The footballer trapped in Syria

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Olaniyi Gideon is a professional footballer, who had played in the UAE and had trials for clubs in the UK; his efforts to keep his dream alive found him playing for a Syrian club in 2011 when the country descended into civil war. He tells Bukky Fadipe about the fraught escape he was forced to pull off after the club he was playing for abandoned him and the other players who weren't Syrians. The programme is a Whistledown Production. PHOTO: Olaniyi Gideon, with the ball, in a team phot taken in Syria (personal collection)