Bukayo Saka

**Bukayo Ayoyinka T. M. Saka** (born 5 September 2001) is an English professional footballer who plays as a winger,  for  club Arsenal and the England national team.

## Early life

Saka was born in Ealing, Greater London to Nigerian parents, and went to the Edward Betham Church of England Primary School before Greenford High School, where he gained high grades in his GCSEs. Prior to joining Arsenal, Saka played youth football for local club Greenford Celtic. His parents moved to London from Nigeria as migrants.

His name "Bukayo" comes from the Yoruba language spoken in southern Nigeria, meaning "adds to joy".

## Club career

Saka had played for the youth teams of Watford. He joined Arsenal's Hale End academy at the age of seven. Once he turned 17 years old, Saka was given a contract by Arsenal and moved up to the under-23 side.

On 29 November 2018, Saka made his first senior appearance for Arsenal in their Europa League match against Vorskla Poltava.

### 2019–20: Breakthrough and FA Cup win

Saka scored his first senior goal on 19 September, against German side Eintracht Frankfurt in the UEFA Europa League.  He also finished the match with two assists in a 3–0 win. Saka was rewarded for his efforts in Germany with his first Premier League start, in a 3–2 home win over Aston Villa.

On 1 July 2020, Saka signed a new long-term contract with Arsenal.

### 2020–21: Arsenal Player of the Season

On 15 April, Saka scored a goal and helped Arsenal to a 4–0 victory over Slavia Prague in the quarter final of the Europa League. Because of this, he was named as the Europa League Player of the Week.

## International career

Saka represented England at under-16, under-17, under-18, under-19 and under-21 level.

On 1 October, Saka was called up to the England senior squad for the first time, and made his international debut as one of the starters in a 3–0 victory over Wales.

On 1 June 2021, he was named in the 26-man squad for UEFA Euro 2020. On 2 June 2021, in a friendly against Austria, Saka scored his first senior international goal, the only goal in a 1–0 win.  He started in England's third Euro 2020 group stage match on 22 June 2021 against the Czech Republic, and was named the man of the match. On 11 July 2021, in the tournament final against Italy, Saka was brought on as a substitute for Kieran Trippier. Following full-time and extra time, Saka was chosen to take the team's fifth penalty during the following shoot-out, his first penalty kick at senior level. Saka's shot was saved by goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma and, as a result, Italy won the shoot-out and the tournament. Saka faced racist abuse online after missing the penalty.

### Club

|rowspan="2"|Club|rowspan="2"|Season|colspan="3"|League|colspan="2"|FA Cup|colspan="2"|EFL Cup|colspan="2"|Europe|colspan="2"|Other|colspan="2"|Total|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|Arsenal U21|2018–19|—|—|—|—|—|4|1|4|1||||||
|rowspan="7"|Arsenal|2018–19|Premier League|1|0|1|0|0|0|2|0|—|4|0||
|2019–20|Premier League|26|1|4|1|2|0|6|2|—|38|4||||
|2020–21|Premier League|32|5|2|0|2|0|9|2|1|0|46|7|||
|2021–22|Premier League|38|11|1|0|4|1|—|—|43|12|||||
|2022–23|Premier League|38|14|2|0|0|0|8|1|—|48|15||||
|2023–24|Premier League|9|4|0|0|0|0|3|1|1|0|13|5|||

### International

|National team|Year|Apps|Goals||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|rowspan="4"|England|2020|4|0|
|2021|10|4|||
|2022|10|3|||
|2023|6|4|||

- _England score listed first, score column indicates score after each Saka goal_

|scope="col"|No.|scope="col"|Date|scope="col"|Venue|scope="col"|Cap|scope="col"|Opponent|scope="col"|Score|scope="col"|Result|scope="col"|Competition|scope="col" class="unsortable"||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1|2 June 2021|Riverside Stadium, Middlesbrough, England|5||1–0|1–0|Friendly|||||||||||
|2|5 September 2021|Wembley Stadium, London, England|11||4–0|4–0|2022 FIFA World Cup qualification|||||||||||
|3|9 October 2021|Estadi Nacional, Andorra la Vella, Andorra|12||2–0|5–0|2022 FIFA World Cup qualification|||||||||||
|4|15 November 2021|Stadio Olimpico di San Marino, Serravalle, San Marino|14||10–0|10–0|2022 FIFA World Cup qualification|||||||||||
|5|21 November 2022|Khalifa International Stadium, Al Rayyan, Qatar|21|rowspan="2"|style="text-align: center;"|2–0|6–2|2022 FIFA World Cup|||||||||||
|style="text-align: center;"|6|style="text-align: center;"|4–0|||||||||||||||
|7|4 December 2022|Al Bayt Stadium, Al Khor, Qatar|23||3–0|3–0|2022 FIFA World Cup|||||||||||
|8|26 March 2023|Wembley Stadium, London, England|26||2–0|2–0|UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying|||||||||||
|9|26 March 2023|Old Trafford, Manchester, England|28|rowspan="3"|style="text-align: center;"|2–0|7–0|UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying|||||||||||
|style="text-align: center;"|10||style="text-align: center;"|4–0||||||||||||||
|style="text-align: center;"|11||style="text-align: center;"|5–0||||||||||||||

## Honours

**Arsenal**
- FA Cup: 2019–20
- FA Community Shield: 2020, 2023
- UEFA Europa League runner-up: 2018–19

**England**

UEFA European Championship runner-up: 2020

UEFA European Championship runner-up: 2024

**Individual**
- England Men's Player of the Year: 2021–22, 2022–23
- Premier League Player of the Month: March 2023
- PFA Team of the Year: 2022–23 Premier League
- PFA Young Player of the Year: 2022–23
- Arsenal Player of the Season: 2020–21, 2021–22
- IFFHS Men's Youth (U20) World Team: 2021
- London Football Awards Men's Young Player of the Year: 2023

## Other websites

- Profile at the Arsenal F.C. website
- Profile at the Football Association website

## Infobox (football biography)

- **name**: Bukayo Saka
- **image**: Bukayo Saka.jpg
- **caption**: Saka playing for England national football team, England at the 2022 FIFA World Cup
- **full name**: Bukayo Ayoyinka Temidayo Saka
- **birth place**: Ealing, England
- **position**: Right winger
- **currentclub**: Arsenal F.C., Arsenal
- **clubnumber**: 7
- **youthclubs1**: Watford F.C., Watford
- **youthyears2**: 2008–2018
- **youthclubs2**: Arsenal F.C. Under-21s and Academy, Arsenal
- **years1**: 2018–
- **clubs1**: Arsenal F.C., Arsenal
- **caps1**: 144
- **goals1**: 35
- **nationalyears1**: 2016–2017
- **nationalteam1**: England national under-16 football team, England U16
- **nationalcaps1**: 6
- **nationalgoals1**: 1
- **nationalyears2**: 2017–2018
- **nationalteam2**: England national under-17 football team, England U17
- **nationalcaps2**: 9
- **nationalgoals2**: 1
- **nationalyears3**: 2018
- **nationalteam3**: England national under-18 football team, England U18
- **nationalcaps3**: 5
- **nationalgoals3**: 1
- **nationalyears4**: 2018–2019
- **nationalteam4**: England national under-19 football team, England U19
- **nationalcaps4**: 10
- **nationalgoals4**: 4
- **nationalyears5**: 2020
- **nationalteam5**: England national under-21 football team, England U21
- **nationalcaps5**: 1
- **nationalgoals5**: 0
- **nationalyears6**: 2020–
- **nationalteam6**: England national football team, England
- **nationalcaps6**: 30
- **nationalgoals6**: 11
- **club-update**: 18:01, 28 October 2023 (UTC)
- **nationalteam-update**: 22:33, 12 September 2023 (UTC)