Haruna Babangida

Haruna Babangida
Personal information
Full name Haruna Babangida
Date of birth (1982-10-01) 1 October 1982 (age 42)
Place of birth Kaduna, Nigeria
Height 1.66 m (5 ft 5 in)
Position(s) Winger
Youth career
Shooting Stars
1995–1997 Ajax
1997–1998 Barcelona
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1998–2004 Barcelona B 130 (46)
2002–2003 → Terrassa (loan) 38 (5)
2004 → Cádiz (loan) 14 (0)
2004–2005 Metalurh Donetsk 10 (2)
2005–2007 Olympiacos 33 (5)
2007–2009 Apollon Limassol 54 (18)
2009 Kuban Krasnodar 14 (1)
2010 Mainz 05 II 2 (2)
2010 Mainz 05 1 (0)
2011 Vitesse Arnhem 7 (1)
2012 Kapfenberger SV 24 (2)
2015 Mosta 11 (4)
Total 318 (82)
International career
2003 Nigeria 1 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Haruna Babangida (pronunciationⓘ; born 1 October 1982) is a Nigerian former professional footballer who played as a winger.

Babangida is the eighth of ten brothers; he is the younger brother of Tijani Babangida and Ibrahim Babangida.

Club career

Early career

Born in Kaduna, Haruna Babangida started his youth career at Shooting Stars, before signing for Ajax at the age of 13. He was snapped up by Barcelona a year later. In 1998, aged 15, Babangida made his first-team debut for the Catalan club in a pre-season friendly against AGOVV Apeldoorn, becoming the second youngest ever player to feature for Barcelona. However, he did not make the breakthrough and in 2002–03 was loaned to second division side Terrassa, before spending the following season playing for Barcelona B and Cádiz (in the second half).[1]

Metalurh Donetsk then took him to Ukraine on a permanent basis.

Greece and Cyprus

In 2005, Olympiacos signed Babangida on a three-year contract after he impressed in a pre-season tournament in Spain.[2]

In the first season, he played 25 league appearances and started 11 times for the double-winners. He rarely scored, but scored his first UEFA Champions League goal at home against Lyon, in the third minute, but the match ended as a 1–4 loss.[3]

On 25 May 2007, Olympiacos officially released Haruna Babangida.

He made his debut for Apollon Limassol on 1 September 2007 against rival team AEL Limassol, where he scored two goals in an eventual 4–3 win.

Mainz 05

On 14 June 2010, he signed a one-year contract for Mainz 05 with an option to extend the contract for two more years.[4] On 26 June 2010, he scored his first goal against Panathinaikos. The half season that was less than successful for Babangida, with only a single appearance in the Bundesliga. In December of that year, Mainz released him.[5]

Vitesse

On 12 January 2011, he joined Vitesse as a testplayer and on 16 January he signed a contract until the end of the season.

International career

He made his debut for Nigeria on 20 August 2003, in a friendly match which Nigeria lost 0–3 to Japan in Tokyo.

Club statistics

Source:[6]
Club performance League Cup League Cup Continental Total
Season Club League Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Spain League Copa del Rey Copa de la Liga Europe Total
2002–03 Terrassa Segunda División 38 5 – –
2003–04 Cádiz Segunda División 14 0 – –
Ukraine League Ukrainian Cup League Cup Europe Total
2004–05 Metalurh Donetsk Premier League 8 2 0 0
2005–06 2 0 0 0
Greece League Greek Cup League Cup Europe Total
2005–06 Olympiacos Alpha Ethniki 25 2 6 1
2006–07 Super League 8 1 2 0
Cyprus League Cypriot Cup League Cup Europe Total
2007–08 Apollon Limassol First Division 23 9 – –
2008–09 31 9 – –
Russia League Russian Cup Premier League Cup Europe Total
2009 Kuban Krasnodar Premier League 14 1 – –
Germany League DFB-Pokal DFB Ligapokal Europe Total
2010–11 Mainz Bundesliga 1 0 – –
Country Spain 52 5
Ukraine 10 2
Greece 33 3
Cyprus 54 18
Russia 14 1
Germany 1 0
Total 163 29
Nigeria national team
Year Apps Goals
2003 1 0
Total 1 0

Honours

Olympiacos

References

  1. ^ "Haruna Babangida: Im dritten Anlauf bei Mainz 05" (in German). 1. FSV Mainz 05. 14 June 2010. Archived from the original on 12 June 2010. Retrieved 14 June 2010.
  2. ^ "Babangida wins over Olympiacos". UEFA.com. 18 August 2005. Retrieved 15 February 2008.
  3. ^ "UEFA Champions League". uefa.com. Archived from the original on 16 July 2009.
  4. ^ "Haruna Babangida: Im dritten Anlauf bei Mainz 05" (in German). 1. FSV Mainz 05. 14 June 2010. Archived from the original on 19 July 2011. Retrieved 15 November 2010.
  5. ^ "Tuchel schrumpft wohl 05-Kader" [Tuchel plans to shrink 05-squad] (in German). Sport 1. 21 December 2010. Archived from the original on 24 December 2010. Retrieved 21 December 2010.
  6. ^ Haruna Babangida at National-Football-Teams.com