Written in Partnership with Amir Bakian
(Celtic Legend Robert Douglas can be seen in the background.Credit @akojr10 on Instagram)
Elie Junior Akobeto, who is now 27 years old, left home (Benin) at 13 years of age to pursue a career in professional football (soccer).
In one interview for MARCA (https://www.marcadorint.com/historias-mi/sabes-todo-es-posible/) where he allegedly spoke fluent Spanish, it was revealed that he was inspired to play football by watching Zidane on TV to the point that his first technical skilled (tekkers for avid fans) learned was the “roulette” (360° spin).
Throughout his journey, he has been involved with many prestigious clubs although unable to make a clear breakthrough at first. This includes the likes of PSG academy, Premier League club Bolton Wanderers, Mansfield Town and Grimsby Town.
Adapting to the style of football from the United Kingdom seemed to be an issue at first until after his journey into the USA.
August 2019, he signed his first professional contract for San Diego 1904FC, a club founded by Chelsea legends Demba Ba and Eden Hazard (https://web.archive.org/web/20191021020456/https://www.1904fc.com/player/elie-jr-akobeto/).
Akobeto then published a post on Facebook thanking God for helping him throughout his journey, which he described lonely and tough but through hard work and discipline, success was the only option. You can see him proudly holding his shirt in the following link(https://m.facebook.com/akojr10off/photos/-you-will-arise-and-show-compassion-on-elijah-for-it-is-time-to-show-favor-to-hi/2043081782459729/) inside of the 70.000 seaters SDCCU stadium now demolished (https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/watch-final-piece-of-san-diego-stadium-torn-down/2556015/).
This post gained a lot of engagement since it represented the American dream and was republished by local sports newspaper such as BeninFootball (https://www.facebook.com/Beninfootballcom/posts/1400426803466196/?comment_id=1400453126796897).
A dream that was short lived as few months after, Akobeto was then again a free agent, just before the COVID 19 Pandemic struck the world.
Stressful times for players under contract and players without contract, Akobeto seemed to have maintained his fitness as he trained and played few friendlies for Arbroath Football Club in the Scottish Championship under the likes of Dick Campbell, Ian Campbell and Robert Douglas (https://web.archive.org/web/20210502024220/https://cfbfootball.com/2021/03/29/elie-akobeto-from-benin-to-bolton-the-future/).
On the latest developments, Akobeto has signed for Flint Town in the Welsh Premier League (https://flinttownunited.co.uk/team/elie-akebeto/) hoping to revive his career and play for his native national team (https://africafootunited.com/elie-junior-akobeto-rebondit-au-flint-town-united-fc/). We wish him the best of luck !
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