Toulouse Akpa Akpro started his career at his hometown club
Ligue 1 club
Toulouse as a youngster in 2003. While at with the club, he spent time on loan with
Stade Brestois 29 in the French Second Division where he scored twice in 15 appearances. He featured in around 40 games for Toulouse from between 2003 and 2007, managing to score a total of three goals. While with Toulouse, Akpa Akpro was briefly called up to the
France U18 International team, but was forced to withdraw from the squad due to injury. He was never selected again.
FCM Brussels Akpa Akpro was released by Toulouse at the end of the 2006–07 season. He then left France and headed north where he signed for Belgian side
FC Brussels in the summer of 2007. He remained with the club for the 2007–08 season, playing only a cameo role in the club's season by making only three appearances for the club. Akpro was released at the end of the season. After his departure from Brussels, Akpa Akpro had travelled to England where he joined
Milton Keynes Dons in a pre-season trial, before also spending a week training with
Colchester United. However, neither trial led to a contract offer and Akpa Akpro began the 2008–09 season as a
free agent.
Grimsby Town On 2 December 2008, Akpa Akpro joined English club
Grimsby Town on trial with a view of earning a permanent contract. A day later he received international clearance to play for Grimsby's reserve team in their league fixture away against
Bradford City. He played the entire 90 minutes in a 2–1 win for Grimsby. Two days later, on 4 December 2008 he was offered and subsequently signed an 18-month contract keeping him at
Blundell Park until the end of the 2009–10 season. The signing of Akpro at Grimsby would be the third French-speaking player to join the club under
Mike Newell, with
Congolese midfielder
Jean-Paul Kamudimba Kalala and fellow Frenchman
Mickael Buscher also arriving at Cleethorpes. He originally was set to make his debut against
Port Vale on 6 December, but his papers from the
Belgian Football Association were not received on time for him to feature. He instead made his debut against
Shrewsbury Town on 13 December, and helped Grimsby to record their first home league victory of the season with a 1–0 victory. He went on to make it into the
League Two Team of the Week after setting up
Nathan Jarman's winner against
Wycombe Wanderers on 17 January 2009. In the remaining months of the season, The Mariners were involved in a relegation battle, in which Akpa Akpro found himself playing a key part, mainly being fielded in attack alongside
Adam Proudlock. In March 2009, Akpro and Proudlock destroyed local rivals
Lincoln City in a 5–1 victory, with Akpa Akpro scoring two, and Proudlock hitting a hat-trick. Towards the very end of the campaign
Barry Conlon became Akpro's regular strike partner, and the two would turn out to become vital to the club's eventual survival from relegation. During the 2009–10 season, a managerial change saw the man responsible for his arrival at Grimsby, Mike Newell sacked in October 2009. During the season in which many different players were used all over the pitch, Akpro's role in the first team would change from week to week, with some weeks new boss
Neil Woods choosing to play him in his usual attacking role, whilst other weeks he operated in a wide left position or on the wing, and in other weeks merely only a substitute and in some circumstances also failing to make the 18 man squad at all. Akpro would play his part in ending an awful club record when he scored in a 3–0 victory over
Shrewsbury Town on 6 March 2010, which was Grimsby's first league victory in 25 games. Following relegation from the Football League, Akpro rejected Grimsby's new contract offer and left the club on 26 June 2010.
Rochdale On 7 July he signed a two-year deal with
League One newcomers
Rochdale, after he turned down a new contract at Grimsby. He made his Rochdale debut in a friendly match against
Fleetwood Town in which he scored from 20 yards out in a 3–0 victory. In his first season with Dale, the club earned a very respectable 9th place in League One, and were unlucky to miss out on capturing a play-off place. During the 2011–12 campaign Akpro and Rochdale were relegated.
Tranmere Rovers On 19 June 2012 he signed a two-year deal with
Tranmere Rovers, after he turned down a new contract from Rochdale. He scored a brace on his debut against
Leyton Orient on 18 August 2012, this prompted his manager
Ronnie Moore to comment saying Jean-Louis is capable of playing in the
Premier League and that he fully expected him to score 20 goals throughout the coming season. After topping the scoring charts of League 1 with seven goals in ten games, it was announced Akpa Akpro would be out for three months with a fractured metatarsal, coming off in the 18th minute in a 1–0 victory away at Notts County. Unfortunately Akpa Akpro, low on confidence following the injury, was never able to recapture his sensational early season form, scoring only one goal in the six remaining games of the season in which he played.
Shrewsbury Town Following his release from Tranmere, Akpa Akpro signed a one-year contract for
Shrewsbury Town in League Two on 2 July 2014. He made his Shrewsbury debut away at
AFC Wimbledon on 9 August, and scored his first goal for the club ten days later, converting a penalty in a 4–0 rout of
Accrington Stanley at
New Meadow. His next goals for the club came in a career first hat-trick, against former loan club
Bury in a 5–0 home win on 21 October. On 29 November, he scored a late winner against
Burton Albion for Shrewsbury's 12th victory in 14 home games, as well as handing
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink his first defeat as Burton manager. Akpa Akpro scored the decisive goal in a 1–0 away win at
Cheltenham Town as Shrewsbury secured promotion to League One on 25 April 2015. With the club close to the
Financial Fair Play limit and unable to move on fringe players, chairman Roland Wycherley agreed to fund a one-year contract extension, which was signed in time for the player to be available for selection for the opening league match of the following season against
Millwall. He scored his first goals of the season – a brace in a 2–0 win against
Blackpool – to secure a first home victory of the campaign on 26 September. He ended the
2015–16 campaign with seven in total, including important late goals in the season run-in against
Scunthorpe United,
Bradford City and
Gillingham, as Shrewsbury finished in 20th place, four points above the relegation zone. In May 2016, the club announced Akpa Akpro was to be released at the end of his contract.
Barnet Akpa Akpro signed for
Barnet on 1 July 2016. He scored his first goal for the club in a 2–0 win over
Accrington Stanley on 13 August 2016. On 31 January 2017, Akpa Akpro joined
Yeovil Town on loan until the end of the season. He was released at the end of the 2017–18 season. He scored three goals in eleven games in the Emirati second tier. Akpa Akpro returned to England with
Oldham Athletic in November 2019, signing a short term deal. The club announced in January that he would leave the club on the expiry of his deal. He joined
Radcliffe in March 2020. He scored on his debut against
Gainsborough Trinity on 3 March 2020. In June 2022 he joined
Cymru Premier side
Flint Town United. He made his league debut for the club on 13 August. In August 2024, Akpa Akpro joined
North West Counties Football League Premier Division side
Glossop North End on a dual-registration basis with
Wythenshawe Town. ==Personal life==