Hope Akpan

Hope Akpan

Akpan warming up for Reading in 2013
Personal information
Full name	Hope Ini I. Akpan[1]
Date of birth	14 August 1991
Place of birth	Childwall, Liverpool, England
Height	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Playing position	Midfielder
Club information
Current team	Blackburn Rovers
Number	21
Youth career
	Everton
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2009–2011	Everton	0	(0)
2011	→ Hull City (loan)	2	(0)
2011–2013	Crawley Town	47	(5)
2013–2015	Reading	58	(1)
2015–	Blackburn Rovers	44	(3)
National team^‡
2014–	Nigeria	4	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 13:37, 6 November 2016 (UTC). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 08:49, 30 March 2015 (UTC)

Hope Ini I. Akpan (born 14 August 1991) is a professional footballer who plays for Blackburn Rovers and the Nigeria national football team as a midfielder.

He came through the youth ranks at Everton, making his first-team debut in 2009. He later played for Hull City (on loan), Crawley Town, Reading and Blackburn Rovers.

Born in England, he represents Nigeria at international level.

Club career

Everton

Born in Childwall, Liverpool, Akpan made his competitive debut for Everton against BATE on 17 December 2009 in the UEFA Europa League.^[2]

On 17 March 2011, Akpan moved on loan to Championship side Hull City for the remainder of the 2010–11 season.^[3]

Crawley Town

He signed for newly promoted League Two club Crawley Town on a free transfer on 14 June 2011.^[4][5]

Akpan was charged with misconduct by the Football Association in November 2011, after homophobic comments were posted on his Twitter account. Despite insisting that someone else had posted the comments, he admitted the charge after no one came forward to claim responsibility, and he was fined £1,200 by the FA.^[6][7] In October 2012 Akpan was the recipient of online racist abuse.^[8][9]

Reading

Akpan signed for Premier League side Reading on a three-and-a-half-year contract on 8 January 2013.^[10][11][12] He stated his desire to help his new club avoid relegation.^[13] He scored his first goal for the club in January 2014.^[14]

Blackburn Rovers

On 10 August 2015 he was linked with a transfer to Blackburn Rovers.^[15] The following day, Akpan had his contract terminated by Reading, and completed a two-year contract to join Rovers.^[16][17] Akpan scored his first goal for Blackburn in a 2–2 draw with Sheffield Wednesday on 28 November 2015.^[18]

International career

Born to Nigerian parents in England, in 2013 Akpan declared his intention to represent Nigeria at international level.^[19][20]

Akpan received his first call-up to the Nigerian national team in October 2014.^[21] He made his debut later that month, on 15 October 2014, in an African Cup of Nations qualifying match.^[22]

Career statistics

As of 6 November 2016^[23]

Club	Season	League		FA Cup		League Cup		Other		Total
		Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Everton	2009–10	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0
	2010–11	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Total	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0
Hull City (loan)	2010–11	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
Crawley Town	2011–12	26	1	4	0	2	1	1	0	33	2
	2012–13	21	4	2	0	3	2	1	0	27	6
	Total	47	5	6	0	5	3	2	0	60	8
Reading	2012–13	9	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	9	0
	2013–14	29	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	30	1
	2014–15	21	0	1	0	2	0	0	0	24	0
	Total	59	1	1	0	3	0	0	0	63	1
Blackburn Rovers	2015–16	35	3	2	0	0	0	0	0	37	3
	2016–17	9	0	0	0	2	1	0	0	11	1
	Total	44	3	2	0	2	1	0	0	48	4
Career total		152	9	9	0	10	4	3	0	174	13

References

1. Hope Akpan profile at the English National Football Archive (subscription required)
2. "Profile". Everton F.C. Retrieved 15 October 2014.
3. "Everton midfielder Hope Akpan joins Hull City on loan". BBC Sport. 17 March 2011. Retrieved 15 October 2014.
4. "Crawley Town bring in midfielder Hope Akpan". BBC Sport. 14 June 2011. Retrieved 15 October 2014.
5. "Ex-Tiger Akpan gives Hope to Crawley". Hull Daily Mail. 15 June 2011. Retrieved 15 October 2014.
6. "Crawley Town's Hope Akpan accepts FA misconduct fine". BBC Sport. 15 November 2011. Retrieved 15 October 2014.
7. Stephen Gray (16 November 2011). "Footballer fined £1,200 for "fully homophobic" tweet". Pink News. Retrieved 15 October 2014.
8. "Crawley's Hope Akpan backed by PFA after racial abuse on Twitter". Metro. 31 October 2012. Retrieved 15 October 2014.
9. "Crawley Town footballer Hope Akpan sent racist tweet". BBC Sport. 1 November 2012. Retrieved 15 October 2014.
10. "Royals sign Akpan". Reading F.C. 8 January 2013. Retrieved 15 October 2014.
11. "Reading complete deal for Hope Akpan". The Independent. 8 January 2013. Retrieved 15 October 2014.
12. "Reading sign Hope Akpan from Crawley Town". BBC Sport. 9 January 2013. Retrieved 15 October 2014.
13. "Reading: Hope Akpan ready for relegation battle". BBC Sport. 10 January 2013. Retrieved 15 October 2014.
14. Charles Watts (19 January 2014). "Hope Akpan 'buzzing' to get off the mark for Reading FC". Get Reading. Retrieved 15 October 2014.
15. Paul Wheelock (10 August 2015). "Blackburn Rovers look to strengthen with move for Reading midfielder Hope Akpan on cards". Lancashire Telegraph. Retrieved 11 August 2015.
16. "Rovers complete Akpan signing". Blackburn Rovers F.C. 11 August 2015. Retrieved 11 August 2015.
17. "Hope Akpan: Reading midfielder signs for Blackburn Rovers". BBC Sport. 11 August 2015. Retrieved 12 August 2015.
18. "Blackburn 2–2 Sheff Wed". BBC Sport. 28 November 2015. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
19. "Reading's Akpan targets Nigeria call-up". BBC Sport. 11 March 2013. Retrieved 15 October 2014.
20. Ed Dove (23 April 2013). "Reading's Hope Akpan sets sight on reclaiming Nigerian roots". Goal.com. Retrieved 15 October 2014.
21. Charles Watts (8 October 2014). "Reading FC star Hope Akpan proud to get first Nigeria call-up". Get Reading. Retrieved 15 October 2014.
22. Andrew Slevison (15 October 2014). "Reading's Akpan lauds influence of Chelsea's Mikel after Nigeria debut". Tribal Football. Retrieved 15 October 2014.
23. Hope Akpan career statistics at Soccerbase