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Dipo Akinyemi
English association football player From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Afolabi Oladipo Christopher "Dipo" Akinyemi (born 10 June 1997) is a professional footballer who plays as a forward for League of Ireland Premier Division club Derry City.
Akinyemi began his career in the youth academy at Potters Bar Town in 2011, progressing to the first team in 2014. He joined Stevenage's academy later that year and made his first-team debut at the start of the 2015–16 season. While at Stevenage, Akinyemi spent time on loan at Aldershot Town, St Neots Town, Dulwich Hamlet on two occasions, St Albans City, Billericay Town and Bishop's Stortford. Akinyemi joined Dulwich on a permanent basis in March 2018, and contributed to the club's promotion to the National League South during the remainder of the 2017–18 season.
He had a loan spell at Cheshunt in August 2019, before leaving Dulwich to join Braintree Town in November 2019. A month later, he signed for divisional rivals Welling United, where he spent three seasons. In June 2022, Akinyemi signed for Ayr United of the Scottish Championship, finishing the 2022–23 season as the division's top goalscorer. He subsequently joined York City of the National League for an undisclosed fee in July 2023, scoring 20 goals in 71 appearances over two seasons. He signed for Derry City in July 2025.
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Career
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Potters Bar Town
Akinyemi began his career at Potters Bar Town's youth set-up in 2011 after impressing youth manager John Gibbs playing Sunday league football.[4] He was part of the Potters Bar under-18 team that defeated full-time academy teams in consecutive years in the FA Youth Cup.[4] After three years in the youth team,[4] Akinyemi made his first-team debut on 6 September 2014, scoring in a 4–0 away victory against Bedford Town.[5] He made seven league appearances in the Southern League Division One Central over the next two months.[6]
Stevenage
After gaining first-team experience at Potters Bar, Akinyemi joined the academy of League Two club Stevenage at the end of 2014.[4] He trained with the first team towards the end of the 2014–15 season and was an unused substitute in two league matches in April 2015.[3] Akinyemi signed his first professional contract that summer,[4] and made his senior debut under new manager Teddy Sheringham in the opening match of the 2015–16 season, a 2–0 defeat to Notts County at Broadhall Way.[7] He scored his first goal for the club in his third appearance, finishing off a counter attack in a 2–2 draw away at Newport County on 15 August 2015.[8] Akinyemi made 16 appearances during the season, predominantly in its opening months, and scored once.[9]
Loan spells
Akinyemi joined National League club Aldershot Town on a one-month loan on 10 November 2015,[10] intended to aid his development through regular first-team football.[11] He scored on his debut the following day in a 2–1 home defeat to Lincoln City.[12] Akinyemi made four appearances during the loan,[9] scoring once, before returning to Stevenage in early December.[3] Limited to two substitute appearances after his return,[9] Akinyemi joined Southern League Premier Division club St Neots Town on 6 February 2016 on a one-month loan,[13] scoring once in six appearances.[14] He subsequently joined Isthmian League Premier Division club Dulwich Hamlet on loan on 25 March 2016, for the remainder of the season.[15][16] Akinyemi scored on his debut in a 2–2 draw away at Enfield Town on 27 March 2016[17] and registered five goals in seven matches, as Dulwich missed out on promotion via the play-offs.[14]
Ahead of the 2016–17 season, Akinyemi joined St Albans City of the National League South on loan until January 2017.[18] He scored on his debut in a 2–0 home victory against Concord Rangers at Clarence Park.[19] He was recalled by Stevenage at the end of November 2016, having made 21 appearances in all competitions, 11 of which as a substitute, and scoring five goals.[3][14][20] Stevenage confirmed their intention to loan Akinyemi out again, and on 6 December 2016, he joined Isthmian League Premier Division club Billericay Town on a one-month loan.[21] He made seven appearances at Billericay, scoring one goal.[14] In January 2017, Akinyemi rejoined Dulwich Hamlet on loan for the remainder of the season.[22] Akinyemi scored four goals in 14 minutes in Dulwich's 7–1 victory against Barkingside in the London Senior Cup on 21 February 2017.[23][24] He finished the loan with 10 goals in 19 appearances in all competitions.[14]
Akinyemi joined Southern League Premier Division club Bishop's Stortford on a season-long loan agreement on 26 July 2017.[25] The move reunited him with manager Kevin Watson, formerly assistant manager at Stevenage during Akinyemi's debut season.[26] Akinyemi scored his first goal for the club in a 5–0 away victory against Dunstable Town on 26 September 2017.[27] He registered 10 goals in 36 appearances in all competitions during the 2017–18 season, including four goals in his final four games for the club before being recalled by Stevenage in March 2018.[14][28]
Dulwich Hamlet
Upon his recall, Akinyemi signed for Isthmian League Premier Division club Dulwich Hamlet on a permanent basis on 6 March 2018, having previously had two loan spells at the south London club.[29] Stevenage allowed him to depart on a free transfer in exchange for a "significant percentage of any future sale".[29] He made 14 appearances and scored four goals in all competitions as Dulwich secured promotion to the National League South via the play-offs.[14][30] Akinyemi scored the decisive penalty in the final as Dulwich defeated Hendon 4–3 on penalties following a 1–1 draw after extra-time.[31] He remained a regular during the club's first season at National League South level, scoring 16 goals in 41 appearances.[3]
After making three appearances for Dulwich at the start of the 2019–20 season,[3] Akinyemi joined Isthmian League Premier Division club Cheshunt on a two-month loan on 25 August 2019.[32] He made his debut the following day in the club's 1–1 draw with Corinthian Casuals and scored his first goal in a 2–1 home defeat to Bognor Regis Town on 14 September 2019.[33] Akinyemi scored five times in 10 appearances during the loan spell.[33]
Welling United
With first-team opportunities limited at Dulwich,[3] Akinyemi joined fellow National League South club Braintree Town on 22 November 2019.[34] After three appearances at Braintree,[3] he moved to another club in the division, Welling United, on 13 December 2019.[35] He scored four goals in 12 appearances during the remainder of the 2019–20 season, which was curtailed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020.[3] Akinyemi added a further three goals in nine matches during the opening two months of the 2020–21 season, which was also cut short due to ongoing restrictions.[3] Akinyemi scored 18 goals in 38 appearances during the 2021–22 season as Welling avoided relegation on the final day of the season.[3]
Ayr United
Akinyemi signed a two-year contract with Scottish Championship club Ayr United on 3 June 2022.[36] He scored his first two goals for the club in a 3–2 league victory away at Queen's Park on 5 August 2022, including a 92nd-minute penalty to win the match.[37][37][38] The goals served as the catalyst for a run of 14 goals in 16 matches,[39] which included Akinyemi's first career league hat-trick in a 5–0 victory against Queen's Park on 8 October 2022.[37] He finished the 2022–23 season as the league's top goalscorer, scoring 24 goals in 45 appearances and earning the Scottish Championship Player of the Year award.[37][40]
York City
Akinyemi signed for National League side York City for a club record fee, undisclosed but believed to be between £250,000 and £340,000 on 15 July 2023.[41][42][43] He scored on his debut in a 2–1 defeat to Wealdstone and finished the 2023–24 season as the club's leading goalscorer, with 15 goals in 42 appearances across all competitions.[3][44][45] His goals were described as "having played a vital part in the club's survival that season", as York avoided relegation by a single point.[45][46] He scored five goals in 29 appearances during the 2024–25 season, with a partial anterior cruciate ligament tear limiting his involvement in the second half of the season.[3][47][48]
Derry City
Akinyemi signed for League of Ireland Premier Division club Derry City on a multi-year contract on 9 July 2025.[49] He scored his first goal for the club on his league debut in a 1–1 draw with Bohemians on 25 July 2025.[50]
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Style of play
Deployed as a centre forward throughout his career,[4] Akinyemi's youth manager at Potters Bar Town, John Gibbs, highlighted his work ethic and strength, also commending his attitude and dedication.[4] He has also been described as "pacy and strong" and "a real threat".[51]
Career statistics
- As of match played 25 July 2025
- Two appearances in Isthmian League Premier Division play-offs
- Two appearances in the FA Trophy, one appearance and one goal in the Herts Senior Cup
- Three appearances and five goals in the London Senior Cup
- Two appearances and one goal in the FA Trophy, one appearance and one goal in the Southern Combination Challenge Cup, two appearances in the Herts Charity Cup and one appearance in the Herts Senior Cup
- Two appearances in the Alan Turvey Trophy and one in Isthmian League Premier Division play-offs
- Appearance(s) in FA Trophy
- Appearance(s) in Scottish League Challenge Cup
- One appearance in FA Trophy and one appearance in National League play-offs
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Honours
Dulwich Hamlet
- Isthmian League Premier Division play-offs: 2017–18[31]
Individual
References
External links
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