Adebayo Akinfenwa – Keynote Speaker

With a frame more akin to a front-rower in rugby, Adebayo Akinfenwa was told repeatedly he was “too big to play football” but was always determined to prove his doubters wrong and turn his strength into, well, his strength. This he did across a 20 year professional career, winning fans and making friends wherever he went.

His unlikely break came in Lithuania, playing for FK Atlantas he scored the winning goal in the Lithuanian Cup Final and playing in the UEFA Cup qualifying rounds. Returning to the UK he had brief spells at several clubs before a breakthrough season with Torquay United, scoring 14 goals in 37 games and named the club’s Player of the Year. This earned a move to Swansea City, where he scored the first goal at the new Liberty Stadium and the winner in the Football League Trophy Final at the Millennium Stadium.

A broken leg curtailed his career at Swansea, but Bayo later found a new fanbase at Northampton Town, where he scored 71 goals across two spells.

In 2014 he signed for AFC Wimbledon and that season he played and scored against his boyhood club, Liverpool, in the FA Cup. Wimbledon reached the League Two Play-Off Final, which also afforded Bayo the chance to realise another boyhood dream – scoring at Wembley. This he duly did in a 2-0 victory. With his contract up at the end of the season, the post-match interview on Sky Sports went viral after he announced he was technically unemployed so any prospective managers should “hit me up on WhatsApp.”

Wycombe Wanderers manager Gareth Ainsworth duly did and Bayo built a strong relationship with both the manager and the fans over the next six years where he became the club’s leading goalscorer in the Football League. In 2020 he returned to Wembley to help Wycombe secure the play-off victory that saw them reach the Championship for the first time in their history. This time in the post-match interview, he said the only manager he wanted to hear from was Liverpool’s Jurgen Klopp, who subsequently sent him a message of congratulations.

After a long and successful career, Adebayo Akinfenwa’s last game was again at Wembley Stadium, coming on as a substitute for Wycombe in the League One Play-Off Final against Sunderland, proof that dreams do come true.

The walking definition of “extrovert”, Adebayo Akinfenwa’s post-match interviews have become legend and he has been a firm favourite with shows such as Soccer AM. Upon announcing his retirement from professional football Bayo signed with BT Sport and talkSPORT to be a presenter and matchday pundit.