Not many would have believed that becoming a schoolboy champion in primary school was enough fillip to propel Mutiu Adepoju to the height of sporting glory, but that is the truth.  From that humble beginning, he laced booths for Prospect High School, Ibadan and thereafter the University of Ibadan, representing the school at NUGA Games. As his interest in football grew, the 1994 African Nations Cup winner joined CRIN Football Club, Ibadan, and after campaigning with a host of local club sides made his way to Real Madrid (Team B) of Spain before playing for other clubs in Spain, Cyprus and Saudi Arabia. He holds the record as the only Nigerian player to have participated in three World Cup finals.

Adepoju’s international career, saw him winning silver in the U-20 World Cup in Saudi “89, playing for the Super Eagles for 12 years and winning several medals including a gold, silver and bronze in the African Cup of Nations as well as taking part in three FIFA World Cups. The erstwhile attacking midfielder, who is the immediate past general manager of Shooting Stars Sports Club of Ibadan, told ENO-ABASI SUNDAY in this interview that his greatest joy remains playing football professionally.

MOST kids are goaded into doing sports because of the traditional benefits that accrue from it, which include, but not limited to promoting health and fitness, improving academics, providing positive peers, building self esteem, teaching teamwork and encouraging sportsmanship.

Perhaps, so it was with ex-international, Mutiu Adepoju, when he joined his peers to stretch his tiny muscles as a primary school student in the 1970’s. However, unlike many whose interest in the exciting world of sports gradually waned as the desire to excel in academics kept looming large, Adepoju kept faith and remained focused through the different tiers of education. It was no surprise therefore when sports became an income earner for him as he went professional with it.

Born on December 22, 1970 in Ibadan, Oyo State, Adepoju’s foray into sports began at the Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria (CRIN) Staff School, Idi-Ayunre, Ibadan, where he started taking part in sporting activities. According to him, right from CRIN Staff School, football had always been his sport of choice even though he did a little of athletics at that level during inter-house sports. Interestingly, he attended the same school with former Nigerian winger, Oladimeji Lawal and they played together both in primary and secondary schools.

Widely respected for his humble disposition, the former Super Eagles attacking midfielder, while growing up did not have to look too far for inspiration to play the game, reason being that he an uncle, who was already an established footballer, plying his trade with the legendary Shooting Stars Sports Club of Ibadan.

“My uncle played for Shooting Stars back in the 1970’s and was in the set that won the African Cup Winners Cup in 1976. My father also played football but not to that level. These are basically the people within the family that inspired me to take to football. Besides my humble self, my brother, Taofeek Adepoju, is another footballer in the family playing for Shooting Stars now.”

Adepoju did not just take a passing interest in football while in primary school. He was one of the best. That explains why he ended up in the school’s football team that brought honour to it. He recalled.

“When I was at the CRIN Staff School, I took part in the state inter schools competition and at the end of the day, we won the cup.  The competition could be said to be the primary school version of the Principal’s Cup. We won the trophy in either 1977 or 1978.”

At the Prospect High School, Abanla, Ibadan, where he had his secondary education, he “started playing for the school’s senior football team in Form Three. But it was around 1983/1984 that I represented the school in the Principal’s Cup competition even though we did not win.”

Asked to figure out the most memorable match he played for the school, he retorted, “I represented my school in a number of very interesting football matches, so it is difficult for me to point out one that I would say was the most memorable. The reason is that I always played each match as if it was a final match. I also tried to enjoy the matches as much as possible. So with this level of commitment, it is difficult for me to single out a particular match for mention.

“However, I remember that because of the joy and satisfaction I derived from playing football and the passion I have for the sport, there was always that strong sense of rivalry when we played against schools like Methodist High School, Ibadan and Ibadan Grammar School. The latter was one of the toughest opponents we ever faced because they were famed for their football prowess.  But off the pitch, there were always talks like ‘We will beat you when we meet in the next match’. Incidentally, I ended up playing in Shooting Stars alongside Tunde Odubola, one of the opponents I played against during my school days. He is the current coach of the club.”

Nicknamed “Headmaster” by Mumini Alao, the General Manager of Complete Sports because of knack and ability to score goals with his head, Adepoju’s brilliance on the pitch, transcended the walls of his secondary school. That is why he was made part of the Oyo State team to the National Sports Festival tagged “Kwara “85, where they were sent packing in the quarter final match.

Playing organised football at the Nigerian University Games (NUGA), must have contributed its quota to helping Adepoju make up his mind to go professional with the round leather game. According to him, the most memorable football competition that I have played in was representing the University of Ibadan at NUGA in 1986. This is so because in secondary schools, after one match, everybody goes home to begin preparing for the next one days or weeks away. But during the NUGA, camping was involved and matches were played in different venues. There was also another NUGA that I played at the University of Port Harcourt in 1988. During these two outings, I fell in love with the ambience, the organisation and the general atmosphere in the competition. Most importantly, I had fun and appreciated the way things were planned in NUGA, which was quite different from what we knew of the Principal’s Cup and any other football competition at the secondary level.”

Adepoju started his club football career with an amateur side, CRIN Football Club of Ibadan. He also played for Ogun Osun River Basin Football Club and NBL Football Club all in Ibadan.

From there he went on to play for Femo Scorpions of Eruwa from 1986 to 1987 and then Shooting Stars of Ibadan in 1988, from where the team gained promotion to the Division One. From the Ibadan side, he joined Julius Berger of Lagos in 1989 moving to Spain, where he joined Real Madrid Team B. After a successful first season, he struggled to hold down a regular place in the team to no avail. So from there, he was transferred to Racing Santander, a first division side, where he was a regular between 1992 and 1996. His crave to play on a bigger stage saw him leaving Santander for Real Sociedad, a larger club in Spain in 1996. He was there until 2000. Before this time, it had gradually become difficult for him to pin down a shirt in the first 11. Consequently, Al Itihad Jeddah of Saudi Arabia became his next berth in his search for first team action.

With only one season spent at Al Itihad Jeddah, he returned to Spain. This time, he pitched tent with Salamanca Football Club Spain from 2001 to 2002. The following year, Samsonspur of Turkey beckoned and he responded spending just a season there before moving to AEL Limassol of Cyprus in 2004. He also played for C.D. Cobena in Spain before returning to Shooting Stars FC in managerial capacity.

At the commencement of his international career, Adepoju played for Flying Eagles team that won the Tessema Cup to become African Champions after beating the Yousuf Fofana-led Ivory Coast. He was also part of the Nigerian team that played in the 1989 FIFA World Youth Championship. The two goals he drove past legendary American keeper, Kasey Keller, in the semifinals ensured a final match against star-studded Portugal, where he and his compatriots fell to a 0–2 defeat in the hands of the Portuguese.

The former attacking midfielder, who made his debut for the Super Eagles against Togo in August 1990 went on to collect 58 international full caps, with five goals. However, many are of the opinion that his international breakthrough came during the 1992 African Nations Cup, which Senegal hosted.

At the tourney, where Nigeria finished third after beating Cameroun 2-1 in the third place match, he was voted by CAF as the second most valuable player of the tournament. He was beaten to that position by former African Player of the Year and Ghana’s legend, Abedi “Pele” Ayew. At the next edition of the continental soccer fiesta, Adepoju helped the Super Eagles win the coveted trophy.

In summarising his international career, he said, “I played and won silver in the U-20 World Cup in Saudi “89. Played for the Super Eagles for 12 years and participated in African Cup of Nation, Senegal ‘92, won Tunisia “94 and finished as runner up in Ghana/Nigeria 2000. I also participated in three World Cups, that is USA ‘94, France ‘98, and Korea/Japan 2002. I played professional football in Spain and other countries for over 10 years.

As a member of the 1994 Eagles squad that was adjudged by many football analysts as one of the best set of Super Eagles to be ever assembled, the former Real Madrid star when asked the secret behind, said that set of Eagles succeeded because they were fired up by the determination to excel and to make name for themselves and their country.

Furthermore, he said respective team members were deeply committed as players and were not distracted by the multi-faceted problems that were common with the administration of the game in the country.

In addition to this, he continued, they were contented with what they were receiving as allowances and bonuses, which were not up to half of what the present crop of Super Eagles players are receiving. Despite that, they did not relent in their determination to make Nigeria proud. Clemens Westerhof, their Dutch coach, also inspired members of the team.

“At the time I joined the team in the early 90s, things were difficult for us, but Clemens Westerhof fought his way to get things going. Even when we had disagreements with the FA over allowances and other issues, we would put those things behind us once we were on the field of play,” he said.

To date, Adepoju remains one of the squads for the FIFA World Cups in 1994, 1998 – scoring in a 3–2 win against Spain – and 2002 (although he did not play in the latter tournament.

Not many who began the journey with Adepoju had the staying power to soldier on and make names for themselves in sports. While some veered off into academics others totally abandoned sports. But the former Racing Santandar of Spain midfielder said “the driving factor for me was the willingness to excel.”

Along the line, benefits also cropped up on the social and health planes for the retired footballer.  “The social benefit of taking part in sports is that it made me popular and appreciated by people, much as it has made me fit and healthy. Furthermore, participation in sports at early age made me to understand that sport is a global thing that has the capacity to take you to so many places in so many countries around the world. But, by far, the greatest achievement of my participation in sports is that I was able to fulfill my dreams of becoming a professional footballer. In other words, it was really sweet being paid to do what I love to do most.”

Looking back at his club football and international careers, he said two occasions stand out as most memorable. These are “qualifying Real Sociedad to play UEFA Cup in Spain 1997 and the match against Spain in France “98 which the Super Eagles won 3-2 respectively.

Other honours Adepoju has won in the course of his football career include being champion, Oyo State Challenge Cup (1988), Champion Division 2, National League (1988) gold medal in the Afro-Asian Cup (1995) and silver medal in African Nations Cup tagged Ghana/Nigeria 2000.

As technical director of 3SC, he won the Oyo State FA Cup 2009, won promotion to Globacom Premier League in the 2008/2009 season, won the Oyo State FA Cup 2010 and 2012.

Late last year, Adepoju resigned his position as general manager of 3SC in seemingly controversial circumstances. According to him, the resignation was to avail him time to travel to Spain to attend a two-week UEFA Pro licence course to enable him re-validate the licence, which renewal is every three years.

It was, however, reliably gathered that the 1994 Africa Nations Cup winner was irked by the treatment meted to him by the Club Board who asked him to apply for a new contract after the expiration of the existing one.

In the area of coaching, Adepoju’s is eminently qualified as he holds a Certificate in Physical and Health Education (1987), UEFA Pro 3 Coaching Licence (2008) Certificate in Football Administration and a certificate programme in management development (sports administration).

He is married to Bimpe, who hails from Osun State, and their marriage is blessed with four girls namely: Tinu, Lade, Abiola, and Lola.  They all play basketball and the family is based in Spain.