Abiola Grant gets a professional contract in Croatia
Barbadian football player Abiola Grant has signed for the club of the second Croatian league, NK Solin.
The 20-year-old forward has made several appearances as a junior footballer for Barbados, representing the island at U15, U17 and U20 levels. He made two appearances for the Under-17 team at the 2019 CONCACAF U-17 Championship and scored seven times for Barbados during his young international career.
“It’s a great feeling for me to sign another contract. The environment is great with the players, the coaches, the president and the sporting director and they really made me feel at home and that helped me make my decision very easily. This is a big move for me and I am grateful.
“It’s time for me to settle down and try to play much harder, get into the first team and get a lot of minutes. At the moment, my main goal is to get into the top eleven. I want to seal my position in the team,” Grant said.
Last January, Grant joined Slovenian second division side Brežice 1919.
In February 2021, he went on a two-week trial with Kazincbarcikai SC in Hungary’s Nemzeti Bajnokság II, and later signed for the club for the rest of the 2020/21 season. After numerous attempts and offers from other Hungarian clubs, he joined FK Radnički Sremska Mitrovica in the first Serbian league.
The Barbados Football Association (BFA) congratulated Grant on his “leadership” for fellow national players.
“It is fantastic news that Abiola has secured a new contract. It shows that local players can get a shot and a trip out of Barbados given the right opportunities. It is now up to us as an association and a country to raise the standards of Barbadian football to help create new pathways for these players.
Abiola leads the way; this is great for his career and obviously I’m very happy for him to move to Croatia and I wish him all the best,” said TBFA technical director Emmerson Boyce.