Teslim ‘Thunder’ Balogun Teslim Balogun is a legendary Nigerian forward of all time and a big hero. He was involved both as a football player and a coach.
He played football from the late 40s to the early 60s and then switched to coaching.
Teslim started his career as a footballer, playing for various Nigerian clubs, then moved to the UK, where he scored for Skegness Town and Queens Park Rangers and others.
Then Balogun became the first qualified professional football coach in Africa. He led the Nigerian national team to the Olympic Games in 1968.
Perhaps the most well-known Nigerian footballer of all time, for whom anecdotes and fireside tales have been crafted and told since the late 1940s.
It is said that his shot was so thunderous it ripped open the stomach of a goalkeeper who stood in its way.
Other rumours claim the goalkeeper was his brother and Balogun was so distraught he gave up football. Balogun won Nigeria’s Challenge Cup five times in seven finals, was the first player to score a hat-trick in the competition, and was a member of Nigeria’s UK Tourists in 1949, the precursor to the team which became known as the Red Devils, Nigeria’s national team. They have later renamed the Green Eagles.
After that UK tour, Balogun returned to England where he signed for Peterborough, becoming the first Nigerian to sign a professional football contract abroad. But he did not play for them and later signed for QPR, scoring three goals in 13 appearances.
On retirement, he earned his badges and became the first African to qualify as a professional coach, leading Nigeria’s team to the 1968 Olympic Games.
The Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos is named after the great footballer.
