Lekan Okunola has completed a permanent move from Austrian side Favoritner AC (FavAC) to Slovak club Baník Lehota pod Vtáčnikom on a free transfer, signing a contract that runs from 2026-02-02 to 2026-06-30. The 22-year-old Nigeria right winger leaves the Austrian Regional League East to return to Slovak football, where his new team competes in the country’s II. Liga.
The deal sees Okunola switch from Vienna back to Slovakia without a transfer fee after his market value at FavAC was last officially listed at €0. The move continues a career path that has already taken him across multiple Slovak clubs before a brief spell in Austria, and now places him once again in a fully professional environment with the opportunity to re-establish himself in a second-tier European league.
Okunola arrives in Lehota pod Vtáčnikom following a sequence of short stints and loans. After leaving Nigerian club Obazz FC for AS Trenčín in October 2022, he moved to FK Pohronie in July 2023, then to Železiarne Podbrezová in February 2024. A loan to FK Humenné followed later in 2024, before a permanent switch to Redfox Stará Ľubovňa in February 2025 and a subsequent move to FavAC in July 2025. Across that period, his market value peaked at €150,000 during his time at Podbrezová, reflecting a period when he was considered one of the more promising young attackers operating in Slovakia’s system.
Now officially listed at Baník Lehota pod Vtáčnikom, the right-footed winger is expected to operate primarily on the right flank of the attack, the position in which he has been consistently registered throughout his European career. Standing at 1.75m and still only 22 years old, he fits the profile of a player who can offer pace and direct running in transition, an asset for a club looking to solidify its status in the II. Liga.
The move also underlines his continued commitment to building a career abroad rather than in his native Nigeria. Since departing Obazz FC, every subsequent club has been in Europe, with experience spread between Slovakia’s top two tiers and Austria’s Regional League East. That cross-border journey, together with multiple changes of club and league, has already provided him with a varied competitive background unusual for a player still in his early twenties.
Okunola’s value trajectory has fluctuated sharply: from €10,000 at AS Trenčín in late 2022 to €25,000 in mid‑2023, then climbing to €100,000 and later €150,000 at Podbrezová. Later spells at FK Humenné and Redfox Stará Ľubovňa coincided with a decline to €100,000, then €75,000 and €50,000, before his most recent valuation of €0 at FavAC. The free transfer to Baník Lehota pod Vtáčnikom therefore represents both a reset and a chance to rebuild that lost market value in a league where he has previously been rated highly.
Having already featured in clubs across Slovakia’s football pyramid and briefly in Austria, Okunola now faces the task of converting that experience into stability and consistent performances. If he can regain the form that once justified a six‑figure valuation, the move to Baník Lehota pod Vtáčnikom could mark a pivotal phase in his career, providing a platform to restore his reputation and open the door to higher-level opportunities in European football.
