeria’s under-23 side to the 2008 Olympic final and a silver medal. His coaching career later ended in a FIFA ethics ban, which the Court of Arbitration for Sport reduced in 2021.

Emmanuel Amuneke

Amuneke was African Footballer of the Year in 1994, the year he scored both of Nigeria’s goals in the Africa Cup of Nations final against Zambia. Two years later he scored the late winner in the 3–2 Olympic final against Argentina, giving Nigeria its first Olympic football gold.

Taribo West

Born in Port Harcourt, West is another player both papers count among Ajegunle’s own. He was a defender in that same 1996 Olympic gold-medal side and played at the 1998 and 2002 World Cups. In club football he went from Auxerre to Inter Milan in 1997 and then across the city to AC Milan. Many fans remember him as much for his hairstyles as his tackling.

Obafemi Martins

The Lagos-born striker joined Inter Milan in 2001 and won Serie A and two Coppa Italia titles there, then played for Newcastle United and, later, Seattle Sounders, with whom he won the MLS Supporters’ Shield and the U.S. Open Cup in 2014.

Brown Ideye

Born in Yenagoa, Ideye is named among AJ’s products by both ThisDay and BusinessDay. He won the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations with Nigeria, scoring in the semi-final against Mali, and played club football in more than half a dozen countries, from Switzerland and Ukraine to England, Greece and China.

Odion Ighalo

Ighalo was born and raised in Ajegunle. He helped Watford win promotion to the Premier League in 2014–15, was the top scorer at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations with five goals, and in January 2020 joined Manchester United on loan. In 2017 ThisDay reported that he was building an orphanage in the neighbourhood he grew up in.

The pitches

AJ’s football was learned on open ground, and not all of it was open to everyone. ThisDay reported in 2017 that many of the area’s open grounds were controlled by area boys who charged young players a fee to use them. Two places stood out as safe: the grounds at St Mary’s Catholic Church and the Navy Barracks Camp, both credited with many of the area’s success stories.

BusinessDay’s 2014 feature named the Maracana field, near Alao bus stop, as one of the best-known local grounds, and described how stretches of sand on the way to Mile 2, before they were built on, served as pitches for anyone who turned up.

Why Ajegunle?

People who know the area offer a few reasons. The first is a grassroots system of small local clubs that put boys into competitive matches very young, which ThisDay’s sources said gave them an edge over players from academies elsewhere. The second is the mix: a scout for German clubs quoted in the same piece called AJ a “raw talent hub” and pointed to its mix of ethnic groups. And the third is the simplest. For a boy in a crowded neighbourhood with few other ways out, football was free, and it was everywhere.

It matters too that Ajegunle produces women footballers. BusinessDay’s list included several women’s players, and Wikipedia names Chinwendu Ihezuo of the Nigeria women’s national team among the area’s footballers.

Football in AJ Cities

AJ Cities is a free browser game set on the edge of Ajegunle, and none of these real players is in it. What the game does have is a street pitch: south of the estate, in the bush, two invented sides, Creek Rovers and Palm United, play most days. In AJ’s story you can earn ₦1,000 a break as a ball boy and bet your story money on the match with a bookie called Tunde Lines, which is play money inside the game, never real money. Find out more in AJ’s story.

Which famous footballers are from Ajegunle?

Players named in national press as starting out in Ajegunle include Odion Ighalo, Taribo West, Samson Siasia, Emmanuel Amuneke, Jonathan Akpoborie, Obafemi Martins and Brown Ideye.

Was Odion Ighalo raised in Ajegunle?

Yes. Ighalo was born and raised in Ajegunle, Lagos, before moving abroad to play professionally.

Why does Ajegunle produce so many footballers?

Locals point to young players joining competitive local clubs early, the area’s mix of communities, and football being the one free pastime available everywhere.

Can you play football in AJ Cities?

There is a street match in the bush beside the game’s estate. In AJ’s story you can be a ball boy and bet play money on it; no real money is ever wagered.