Babajide Ogunbiyi

Babajide “Jide” Ogunbiyi (born 30 October 1986) is a soccer player currently playing as a defender for the New York Red Bulls of Major League Soccer. He is eligible to play internationally for or  but has not represented either country.

Early life
Ogunbiyi was born in Rochester, New York to Lai, a pharmacologist from Nigeria, and Elaine Ogunbiyi, a biochemist from Jamaica. He is one of three boys in his family; his younger brother Ayotunde played soccer at University of New Hampshire and Ocean City Barons in the USL Premier Development League (PDL). Ogunbiyi attended Wissahickon High School in Ambler, Pennsylvania. While at high school he played basketball as a forward as well as soccer as a defender. In soccer he lettered three years and was team captain in his senior year. He attended the Pepsi Football Academy as a youth and was a three-time most valuable player.

College
Ogunbiyi attended Santa Clara University. During his time with the Broncos, he also played as a forward and scored 11 goals in 77 total appearances with the team. He played the Broncos' West Coast Conference championship-winning teams in 2006 and 2007.



Club
Ogunbiyi was drafted by the New York Red Bulls in the 2009 MLS SuperDraft but did not agree to a deal with the club.

In 2010, after not reaching an agreement with the Red Bulls, Ogunbiyi signed for Viborg FF of the Danish 1st Division. Babajide was spotted by Viborg great Steffen Højer while he was on trial with Odense Boldklub in a match against FC Fredericia. Højer was impressed by Babajide and offered him a trial with Viborg, this resulted in the defender signing his first professional contract with the club in August of 2010. In June of 2011 Babajide went on a three day trial with German club Karlsruher SC, however the clubs were unable to agree on a transfer fee and he returned to Viborg. In two and a half seasons with Viborg Babajide appeared in 53 matches for the team in total, 52 league and 1 cup, scoring 6 goals. He had his best season for Viborg during the 2010/11 campaign in which he managed to score 5 goals in 28 league matches for the Danish side and was named as the clubs player of the year. He was also named in the 1st Division team of the year for the 2010–11 season.

On July 31, 2012 it was announced that Ogunbiyi signed a contract for the New York Red Bulls following a trial with the club.

International
Being born in Rochester, New York in the United States he was eligible for the and. Ogunbiyi has been part of the Nigerian national team youth setup since 2001 and senior national team since 2008, he has never appeared in a match for Nigeria at any level.