59 Facts About Eniola Aluko

1.

Eniola Aluko was born on 21 February 1987 and is a British-Nigerian football executive, football broadcaster, and former professional player who played as a winger and striker.

2.

Eniola Aluko previously played for Birmingham City, Charlton Athletic, and Chelsea in England's FA Women's Premier League.

3.

Eniola Aluko played for Saint Louis Athletica, Atlanta Beat, and Sky Blue FC in the American Women's Professional Soccer from 2009 to 2011.

4.

Eniola Aluko grew up playing football with her brother Sone Aluko and his friends.

5.

Eniola Aluko started her career at Leafield Athletic Ladies and subsequently played for Birmingham City Ladies' youth team under manager Marcus Bignot with future England teammate, Karen Carney.

6.

Eniola Aluko scored on her Birmingham team debut against Leeds United, aged 14.

7.

Eniola Aluko was named Young Player of the Year at The FA Women's Football Awards in 2003.

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8.

Eniola Aluko left Birmingham to join Charlton Athletic in January 2004.

9.

Eniola Aluko lifted the FA Women's Community Shield with Charlton in August 2004 after helping the team win.

10.

Eniola Aluko played in the 2005 FA Women's Community Shield, the 2005 FA Women's Premier League Cup Final, and the 2007 FA Women's Cup Final, All three defeats were inflicted by Arsenal.

11.

Eniola Aluko's assist to Katie Holtham in the second minute of the match gave Charlton the lead in the 2007 FA Women's Cup Final.

12.

Eniola Aluko won the London FA Women's Cup with Charlton twice, in 2005 and 2006.

13.

In October 2008, Eniola Aluko's playing rights were obtained by St Louis Athletica who named her as a post-draft discovery player.

14.

Eniola Aluko was the team's leading goal scorer during the league's inaugural season with six goals, and led in assists with four, making her one of the main reasons Athletica was able to climb from a last place in the first two months of the season to a commanding second by the end.

15.

Eniola Aluko missed the playoffs and the All-Star match due to national team duty.

16.

When Saint Louis Athletica folded part way through the 2010 season, Eniola Aluko signed with Atlanta Beat.

17.

Eniola Aluko was later traded to Sky Blue FC in December 2010.

18.

Eniola Aluko signed for Birmingham City, describing them as "more stable".

19.

In 2012, Eniola Aluko registered five goals and two assists in 17 FA WSL League and Cup appearances, as Birmingham City finished runners up to Arsenal in both competitions.

20.

Eniola Aluko registered an assist in the Final and scored in the semi-final win against Sydney FC.

21.

In 2014, Eniola Aluko scored seven times and provided one assist in 20 FA WSL League and Cup appearances.

22.

In 2015, Eniola Aluko played in the first FA Women's Cup Final held at Wembley Stadium on 1 August 2015 in front of a record attendance of 30,710.

23.

Individually, Eniola Aluko was at the heart of Chelsea's win as she put in a Player-of-the-Match performance and provided the assist for Ji So-yun's 39th-minute winner.

24.

Eniola Aluko marked her final appearance by scoring and had made occasional appearances, predominantly as a late substitute, in the side which remained unbeaten throughout the whole league season.

25.

Eniola Aluko signed for Serie A club Juventus on 6 June 2018.

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26.

On 15 January 2020, Eniola Aluko announced her retirement from professional football.

27.

Eniola Aluko was called into the England set-up as a 14-year-old.

28.

Eniola Aluko later played at Under-21 level, before making her senior debut, aged 17, against the Netherlands in September 2004.

29.

Eniola Aluko played in UEFA Women's Euro 2005, despite a clash with her A-Level studies.

30.

Eniola Aluko featured much more prominently at UEFA Women's Euro 2009, scoring in the group match win over Russia and adding two more in the quarter-final victory over hosts Finland.

31.

Eniola Aluko provided an assist for Kelly Smith's opening goal in the semi-final against the Netherlands.

32.

Eniola Aluko netted against Switzerland in September 2010 as England qualified for the FIFA Women's World Cup 2011.

33.

Eniola Aluko was an unused substitute as England were eliminated by France at the quarter final stage.

34.

Eniola Aluko was not called up to the national team after May 2016.

35.

At UEFA Women's Euro 2017, Eniola Aluko worked as a pundit for Channel 4.

36.

Parris later apologised to Eniola Aluko in an open letter in June 2020 admitting that the celebration with coach Sampson was a "thoughtless action" that showed a lack of empathy, understanding and ignorance given that Sampson was under investigation for making racially discriminatory remarks to Eniola Aluko and fellow player Drew Spence of which he was found guilty and for which the FA later apologised.

37.

Eniola Aluko remained surprised and disappointed at a perceived lack of support for her position from England's current players.

38.

In June 2012, Eniola Aluko was named in the 18-player Great Britain squad for the 2012 London Olympics.

39.

Eniola Aluko made her Great Britain debut, in its first ever official fixture, in a friendly goalless draw with Sweden at the Riverside Stadium, Middlesbrough on 20 July 2012, starting and playing the entire match.

40.

At the Olympic football tournament, Eniola Aluko started all three groups matches, which included wins over New Zealand, Cameroon and in front of over 70,000 at Wembley, twice Olympic silver-medalists Brazil.

41.

Eniola Aluko won a penalty in the Brazil match, which Kelly Smith missed.

42.

Eniola Aluko had a strong appeal for a second-half penalty dismissed.

43.

In in January 2020, a week after retiring from professional football, Eniola Aluko was announced as the director of women's football at Aston Villa.

44.

In May 2021, Eniola Aluko became the sporting director of Los Angeles-based Angel City FC ahead of their inaugural season in the American National Women's Soccer League.

45.

Eniola Aluko subsequently went to study law at Brunel University, where she graduated with a first class degree in 2008.

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46.

Eniola Aluko announced her intention to "step back" from her legal career in March 2015 to focus on playing professional football.

47.

Eniola Aluko's younger brother Sone plays for Ipswich Town and was an England youth international, but in May 2009 accepted a call-up to represent Nigeria.

48.

Eniola Aluko helped her brother during the financial problems experienced by Rangers in 2012.

49.

Eniola Aluko's father is a former MP in Nigeria, while Bolaji Aluko, a chemical engineering professor, is her uncle.

50.

Eniola Aluko voted for the Conservative Party in the 2019 general elections but has publicly stated that she is a Liberal that has no staunch allegiance to any political party.

51.

Eniola Aluko's Christianity was strengthened under the influence of born again former footballer Linvoy Primus.

52.

Eniola Aluko was listed in the 2020 Powerlist, recognition as being one of the 100 most influential Black Britons.

53.

In May 2020, Eniola Aluko published a series of tweets that appeared to criticise people placed on the UK government's furlough scheme introduced in response to the pandemic of COVID-19, subsequently deleting most of the messages, apologising and stating her support for the furlough scheme.

54.

In October 2022, Eniola Aluko was inducted as one of the first inductees into the WSL Hall of Fame by the Football Association.

55.

In September 2014, Eniola Aluko appeared on the BBC's football programme Match of the Day, the first woman to appear as a pundit on the show.

56.

Eniola Aluko provided commentary for ITV's coverage of the 2018 FIFA World Cup and for Fox Sports' coverage of the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup.

57.

Eniola Aluko was featured along with her national teammates in the EA Sports' FIFA video game series starting in FIFA 16, the first time women players were included in the game.

58.

In January 2020 Eniola Aluko became an Adidas ambassador on a multi-year deal.

59.

Eniola Aluko released her autobiography They don't teach this - Lessons in the game of life in August 2019.