Taye Taiwo

Olympique de Marseille

Born in Lagos, Nigeria, Taiwo began his football career at Nigeria Division 1 club Gabros International and Nigeria Premier League side, Lobi Stars. On 10 January 2005, at the age of 20, Taiwo moved to France when he was signed by French club, Marseille, signing a three–year contract, with a reported transfer fee costing 200,000 euros. Taiwo was brought in to fill the void Bixente Lizarazu had left when he departed for Bayern Munich. At the end of January, Taiwo officially moved to the club.

On 12 March 2005 manager Philippe Troussier called him to the first team and made his debut for Marseille, starting a match and played 61 minutes before being substituted, as the club won 2–1 against RC Lens. After the match, Foot Marseille said about Taiwo's performance: "For his debut in White, this athletic Nigerian started well with a goal ball for Luyindula and a few good interventions then seemed completely lost on the pitch never knowing how to position himself. His second half confirmed these incredible mistakes. He will hardly be able to do worse but given his age and his physique, he will surely speak of him better, much better." After sitting for the next six matches due to competitions from fellow left–back players Salomon Olembé and Kōji Nakata, Taiwo went on to start the remaining three matches of the 2004–05 season, as the club went on to finish fifth place in the league. At the end of the 2004–05 season, he went on to make a total of four…

Youth career

In May 2005, Taiwo was called up to the Nigeria U20 squad for the FIFA World Youth Championship. He played his first match of the tournament against Brazil U20 and helped the U20 side keep a clean sheet, in a 0–0 draw on 12 June 2005. Taiwo then helped Nigeria U20 go through to the knockout stage after beating Switzerland U20 3–0 on Matchday Three. In a follow–up match, he scored his first goal of the tournament, in a 1–0 win against Ukraine U20 to progress to the next round. In the quarter–final match against Netherlands U20, Taiwo played the whole game which led to penalty shootout, and successfully converted the penalties, including the winning one to send the U20 side to the semi–finals. In the semi–finals against Morocco U20, he scored his second goal of the tournament, in a 3–0 win. In the final against Argentina U20, Taiwo started the whole game, as Nigeria U20 lost 2–1. Following the tournament, he was named the third best player in the tournament behind Mikel John Obi and Lionel Messi. In July 2008, there were questions whether Taiwo would be included in the Nigeria U23 squad for the Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. It was confirmed on three separate times that he would not be included in the squad in the end. Unfortunately in his absence, Nigeria U23 would later earn a silver medal after losing 1–0 against Argentina U23.

Senior career

Having previously been called up to the Nigeria squad throughout the earliest 2004, Taiwo made his…

Club

As of match played 19 October 2019

1 Includes Trophée des champions

International

As of match played 29 February 2012

International goals

As of 15 November 2014

Growing up, Taiwo has two sisters and three brothers. He is married to his wife, Nimota, and together, they have two children. Taiwo is a Muslim. When he first moved to France, Taiwo began learning French and managed to speak the language fluently. In April 2014, Taiwo had his house seized by the French authorities for not paying his debt.