| Personal information | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Zaidu Sanusi[1] | |||||||||||||
| Date of birth | (1997-06-13)13 June 1997 (age 28)[1] | |||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Jega, Nigeria | |||||||||||||
| Height | 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)[1] | |||||||||||||
| Position | Left-back | |||||||||||||
| Team information | ||||||||||||||
Current team | Porto | |||||||||||||
| Number | 12 | |||||||||||||
| Youth career | ||||||||||||||
| 2013–2016 | Jega United | |||||||||||||
| Senior career* | ||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | |||||||||||
| 2016–2018 | Gil Vicente | 0 | (0) | |||||||||||
| 2017–2018 | →Mirandela (loan) | 39 | (0) | |||||||||||
| 2018–2019 | Mirandela | 32 | (3) | |||||||||||
| 2019–2020 | Santa Clara | 24 | (1) | |||||||||||
| 2020– | Porto | 82 | (6) | |||||||||||
| 2024 | Porto B | 2 | (0) | |||||||||||
| International career‡ | ||||||||||||||
| 2020– | Nigeria | 26 | (0) | |||||||||||
Medal record
| ||||||||||||||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 20:56, 29 September 2025 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals as of 22:32, 16 November 2025 (UTC) | ||||||||||||||
Zaidu SanusiMON (born 13 June 1997) is a Nigerian professionalfootballer who plays as aleft-back forPrimeira Liga clubPorto and theNigeria national team.
He spent his senior career in Portugal, playing in thePrimeira Liga withSanta Clara and Porto, winning a league andTaça de Portugaldouble with the latter in 2022.
Sanusi made his senior international debut for Nigeria in 2020, and played at the2021 and2023 Africa Cup of Nations.
Born inJega, Kebbi,[2] the 19-year-old Sanusi signed withGil Vicente F.C. of the PortuguesePrimeira Liga in 2016. In January 2017, he was loaned tothird division clubSC Mirandela.[3][4]
Sanusi reached an agreement to joinC.D. Santa Clara on 16 March 2019, with the deal being made effective on 1 July.[5] He made his Portuguese top-flight debut on 15 September that year, coming on as a latesubstitute in a 2–0 home win againstMoreirense FC.[6] He scored his first goal in the competition on 23 June 2020, in a 4–3 away victory overS.L. Benfica which marked theAzoreans' first-ever at theEstádio da Luz.[7]
On 30 August 2020, Sanusi signed a five-year contract withFC Porto.[8] He scored his first goal on 25 November, opening a 2–1 win atOlympique de Marseille in thegroup stage of theUEFA Champions League, being named in the tournament's Team of the Week.[9] He won the first trophy of his career on 23 December, when he played the entire2–0 defeat of Benfica in theSupertaça Cândido de Oliveira,[10][11] and finished hisfirst year with 41 competitive matches,[12] scoring in the 4–3 league win overC.D. Tondela.[13]
Sanusi remained first choice in the2021–22 campaign despite the signing ofWendell,[14] and scored the only goal in the93rd minute ofO Clássico against Benfica on 7 May 2022 to seal the club's 30th league title.[15] Fifteen days later, he started and finishedthe final of theTaça de Portugal, defeating Tondela 3–1.[16]
In2022–23, Sanusi fought for a starting place with the Brazilian. He suffered a muscle injury in aChampions League group victory againstAtlético Madrid on 1 November, and did not return until February.[17][18]
Sanusi missed the vast majority of the following two seasons, mainly due to a seriousanterior cruciate ligament injury to his left knee.[19][20]
Sanusi made his debut for theNigeria national team on 9 October 2020, in a 1–0friendly defeat againstAlgeria inKlagenfurt.[21][22] He earned his first officialcap the following month, in the 4–4 home draw withSierra Leone for the2021 Africa Cup of Nationsqualifiers.[23] At the finals in Cameroon, the team were eliminated in thelast 16 byTunisia; managerAugustine Eguavoen was criticised for ordering Sanusi and right-backOla Aina not to attack before they were losing with ten men.[24]
| Club | Season | League | Taça de Portugal | Taça da Liga | Europe | Other | Total | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Mirandela (loan) | 2016–17 | Campeonato de Portugal | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | 17 | 0 | |||
| 2017–18 | Campeonato de Portugal | 22 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | 22 | 0 | ||||
| Mirandela | 2018–19 | Campeonato de Portugal | 32 | 3 | 3 | 0 | — | — | — | 35 | 3 | |||
| Total | 71 | 3 | 3 | 0 | — | — | — | 74 | 3 | |||||
| Santa Clara | 2019–20 | Primeira Liga | 24 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | — | 27 | 1 | ||
| Porto | 2020–21 | Primeira Liga | 25 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 10[a] | 1 | 1[b] | 0 | 41 | 2 |
| 2021–22 | Primeira Liga | 24 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10[c] | 0 | — | 40 | 3 | ||
| 2022–23 | Primeira Liga | 18 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 8[a] | 1 | 1[b] | 0 | 31 | 1 | |
| 2023–24 | Primeira Liga | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4[a] | 0 | 1[b] | 0 | 10 | 1 | |
| 2024–25 | Primeira Liga | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2[d] | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | |
| 2025–26 | Primeira Liga | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4[d] | 0 | — | 11 | 1 | ||
| Total | 82 | 6 | 13 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 38 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 139 | 8 | ||
| Porto B | 2024–25 | Liga Portugal 2 | 2 | 0 | — | — | — | — | 2 | 0 | ||||
| Career total | 179 | 10 | 17 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 38 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 242 | 12 | ||
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nigeria | 2020 | 3 | 0 |
| 2021 | 3 | 0 | |
| 2022 | 6 | 0 | |
| 2023 | 3 | 0 | |
| 2024 | 7 | 0 | |
| 2025 | 4 | 0 | |
| Total | 26 | 0 | |
Porto
Nigeria
Orders
Member of theOrder of the Niger[30][31]Nigeria squads | |||||||||||||
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