[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"header-nav":3,"footer-nav":29,"article-from-pizzas-to-futures-iyiola-adebayo-journey":82,"category-counts-nav":95,"related-from-pizzas-to-futures-iyiola-adebayo-journey":105},[4,8,11,14,17,20,23,26],{"label":5,"to":6,"exact":7},"Home","\u002F",true,{"label":9,"to":10},"World Cup","\u002Fworldcup",{"label":12,"to":13},"Standings","\u002Fstandings",{"label":15,"to":16},"Football","\u002Fcategory\u002Ffootball",{"label":18,"to":19},"Basketball","\u002Fcategory\u002Fbasketball",{"label":21,"to":22},"Tennis","\u002Fcategory\u002Ftennis",{"label":24,"to":25},"F1","\u002Fcategory\u002Ff1",{"label":27,"to":28},"Long Reads","\u002Fcategory\u002Flong-reads",{"brand":30,"columns":32,"tagline":80,"copyright":81},{"description":31},"In-depth sports journalism covering football, basketball, tennis, F1, and beyond. Daily analysis, long reads, and expert opinion.",[33,51,59],{"heading":34,"links":35},"Leagues",[36,39,42,45,48],{"label":37,"to":38},"Premier League","\u002Ftag\u002Fpremier-league",{"label":40,"to":41},"La Liga","\u002Ftag\u002Fla-liga",{"label":43,"to":44},"NBA","\u002Ftag\u002Fnba",{"label":46,"to":47},"Formula 1","\u002Ftag\u002Fformula-1",{"label":49,"to":50},"Champions League","\u002Ftag\u002Fchampions-league",{"heading":52,"links":53},"Content",[54,56,57],{"label":55,"to":16},"Analysis",{"label":27,"to":28},{"label":58,"to":16},"Data & Stats",{"heading":60,"links":61},"Company",[62,65,68,71,74,77],{"label":63,"to":64},"Terms of Service","\u002Fservice",{"label":66,"to":67},"Privacy Policy","\u002Fprivacy",{"label":69,"to":70},"Editorial Policy","\u002Feditorial",{"label":72,"to":73},"Contact Us","\u002Fcontact",{"label":75,"to":76},"About Us","\u002Fabout",{"label":78,"to":79},"Website Disclaimer","\u002Fdisclaimer","Built for the love of sport","© SportPulse. All rights reserved.",{"title":83,"slug":84,"category":85,"badge":86,"author":87,"excerpt":88,"date":89,"readTime":90,"image":91,"imageAlt":83,"tags":92,"body":93,"_path":94},"From Pizzas to Futures: Iyiola Adebayo’s Second Chance","from-pizzas-to-futures-iyiola-adebayo-journey","football","Football: Feature","Sarah Martinez","Iyiola Adebayo, once released by West Ham at 16, finds new direction through Premier League’s Futures programme.","2026-07-28 07:40:40","2 min read","\u002Fimages\u002Farticles\u002Ffrom-pizzas-to-futures-iyiola-adebayo-journey.webp",[37],"## From Domino's deliveries back to football: Iyiola Adebayo's second chance\n\nIyiola Adebayo joined West Ham's academy at eight years old, following a path that produced Rio Ferdinand, Joe Cole, and Declan Rice. By the time he turned 16, he was gone.\n\n\"Within six months of being the captain at West Ham and playing in the Youth Cup, I was delivery driving at Domino's,\" says Adebayo, a defensive midfielder from Tilbury. The academy awarded him a scholarship before anyone else in his age group. A dislocated shoulder in his first year disrupted that trajectory. He still made appearances for the under-21s and under-23s, but the club released him regardless.\n\n## Futures programme gives released academy players a route back\n\nThe Premier League's Futures programme targets former academy players who have fallen out of the system. It offers structured training, access to scouts, and psychological support for prospects dealing with the transition out of professional youth setups, a period that often leaves players in jobs unrelated to sport.\n\nAdebayo joined the programme six months ago. In that time he has been training regularly and reconnecting with the competitive environment he lost when West Ham let him go. The programme's structure gives him something his Domino's shifts could not: a daily path back toward professional football, with coaches helping him refine his game and scouts evaluating his progress.\n\n## Where Adebayo stands now\n\nAdebayo has not signed a professional contract, and no club has announced interest publicly. What the Futures programme has given him is visibility. Each training session and match puts him in front of decision-makers who would never have seen him deliver pizzas.\n\nHis story is straightforward enough: a highly rated academy kid got hurt, got released, and got a second opportunity through a programme designed for exactly that situation. Whether it leads to a contract depends on what he does with the minutes he now has.","\u002Farticles\u002Ffrom-pizzas-to-futures-iyiola-adebayo-journey",[96,97,98,99,85,100,101,102,103,104],"analysis","basketball","cricket","f1","general","golf","mma","long-reads","tennis",[106,119,132],{"id":107,"stem":107,"path":108,"title":109,"category":85,"badge":55,"badgeType":110,"author":111,"authorRole":112,"authorInitials":113,"date":114,"readTime":115,"image":116,"imageAlt":109,"tags":117,"excerpt":118},"colombia-ghana-world-cup-2026-last-32-tactical-preview","\u002Farticles\u002Fcolombia-ghana-world-cup-2026-last-32-tactical-preview","Colombia vs Ghana: A Last-32 Collision of Pressing Philosophies","category","Elena Rossi","SportPulse Contributor","ER","2026-07-04 02:30:33","6 min read","https:\u002F\u002Fi.guim.co.uk\u002Fimg\u002Fmedia\u002Fe89420c766178641fa459ab1aa4f50bb8ae16ff9\u002F332_130_2010_1608\u002Fmaster\u002F2010.jpg?width=140&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=39c09393f6e8036ae77da95e39b703c8","World Cup, Colombia, Ghana","World Cup 2026 knockout football demands tactical perfection as Colombia's mid-block meets Ghana's transitional verticality.",{"id":120,"stem":120,"path":121,"title":122,"category":85,"badge":123,"badgeType":124,"author":87,"authorRole":125,"authorInitials":126,"date":127,"readTime":128,"image":129,"imageAlt":122,"tags":130,"excerpt":131},"manchester-united-summer-transfer-silence-deepens","\u002Farticles\u002Fmanchester-united-summer-transfer-silence-deepens","The Silence at Old Trafford: United's Window Is Becoming a Crisis","Transfers","tag","Transfer Correspondent","SM","2026-07-01 13:46:31","7 min read","https:\u002F\u002Fichef.bbci.co.uk\u002Face\u002Fstandard\u002F976\u002Fcpsprodpb\u002F9c85\u002Flive\u002Fd98c5f70-7543-11f1-9510-1546718f668b.jpg","Premier League, Champions League","Manchester United have missed two midfield targets and made zero signings. Patience is wearing dangerously thin.",{"id":133,"stem":133,"path":134,"title":135,"category":85,"badge":136,"badgeType":124,"author":137,"authorRole":138,"authorInitials":139,"date":140,"readTime":115,"image":141,"imageAlt":135,"tags":142,"excerpt":143},"wakefield-trinity-gritty-win-bradford-bulls-super-league-analysis","\u002Farticles\u002Fwakefield-trinity-gritty-win-bradford-bulls-super-league-analysis","Wakefield Grit Over Glamour: Trinity Ascend to Second","Match Report","James Chen","Senior Football Analyst","JC","2026-07-16 22:32:50","\u002Fimages\u002Farticles\u002Fwakefield-trinity-gritty-win-bradford-bulls-super-league-analysis.webp","Super League, Rugby League","Wakefield Trinity climb to second in the Super League but not without surviving a tenacious Bradford Bulls scare."]