Junior Adamu
{{Short description|Austrian footballer (born 2001)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2024}}
{{Infobox football biography
| name = Junior Adamu
| image = FC RB Salzburg gegen FK Austria Wien (2022-04-24) 40.jpg
| image_size =
| caption = Adamu with Red Bull Salzburg in 2022
| full_name = Chukwubuike Junior Adamu
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|2001|06|06|df=y}}
| birth_place = Kano, Nigeria
| height = 1.82 m{{cite web |url=https://www.redbullsalzburg.at/en/squad/junior-adamu |title=Junior Adamu |publisher=FC Red Bull Salzburg |access-date=30 August 2022}}
| position = Forward
| currentclub = SC Freiburg
| clubnumber = 20
| youthyears1 = 2011–2014
| youthclubs1 = GSV Wacker
| youthyears2 = 2014–2015
| youthclubs2 = Grazer AK
| youthyears3 = 2015–2018
| youthclubs3 = Red Bull Salzburg
| years1 = 2017–2020
| clubs1 = FC Liefering
| caps1 = 49
| goals1 = 26
| years2 = 2020–2023
| clubs2 = Red Bull Salzburg
| caps2 = 58
| goals2 = 17
| clubs3 = → St. Gallen (loan)
| years3 = 2021
| caps3 = 14
| goals3 = 6
| years4 = 2023–
| clubs4 = SC Freiburg
| caps4 = 40
| goals4 = 2
| years5 = 2023
| clubs5 = SC Freiburg II
| caps5 = 2
| goals5 = 0
| nationalyears1 = 2018–2019
| nationalteam1 = Austria U18
| nationalcaps1 = 6
| nationalgoals1 = 0
| nationalyears2 = 2019–2020
| nationalteam2 = Austria U19
| nationalcaps2 = 4
| nationalgoals2 = 3
| nationalyears3 = 2020–
| nationalteam3 = Austria U21
| nationalcaps3 = 12
| nationalgoals3 = 10
| nationalyears4 = 2021–
| nationalteam4 = Austria
| nationalcaps4 = 9
| nationalgoals4 = 0
| club-update = 23 May 2025
| nationalteam-update = 16:28, 14 November 2024 (UTC)
}}
Chukwubuike Junior Adamu (born 6 June 2001) is a professional footballer who plays as a forward for Bundesliga club SC Freiburg. Born in Nigeria, he plays for the Austria national team.
Club career
Adamu started his career with the youth team of GSV Wacker. In January 2014 he came to Grazer AK. In 2015, he joined the Red Bull Salzburg Academy, where he progressed through the levels from U15 to U18.
In September 2017, he was included in the FC Liefering squad for the first time. In the same month, he also debuted for Red Bull Salzburg's UEFA Youth League team, coming on for Nicolas Meister in a match against Bordeaux.
He made his professional debut playing for FC Liefering against WSG Wattens in November 2018 as he came in for Karim Adeyemi. In September 2020, he made his debut for Red Bull Salzburg in an Austrian Cup match against SW Bregen, coming on in the 75th minute for Masaya Okugawa.[http://wiki.salzburg12.at/Schwarz-Wei%C3%9F_Bregenz_gegen_FC_Red_Bull_Salzburg FC Salzburg Wiki]
On 15 February 2021, Adamu moved on loan to Swiss Super League team St. Gallen.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=15 February 2021|title=FCSG: FC St.Gallen verpflichtet 19-jährigen Stürmer: Junior Adamu kommt leihweise vom FC Red Bull Salzburg zu den Espen|trans-title=FC St.Gallen signs 19-year-old striker: Junior Adamu comes to the Espen on loan from FC Red Bull Salzburg|url=https://www.tagblatt.ch/sport/fcstgallen/fcsg-fc-stgallen-holt-leihweise-22-jaehrigen-stuermer-von-red-bull-salzburg-ld.2102495|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=15 February 2021|website=Tagblatt|language=de}}
Adamu scored his first goal for Red Bull Salzburg in a 1–0 league win over Admira on 14 August 2021. The goal sealed Salzburg's fifth victory on the road in a row, the longest such run the club had had in a decade.{{cite web|url=https://www.redbullsalzburg.at/en/fc-red-bull-salzburg/news/saison_2021_22/successful-dress-rehearsal.html|title=Successful Dress Rehearsal|website=Red Bull Salzburg|date=14 August 2021|accessdate=17 August 2021}} Three days later, he made his first appearance in the UEFA Champions League, coming on as a substitute in a 2–1 home win over Danish Superliga champions Brøndby in the first leg of their play-off round clash.{{cite web|url=https://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/match/2032628/|title=Salzburg 2-1 Brøndby|website=UEFA|date=17 August 2021}} On 16 February 2022, Adamu scored his first UEFA Champions League goal in a 1–1 home draw against Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich in the first leg of the round of 16 tie after coming on as a substitute for Noah Okafor.{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/60406537|title=Red Bull Salzburg 1-1 Bayern Munich |publisher=BBC Sport |date=16 February 2022 |access-date=16 February 2022}}
On 22 June 2023, German Bundesliga club SC Freiburg announced the signing of Adamu with an undisclosed contract.{{cite news|url=https://www.scfreiburg.com/aktuell/nachrichten/profis/20222023/junior-adamu-kommt-zum-sc/|title=Herzlich willkommen, Junior!|publisher=SC Freiburg|language=de|date=22 June 2023|access-date=22 June 2023}}
International career
Born in Nigeria, Adamu represents Austria at international level and has played for the Austria U18, Austria U19, and Austria U21 teams.
He made his first appearance in the Austria senior national team on 12 November 2021 in a World Cup qualifier match vs. Israel.{{cite web|publisher=FIFA|url=https://www.fifa.com/tournaments/mens/worldcup/qatar2022/qualifiers/uefa/match-center/400155664|title=Austria v Israel game report|date=12 November 2021|accessdate=17 November 2021}}
File:UEFA Euro 2023 Qualifiers Austria vs. Finland (2022-06-03) 01.jpg in 2022]]
{{Clear}}
Career statistics
=Club=
{{updated|match played 10 May 2025}}{{soccerway|junior-chikwubuike-adamu/508743|access-date=17 August 2021}}
| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"
|+ Appearances and goals by club, season and competition | |||||||||
| rowspan="2"|Club
!rowspan="2"|Season !colspan="3"|League !colspan="2"|National cup{{efn|Includes Austrian Cup, Swiss Cup}} !colspan="2"|Europe !colspan="2"|Other !colspan="2"|Total | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division||Apps||Goals||Apps||Goals||Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||||
| rowspan="4"|FC Liefering
|16 | 5 | colspan="2"|— | colspan="2"|— | colspan="2"|— | 16 | 5 | |||
| 2019–20
|2. Liga |20 | 14 | colspan="2"|— | colspan="2"|— | colspan="2"|— | 20 | 14 | |||
| 2020–21
|2. Liga |13 | 7 | colspan="2"|— | colspan="2"|— | colspan="2"|— | 13 | 7 | |||
| colspan="2"|Total
!49 | 26 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | colspan="2"|— | 49 | 26 | |
| rowspan="4"|Red Bull Salzburg
|0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 2021–22
|Austrian Bundesliga |30 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 9{{efn|name=UCL|Appearances in UEFA Champions League}} | 1 | 0 | 0 | 43 | 9 |
| 2022–23
|Austrian Bundesliga |28 | 10 | 4 | 3 | 8{{efn|Six appearances in UEFA Champions League, two appearances in UEFA Europa League}} | 1 | 0 | 0 | 40 | 14 |
| colspan="2"|Total
!58 | 17 | 9 | 4 | 17 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 84 | 23 |
| St. Gallen (loan)
|14 | 6 | 4 | 2 | colspan="2"|— | colspan="2"|— | 18 | 8 | ||
| rowspan="3"|SC Freiburg
|15 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6{{efn|name=UEL|Appearances in UEFA Europa League}} | 1 | colspan="2"|— | 22 | 1 | |
| 2024–25
|Bundesliga |24 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | colspan="2"|— | 26 | 4 | |
| colspan="2"|Total
!39 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 1 | colspan="2"|— | 48 | 5 | |
| SC Freiburg II
|1 | 0 | colspan="2"|— | colspan="2"|— | colspan="2"|— | 1 | 0 | |||
| colspan="3"|Career total
!161 | 47 | 16 | 8 | 23 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 200 | 62 |
{{notelist}}
=International=
{{updated|match played 14 November 2024}}
| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+ Appearances and goals by national team and year | |||
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| rowspan="4"|Austria
|2021 | 1 | 0 | |
| 2022 | 2 | 0 | |
| 2023 | 3 | 0 | |
| 2024 | 3 | 0 | |
| colspan="2"|Total||9||0 |
Honours
Red Bull Salzburg
References
{{Commons category}}
{{reflist}}
{{SC Freiburg squad}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adamu, Junior}}
Category:Footballers from Kano
Category:Austrian men's footballers
Category:Nigerian men's footballers
Category:Austrian Football Bundesliga players
Category:2. Liga (Austria) players
Category:FC Red Bull Salzburg players
Category:Austrian people of Nigerian descent
Category:Nigerian emigrants to Austria
Category:Men's association football forwards
Category:Austria men's international footballers
Category:Austria men's under-21 international footballers
Category:Austria men's youth international footballers
Category:Austrian expatriate men's footballers
Category:Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland
Category:Expatriate men's footballers in Germany
Category:21st-century Austrian sportsmen
Category:21st-century Nigerian sportsmen