Paul Fennessy

HISTORICALLY, THE CZECH Republic has not been a popular destination for Irish footballers.

Despite a strong presence in general, with roughly 1,000 Irish citizens estimated to be living there, the country’s footballers have tended to look elsewhere.

Gabriel Adebambo, however, is an exception.

A versatile performer who can play “anywhere on the left,” as well as in midfield, he currently plies his trade with SK Dynamo Ceske Budejovice, a team in the Czech second tier.

Adebambo, who was born in Ireland to Nigerian parents, describes the move, which he made in July, as a “risk” but one worth taking.

“I hadn’t had the best of times, and I thought: ‘You know what? It’d be good to get away from the noise, get away from the big cities, and just knuckle down and focus on my football,”‘ he tells The 42.

“I wasn’t really scared to come out to the Czech Republic or go anywhere really, because I know my ability, I know how good I am. And I feel like when I’m right, when my body’s right, 100%, I think I’m a good player, and I can get back to where I should be.”

Gabriel Adebambo joined SK Dynamo Ceske Budejovice last July.

The player’s experience so far has been positive, despite the language barrier and knowledge of only basic Czech.

“If they have the time of the day for you, they’ll speak English, or they’ll try,” he says.

The town he lives in, Ceske Budejovice, is less than a two-hour drive from Prague, although a significantly longer journey from Adebambo’s native Leixlip.

He hasn’t had the chance to make too many trips to the capital city, but will do so this week to watch Ireland play the Czech Republic in a crucial World Cup qualification playoff semi-final.

Adebambo will take a particular interest, given that a few of his mates are involved in the Irish set-up.

He lived with Nathan Collins for a period when both players were at Stoke City, also getting to know Will Smallbone during the latter’s loan spell there.

He similarly describes Andrew Omobamidele as his “childhood best friend”. Both players started their football careers at Leixlip United and attended the same school.

Of that trio, only Collins has made the squad for Prague, but each individual will maintain hope of featuring at the World Cup should Ireland get there.

“It’s good to have friends who are doing so well, and you can look up to them and ask advice,” Adebambo says.

“[Andrew and Nathan] would take the job so seriously; they were always destined for greatness.

“It doesn’t surprise me where they’ve gone in the game.”

Adebambo lived with Nathan Collins when both players were at Stoke City. James Crombie / INPHO James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO

Ceske Budejovice had been a top-flight team for six consecutive seasons before their relegation last year.

It led to an overhaul of the squad and the recruitment of Adebambo, among many others.

He is the only Irishman in the squad that is mostly Czech, but also features several Nigerians, a couple of French and one Scot.

The influx of new players has led to a less-than-seamless transition. The team are 10th as it stands and looking unlikely to regain promotion at the first attempt.

Yet for Adebambo, the most pressing concern is simply getting back on the pitch, following an injury-ridden few years.

As a teenager, he was a player of great promise and part of the DDSL-winning Kennedy Cup squad in 2016.

He had a brief spell with Dundalk, in which he lined out for their U19s and regularly trained with the first team, after coming through the ranks at Leixlip, before joining Stoke City at 18 in August 2020.

He was not the only Irishman at the club. In addition to Collins, Dubliner Andy Cousins was Head of Football Operations, James McClean was on the books, and current Northern Ireland boss Michael O’Neill served as the manager.

A devastating ACL injury curbed Adebambo’s progress. But the youngster still felt close to a first-team breakthrough after returning from injury, training with the senior squad and making the bench a couple of times.

Yet unfortunately, a debut never materialised.

“And that was almost heartbreaking, because we had nothing to play for [at the end of] that season,” he adds. “I just came back from an ACL, and I came back better than what people thought [I would], even surprised myself — I was playing really well at the time.”

In January of that campaign, Adebambo declined the club’s offer of a contract extension, which he says, “I probably should have taken.”

The youngster was released the following summer as the 2022-23 season ended with a disappointing 16th-place finish, prompting a squad overhaul by the Potters.

“They said: ‘Look, you’ll have a career elsewhere in the league, you’ll definitely get a club.’ And I was confident I would get a club, to be fair.”

But Adebambo had no senior football under his belt. The recent ACL injury also complicated matters.

“Clubs look at you [and think]: ‘Could he do it again? What is he going to be like when he comes back?”’

Gabriel Adebambo pictured playing for Stoke City U21s in 2022. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

Adebambo was out of professional football for “about a year”.

He joined a PFA camp for out-of-contract players.

During one of these sessions, he picked up a knock.

“The ankle injury kept me out for about two months,” he explains. “But it was a pivotal two months in my career, because it was the two months where the [transfer] window was open and teams wanted me to come in and train and stuff, and I couldn’t do that, and that just killed me for the year, because I went six months without playing football, and then, because I didn’t sign a contract, I went another six months without playing football.”

He ended up signing for Mickleover, a non-league English side, for the 2024-25 campaign, “just to get my fitness back and play games”.

It might not have been the level he expected to play at, but Adebambo was pleasantly surprised by the standard. More importantly, he got some much-needed minutes in senior football, featuring “20-25″ times for the Northern Premier League outfit.

Proving himself in men’s football paved the way for the Czech move, but Adebambo soon suffered another setback. In just his fourth appearance for the club, he sustained another ACL injury.

“There was a bit of a divot in the pitch, and as I tried to cut back, I almost felt it, and because I’ve done it before, it was more like I knew the exact feeling, and I just said to myself: ‘Surely this is not happening to me again.’

“It was quite hard to take and to get over. But it’s part of life, and a coincidence it happened the same day as my other knee [injury] just four years on. It’s my luck. And if I can get back playing, it’ll be a good story.”

Gabriel Adebambo is hoping to revive his career at SK Dynamo Ceske Budejovice.

Dealing with the latest ACL injury is both easier and harder than before. Easier because he has experience in coping with such a setback, and more difficult as Ceske Budejovice do not have the level of resources and support that a team like Stoke can offer.

However, League of Ireland physios did offer assistance after the player came home post-surgery. 

He is hoping to be back fit for the start of pre-season this summer and is contracted to the club for another campaign, in which he hopes to repay their faith.

And as difficult as his recurring injury issues have been from a mental perspective, they have also afforded him a renewed sense of perspective.

“I want to live my life,” he explains. “And these injuries have taught me that football is not everything. You still have a life outside of football. So I think I’m that type of guy, I want to see other places. I want to see other cultures.

“And I think when you’re injured in these situations, you appreciate the little things more. A session that I might have tossed off, I’d never toss off again, because when you’re a footballer, your lifeline is playing football, it’s like your breath. So when you don’t have it, it’s hard to continue and be strong mentally.”