ISTANBUL, Turkey - Former Newberry College soccer star Debola Ogunseye has signed a professional contract with the Turkish club Kartalspor, according to reports from the club's official website. Kartalspor plays in the Bank Aysa First League, which is the second-highest professional league in Turkey.
Ogunseye has already had an impact on Kartalspor's preseason games, drawing an early penalty and converting the ensuing penalty kick in a 4-1 exhibition win over Al-Dhaid from the United Arab Emirates. Earlier today, Kartalspor battled to a scoreless draw against Karabükspor of the Turkcell Super League, which is the top professional league in the country.
Kartalspor's regular season begins on August 22 against Ankaraspor A.Ş., which was relegated from the Super League last season.
Ogunseye was transferred to Kartalspor after playing with the USL-2's Charlotte Eagles since April. Ogunseye ranked fourth in USL-2 in goals with five and sixth in the league in points scored with 10 points despite playing in only 11 matches with the Eagles. He was named the USL-2 Player of the Week after two goals in a 2-1 win over the Harrisburg City Islanders on June 5.
Ogunseye, a 22-year-old native of Lagos, Nigeria, came to the U.S. to attend Newberry College in South Carolina, where he made an immediate impact in 2006 and was a first-team NSCAA All-Appalachian Region selection, second-team Daktronics All-Appalachian Region pick and first-team All-South Atlantic Conference selection after netting 16 goals and adding six assists in 16 games. He also tallied four game-winning goals and back-to-back hat tricks.
Ogunseye was also named to the NSCAA and Daktronics All-Appalachian Region first teams and chosen as a first-team All-South Atlantic Conference selection in his final two seasons at Newberry. He finished his Newberry career in 2008 having amassed 48 goals, 19 assists and 115 total points in three seasons and ranks second all-time in goals scored at the school.
Ogunseye finished his college career in 2009-10 at Furman, making his mark by netting the winning goal in the Paladins' first victory ever against national power Clemson.
Last summer, Ogunseye made his United Soccer Leagues debut with the Mississippi Brilla of the Premier Development League (PDL). He helped his club to a conference championship and 9-1-6 record with a team-best 14 goals in 15 matches, earning All-Conference and All-League honors and being named a finalist for the PDL MVP award. Ogunseye's season in Mississippi earned him an invitation to the USL Men's Player Showcase in Charleston, S.C., in February.
To attempt to follow Debola's career with Kartalspor, fans can visit any of the below websites. We suggest using Google Translate (http://translate.google.com) to translate the pages into English unless you are fluent in Turkish.
Kartalspor official website - http://www.kartalspor.org/
Turkish Football Federation Bank Aysa First League (in English) - http://www.tff.org/default.aspx?pageID=488
