Tesho Akindele Opens up to Burgundy Wave

At 33 years of age, Tesho Akindele has already established himself as a regular for two MLS franchises. He helped FC Dallas win the Supporters’ Shield and U.S. Open Cup in 2016, putting an end to a 19-year trophy drought, before leading Orlando City to their first-ever trophy with the 2022 U.S. Open Cup. However, he could very well have left an indelible legacy for a different MLS team – Colorado Rapids.

Born in Calgary, Canada to a Canadian mother and a Nigerian father, Akindele was eight years old when he moved to Thornton, Colorado after his dad got a new job in the United States. He emerged as a standout striker for Northglenn High School and even received an offer to join Colorado Rapids’ academy, only to reject them in order to focus on his academic career. Indeed, it was only when Akindele enrolled at the Colorado School of Mines where he realized that soccer could be his full-time job. Akindele was a four-time All-American, finishing second in goals scored (22) in the nation in 2022 and winning the 2012 RMAC Offensive Player of the Year for his efforts, having previously won the RMAC Freshman of the Year in 2010. By the time he left college, he was the first player in the history of his school’s conference to score 3+ goals in three straight games, in addition to his school’s all-time leading scorer with 76 goals for the Orediggers.

“I didn’t reject an offer from Colorado’s first-team…they wanted me to play in their academy,” stated Akindele in an exclusive Burgundy Wave interview. “But at that point, I already knew I was gonna go to college, so I wasn’t gonna go. “My dad was my coach, so I didn’t go play with their academy team instead of my local team. Both of my parents definitely had a big emphasis on education, and anybody who’s in the family of an immigrant, especially Nigerian immigrants, could speak to the importance of getting a degree. I was going into one of the acceptable career paths, which is engineering, lawyer, or doctor. I was going to school to be an engineer, close to home, so it was great for everybody in the family.”

Despite being a few months away from completing his engineering degree, Akindele decided to drop out of school in order to pursue a pro soccer career. The rest, as they say, is history: Akindele has emerged as a successful Colorodan in world soccer alongside the likes of Ben Harburg and Lindsey Horan and enjoyed a superb career in Major League Soccer, following in the footsteps of all-time leading MLS scorer Chris Wondolowski as the latest player to go from playing for a DII school to excelling in the #1 American soccer league.

“I withdrew from school, and then I was training by myself in Colorado, just hoping that I could be ready for something. I ended up going to a small combine with the Seattle Sounders and Toronto FC, they had a mini combine back then, and then I ended up getting invited to the main combine. But nobody was talking about me, you know? And all the players pretend that they don’t do this, but I was looking up my name on all the draft projections, and I wasn’t anywhere, you know? So I was like, ‘Man, maybe I’m not gonna be able to make it. But luckily, I did well in the combine and was able to make it.”

After being drafted with the sixth pick of the 2014 MLS SuperDraft, becoming the highest-drafted DII player in league history, Akindele made an instant impression in Dallas’ attack and was named the MLS Rookie of the Year. Akindele thrived in East Texas with 28 goals and 13 assists in 164 appearances before being traded to Orlando in 2018, where he racked up 21 goals and 7 assists in 121 appearances. He called it quits on his professional soccer career in December 2022, hanging up his boots at 30 years of age and terminating an impressive journey that saw him compete in two Gold Cups and score 3 goals in 19 Canada caps.

“Honestly, I think pretty quickly, it just feel overawed, it just felt like it is what it is. When I was in Dallas, I didn’t know anybody in Dallas who wasn’t a professional soccer player. The only people I talked to were my teammates, and so we’re in this bubble where everyone plays soccer. Later on in my career, the fact that it was a job did start to weigh on me. This is not really a popular thing to say, but playing soccer was an amazing job, and I felt privileged to have done it, but I also got worn out a little bit by playing.”

“I think I didn’t have that same fire the last year of playing soccer as I did my first year, where I would do anything to play. It kind of did feel more like a job that you wake up, and you’re going through the routines, that’s when I knew that it was really time for me to do something different. I would see these young kids who are dying to be on the field, and I honestly just really wasn’t like that anymore.”

Whilst Akindele did come out of retirement in April 2024 for one appearance for Des Moines Menace, he hasn’t made a full return and is more isolated from the game than his average retired player. Today, Akindele spends his time in Charlotte, where he is raising two young sons with his wife and working as a real estate developer for Camp North End.

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