Joseph Dodoo is a professional footballer who last played for Bolton Wanderers. He came through the youth academy at Leicester City, and made his debut for them in August 2015, scoring a hat-trick and providing an assist in a 4–1 win at Bury. Later that year, he had a one-month loan at Bury. In July 2016, he signed a four-year deal at Rangers. Dodoo made a limited amount of appearances for the Rangers first team, and was loaned to Charlton Athletic and Blackpool. Born in Ghana and living in England from the age of eight, Dodoo is eligible to represent either Ghana or England at the international level. He has played once for England at under-18 level in 2013.
Club career
Leicester City
Dodoo made his first team debut on 25 August 2015, in the second round of the League Cup away to Bury at Gigg Lane. He played the full 90 minutes and scored a hat-trick in a 4–1 victory, also assisting the goal by Andrej Kramarić. Bury subsequently stated that they were interested in signing him on loan. Four days later, Dodoo made his first Premier League appearance, as a 72nd-minute substitute for Marc Albrighton in a 1–1 draw with Bournemouth at Dean Court. In the next round of the League Cup on 22 September 2015, his first game at the King Power Stadium, Dodoo scored the opening goal after six minutes in a 2–1 extra-time win over West Ham United.
Bury (loan)
On 19 November, Dodoo joined Bury of League One on loan until 18 December 2015. He made his debut two days later, starting in a home game against Burton Albion and contributing to the only goal of the game in the 40th minute when his low cross was put into the Burton net by their defender Jerome Binnom-Williams. Many sources have recorded this as a Dodoo goal, however, officially it was recorded as a Binnom-Williams own goal.
Rangers
Dodoo opened signing talks with Scottish Premiership side Rangers in July 2016 with then-manager Mark Warburton. On the 19th, he signed a four-year deal with the Glasgow-based club, for a £250,000 development fee. He made his debut three days later in their Scottish League Cup match away to East Stirlingshire, replacing Michael O'Halloran after 60 minutes and scoring the last goal of a 3–0 win from close range when set up by Lee Wallace. He scored his first league goals on 26 November 2016, against Partick Thistle, netting two late strikes in a 2–1 win for Rangers. Dodoo joined Charlton Athletic on loan on 31 August 2017. On his debut for the club he came on as a substitute and scored the winning goal in a 4–3 victory at Oldham Athletic. Dodoo was loaned to Blackpool in June 2018 on a one-year deal. He left Rangers on 2 September 2019 by mutual consent.
Bolton Wanderers
On 3 October 2019, Dodoo signed a contract with League One side Bolton Wanderers until the end of the season, subject to international clearance. He made his debut four days later, coming on as a second-half substitute for Dennis Politic in the goalless draw at home to Blackpool. He scored his first goal for the club on 7 December in the 2–2 home draw with AFC Wimbledon. On 26 June it was announced Dodoo would be one of 14 senior players released at the end of his contract on 30 June.
International career
Dodoo is eligible to represent England or Ghana internationally. In March 2013, Dodoo was called up to the England under-18 team and played in a match against Belgium. On 20 May 2016 he was called up to the Ghana squad for their Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Mauritius; as he required FIFA to approve his change of nationality, he was unable to play, but trained with the squad.
