Nelson Ighodaro Abbey
Defender · Rio Ave FC · №6
Recent matches
| Date | Match | Score |
|---|---|---|
Estoril
Rio Ave FC
Primeira Liga
|
0:2 | |
Rio Ave FC
FC Porto
Primeira Liga
|
0:2 | |
GIL Vicente
Rio Ave FC
Primeira Liga
|
1:0 | |
Rio Ave FC
Sporting CP
Primeira Liga
|
1:4 | |
|
Rio Ave FC
GIL Vicente
Primeira Liga
|
0:0 | |
Guimaraes
Rio Ave FC
Primeira Liga
|
2:0 | |
Rio Ave FC
AVS
Primeira Liga
|
2:2 | |
Santa Clara
Rio Ave FC
Primeira Liga
|
0:2 | |
Rio Ave FC
Alverca
Primeira Liga
|
1:2 | |
|
Estoril
Rio Ave FC
Primeira Liga
|
1:2 |
Season statistics
| Competition | Season | Games |
|---|---|---|
| Primeira Liga | 2025 | 12 |
| Primeira Liga | 2026 | 3 |
About the player
Nelson Ighodaro Abbey has been moved on by a club that owns him rather than by one that wanted him gone. Olympiacos sent the centre-back to Swansea City in August 2024, then recalled him on 3 January 2025 after a loan spell that produced a single appearance, in the FA Cup. Four days later he was in Portugal, on loan at Rio Ave with an obligation to buy.
Abbey played 10 matches in the second half of that season — eight in the Primeira Liga, two in the Taça de Portugal — and the transfer became permanent on 1 July 2025. In 2025/26 he has made 13 appearances, 12 of them in the league.
Between then and 2024 he made 31 first-team appearances in all competitions, 25 of them in the league, without scoring.
Abbey is eligible for Nigeria and the Netherlands through descent, but has represented England at youth level: three caps at under-17 in 2020, five at under-20 across 2023 and 2024.
Career path
- 2025 — 2027 — now Rio Ave FC 40 matches
- 2025 Swansea City 1 match
- 2021 — 2024 Reading FC 31 matches
- 2024 Olympiacos Piraeus 4 matches
- 2021 — 2022 Reading FC U21 14 matches
- 2018 — 2021 Reading FC U18 23 matches
Career
| Season | Club | Competition | Games | Goals | Assists | Minutes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 26/27 | Rio Ave FC | Liga Portugal | 3 | 0 | 0 | 257 |
| 25/26 | Rio Ave FC | Liga Portugal | 26 | 0 | 1 | 2 091 |
| 25/26 | Rio Ave FC | Taça de Portugal | 1 | 0 | 0 | 70 |
| 24/25 | Rio Ave FC | Liga Portugal | 8 | 0 | 0 | 635 |
| 24/25 | Rio Ave FC | Taça de Portugal | 2 | 0 | 0 | 92 |
| 24/25 | Swansea City | EFL Cup | 1 | 0 | 0 | 58 |
| 23/24 | Reading FC | League One | 22 | 0 | 0 | 1 897 |
| 23/24 | Olympiacos Piraeus | Super League Play-off | 3 | 0 | 0 | 212 |
| 23/24 | Reading FC | EFL Trophy | 2 | 0 | 0 | 180 |
| 23/24 | Olympiacos Piraeus | Super League 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 90 |
| 23/24 | Reading FC | FA Cup | 1 | 0 | 0 | 90 |
| 23/24 | Reading FC | EFL Cup | 1 | 0 | 0 | 90 |
| 22/23 | Reading FC | Championship | 3 | 0 | 0 | 17 |
| 21/22 | Reading FC U21 | Premier League 2 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 300 |
| 21/22 | Reading FC | EFL Cup | 1 | 0 | 0 | 70 |
| 20/21 | Reading FC U21 | Premier League 2 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 593 |
| 20/21 | Reading FC U18 | U18 Premier League | 1 | 0 | 0 | 52 |
| 20/21 | Reading FC U18 | FA Youth Cup | 1 | 0 | 0 | 90 |
| 20/21 | Reading FC | EFL Cup | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 19/20 | Reading FC U18 | U18 Premier League | 14 | 2 | 0 | 1 075 |
| 19/20 | Reading FC U18 | FA Youth Cup | 1 | 0 | 0 | 25 |
| 18/19 | Reading FC U18 | U18 Premier League | 5 | 0 | 0 | 334 |
| 17/18 | Reading FC U18 | U18 Premier League | 1 | 0 | 0 | 90 |
| Total | Rio Ave FC | 40 | 0 | 1 | 3 145 | |
| Total | Reading FC | 31 | 0 | 0 | 2 345 | |
| Total | Reading FC U18 | 23 | 2 | 0 | 1 666 | |
| Total | Reading FC U21 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 893 | |
| Total | England U20 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 371 | |
| Total | Olympiacos Piraeus | 4 | 0 | 0 | 302 | |
| Total | England U17 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 183 | |
| Total | Swansea City | 1 | 0 | 0 | 58 |
Transfers
Transfers- 25/26 Olympiacos Rio Ave FC
- 24/25 Rio Ave FC Olympiacos
- 24/25 Olympiacos Rio Ave FC
- 24/25 Swansea Olympiacos
- 24/25 Olympiacos Swansea
- 23/24 Reading FC Olympiacos €400.00K
- 23/24 Reading FC U21 Reading FC
- 20/21 Reading U18 Reading FC U21
- 19/20 Reading Yth. Reading U18
