Wrapped in hundreds of yellow ceramic tiles, Estadio de la Cerámica is the heart of Villarreal, a small town on Spain’s east coast. The stadium and the town are home to Villarreal Club de Fútbol, a team that plays in Spain’s La Liga, regularly finishes inside the top 10, and often qualities for Europe’s premier club competition, the UEFA Champions League.
This proud and historic club is also where Canadian striker Tani Oluwaseyi plays following a move last August from Minnesota United of to Spain.
In the history of the Canadian men’s national team, Oluwaseyi’s move to Spain is unprecedented. Strikers, especially those entering their mid-20s, rarely move from Major League Soccer to Europe’s top leagues. And Oluwaseyi has already made an impact.
In his first season with the team nicknamed “The Yellow Submarine,” Oluwaseyi has scored goals in La Liga, the Champions League, and netted a hat trick in the Spanish Cup. His athleticism and quickness coupled with an intuitive sense of where the ball is and where the run of play is going, have put Oluwaseyi in serious competition with veteran Canadian striker Cyle Larin to be Jonathan David’s strike partner at the 2026 World Cup.
On a sunny day in early February, Oluwaseyi came to an empty Estadio de la Cerámica to discuss his journey from Abuja, Nigeria to immigrating to Mississauga, Ont., to now playing on some of football’s biggest stages.
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Inside the empty yellow stadium with its yellow seats, everything shinned in the late winter sun, but nothing shinned as bright as Oluwaseyi’s big smile. He was asked about his move and if he felt it was a personal achievement. Oluwaseyi then pulled out his phone.
“When I was over here [in Spain] and I remember that was the first time I got emotional [about the move],” Oluwaseyi said. “You know, I actually have a list on my phone, it’s called my Gratitude List. It has all the people who have been so integral to me being where I am now.”
This isn’t a story about one young man’s dogged pursuit to make it to one of football’s biggest leagues. This is a story about family, and the many people who lovingly and diligently made Tani Oluwaseyi.
And it’s a story about bread.
“There is a lot that goes into making something as simple as bread,” Oluwaseyi said. “So many different ingredients, different steps and you have to follow those steps or it’s not going to turn out.
“When I think about my journey through soccer, it’s the same for me.”
Oluwaseyi grew up in Abuja, Nigeria, with his older sister, Tami, his younger brother, Tife, and by his own admission, Oluwaseyi and his family wanted for nothing.
Their parents, Debo and Kemi, ran a successful baking business. They baked bread.
“Growing up in Nigeria, my parents worked really hard to give us a decent life,” Oluwaseyi said. “We were going to school. I started playing soccer. [We] didn’t suffer for anything.”
“We brought [the children] up in such a way that they should appreciate every little thing that is given to them,” Kemi said.
It was a good life for the Oluwaseyis. In the early 2000s they built a home and had no plans to leave Nigeria. But while life was good for Oluwaseyi and his family, Nigeria as a whole was in the midst of chaos.
One day in early 2010 Debo was watching TV and came across a CNN news report by African correspondent Jeff Koinange about militants and rising tension in the country. Debo and Kemi had both taken part in national military service for Nigeria, and were immediately concerned about the kind of weapons and armaments amassing in the Niger Delta region.
“My wife and I sat down and started looking at our options,” Debo said.
“We felt there is a better life that they [Tami, Tani, and Tife] can have, better than what we have,” Kemi said.
Debo and Kemi felt Canada was a place for the persecuted who sought refuge, so they applied to move to Canada as business owners, and in the fall of 2010 they finalized their arrangements. Oluwaseyi was 10, Tami was 11, and Tife was nine.
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The Oluwaseyis had a challenging time establishing their Canadian bakery just north of Toronto. In Nigeria, bread is a communal currency bought, sold, and exchanged as a vital resource; in Canada, bread as a business is about making a product sold solely to make a profit. The Oluwaseyis’ immigration application required them to prove they had the means to sustainably finance their business for years, even before they arrived.
“Just like any another young business it was tough, it was rough, it was difficult,” Kemi said.
Running a new business in a new country while raising three children who were also adapting took their toll on Debo and Kemi, and the children had to step up, too.
“There were times we would have to help them out as well [in the bakery],” Oluwaseyi said. “I think what made it easier was playing club soccer.”
On top of running a business, Debo and Kemi would often drive hours to get Oluwaseyi to practices and games all over the Greater Toronto Area.
“[Tani] was introduced to me by my son,” says Mississauga-based football and high-performance coach Sly Walters. “He just showed up like a kid that was just excited to play sports, period. [Tani had] just raw athleticism.
“It was just about nurturing that hunger that he had. Tani always showed up knowing that, ‘My parents are making sacrifices for me to be here.’”
Eventually, juggling so many obligations took their toll on Debo and Kemi. One day, Debo collapsed in the bakery and needed to be hospitalized.
“Some days I cried,” Kemi said. “I cried a lot. I did not sign up for this.”
But their love for their children kept Debo and Kemi going. “We never failed to tell [Tami, Tani, and Tife]: ‘When you put in the work, there is always a reward for you,” Kemi said. “But just like the bread that we bake, having the right ingredients is important.”
While his parents were shouldering the load at the bakery, others began lending a hand in the Oluwaseyi children’s development, especially Oluwaseyi with his blossoming abilities. Walters and Ron Davidson, another local, high-performance coach, focused much time and energy on Oluwaseyi’s growth.
“Tani was like a sponge to me and the coaching – he can be a difference maker and score some fantastic goals,” Davidson said. “His younger brother was with me as well, so it was a good support. And I think [Tani] always wanted to do his parents proud.”
“I can’t not work hard seeing what they’ve done,” Oluwaseyi said.
With his growing support system behind him, Oluwaseyi flourished at the high school and club level, which earned him a scholarship to St. John’s University in New York.
And whenever injuries or inconsistency or doubt weighed on Oluwaseyi, he could always turn to his grandmother, Irene Faseyi, the former mayor of the town of Crewe in England. A massive Arsenal fan, Faseyi’s prized possession is a photo of her giving Thierry Henry a Premier League award. She calls Oluwaseyi her “little Pele.”
“Make the best of your knowledge, so you know you’ve given your best,” Faseyi would tell her grandson. “You have what it takes to make it.”
Oluwaseyi won numerous awards at St. John’s and scored 20 goals in 49 college games, and in 2022 was selected 17th overall in the MLS Superdraft.
“When I heard Minnesota United call his name, it was overwhelming for me,” Debo said. After the announcement, Debo called and thanked everyone who had helped his son and his family along the way.
“I remember hugging my dad, and him in that moment [the MLS Superdraft] being like: I’m so proud of you, and just trying to take it all in,” Oluwaseyi said.
Oluwaseyi played three seasons in Major League Soccer, scoring 20 goals in 62 appearances. And in May 2024, Oluwaseyi was called up to the Canadian men’s national team ahead of the 2024 Copa América. He has made 22 appearances for Canada, scoring two goals.
But his journey didn’t end there.
As rumours began to swirl last summer that he would make a move from MLS to one of Europe’s top five leagues, Oluwaseyi needed to update his Canadian and Nigerian passports to finalize his move to Spain.
With the late-summer transfer deadline approaching, Oluwaseyi’s agent, Nicco Ruffo, Debo, and many family members and friends devised an incredible plan to get Oluwaseyi through seven cities, five countries, and three continents - a journey of approximately 31,000 kilometres in just over a week - to renew his paperwork so the $11.7 million move from MLS to La Liga could get over the line in time.
“I was telling everybody: That’s my son!” Debo told anyone who would listen after the move was completed and Oluwaseyi began lining up against the giants of Spanish and European football.
Last October, Oluwaseyi started against Real Madrid inside the famous Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.
“To see him walk on the field for Villarreal is a fairy tale,” Davidson said.
“It’s just something that doesn’t happen,” Walters said of Oluwaseyi moving to La Liga without prior European experience.
But the many whose efforts raised Oluwaseyi up to the highest heights of international and club football still acknowledge the two most important people in Oluwaseyi’s life: his parents.
“His parents have done a phenomenal job raising him,” Walters said.
“We always wished, we always worked towards making our kids better than we are,” Kemi said.
Kemi gets emotional when speaking of her son’s achievements, and the community that rallied around Oluwaseyi and the entire family. It’s hard for her to think of her son wearing a Canadian jersey on the World Cup stage without crying.
“I don’t think about it because it’s so surreal, because it wasn’t something that we planned,” she said. “It’s a dream of a lifetime.”
“I always say, for me, he’s already exceeded my expectations,” said Debo. “I’m extremely proud of him.”
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Alone in the stands after the interview, Oluwaseyi called his father. Throughout his soccer journey, Tani calls his father before and after games for advice, for reassurance, and for the comfort of knowing that, wherever he plays, home and family are always with him.
As they spoke, one of Spanish football’s great stadiums stretched out in front of the boy from Abuja who immigrated to Mississauga and is now playing in some of the biggest soccer competitions, in front of the people that made him.
And, much like with bread, when you have the right ingredients and follow the right steps, it rises.
As they sometimes do, father and son spoke about their journey and about gratitude.
“It’s quite incredible,” Debo said to his son about their family’s journey, “even you wouldn’t believe it!”
“I wouldn’t believe it either; fair, very fair!” Oluwaseyi said.
Father and son smiled and laughed.
