Michael Olunga

Michael Olunga (born 26 March 1994) is a Kenyan professional footballer who plays for Japanese club Kashiwa Reysol and the Kenya national team as a forward.

Michael Olunga
Olunga with Girona in 2017
Personal information
Full name Michael Olunga Ogada[1]
Date of birth (1994-03-26) 26 March 1994
Place of birth Nairobi, Kenya
Height 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)
Playing position(s) Forward
Club information
Current team
 Kashiwa Reysol
Number 26
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2012–2016 Liberty Sports Academy ? (32)
2013 → Tusker (loan) 15 (3)
2014 → Thika United (loan) 26 (9)
2015 → Gor Mahia (loan) 27 (19)
2016 Djurgårdens IF 27 (12)
2017–2018 Guizhou Zhicheng 9 (2)
2017–2018 → Girona (loan) 14 (3)
2018– Kashiwa Reysol 41 (32)
National team‡
2015– Kenya 40 (18)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 22:20, 3 March 2020 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 23:33, 14 November 2019 (UTC)

Club career

Early career and Gor Mahia

While still a student at the Upper Hill School, Olunga began his career with the Liberty Sports Academy in the Nairobi County League. He scored 32 goals for the side during the 2012 season, helping them finish the season unbeaten and earn promotion to the Nairobi Provincial League.[2][3] He made headlines when he scored seven goals in a single match helping his team to an 8–0 win.[4]

Initially reported to be attending trials in France, Olunga signed for Kenyan Premier League side Tusker on a one-year loan deal from Liberty on 19 December 2012.[5]

After finishing the 2013 season with two goals for Tusker, Olunga was loaned to fellow Premier League side Thika United for another year,[6] before joining Gor Mahia before the beginning of the 2015 season.[7] He finished the season as the club's top scorer in the league with 19 goals to help the side win a record 15th league title without losing a single match, including the second goal in a 2–0 win over Muhoroni Youth on their final league match of the season.[8]

Djurgården

On 17 February 2016, Olunga joined Swedish side Djurgårdens IF on a four-year contract, after joining the team's pre-season training camp on trial.[9][10] He scored his first two goals for Djurgården on 8 August 2016 against IFK Göteborg in a 3–1 win.[11] He was also named man of the match[12] and Djurgården coach Mark Dempsey praised him for his match winning heroics.[13] In the next match Olunga scored once again in the 2–2 draw versus IF Elfsborg at the Tele2 Arena.[14][15] On 27 August, he scored the match-winning goal against Gefle with a volley in the 86th minute. In the last 12 games of the Allsvenskan Olunga scored 12 goals which earned him a fifth place in the Allsvenskan top scorer table.[16] He was nominated for Newcomer of the year in Swedish football by a jury of Allsvenskan coaches and Swedish journalists as well as the coaches of the Swedish national teams. The prize later went to Alexander Isak.

On 10 November 2016, Kenyan football site Soka reported that Djurgården had turned down offers on Olunga from La Liga side Betis, Lokeren, Belgium champions Club Brugge and Swedish champions Malmö FF.[17]

Guizhou Zhicheng

In 2017, Olunga joined Chinese club Guizhou Zhicheng.

Girona (loan)

On 1 September 2017, Olunga was loaned to La Liga side Girona FC, for one year.[18] On 13 January 2018, he made his La Liga debut against Las Palmas scoring a hat-trick in the span of 22 minutes during a 6–0 win, becoming both the first Kenyan player and the first Girona player to score a hat-trick in La Liga.[19]

Kashiwa Reysol

On 10 August 2018, Olunga joined Japanese club Kashiwa Reysol.

On 24 November 2019 he scored eight goals for Kashiwa in a 13-1 victory over Kyoto Sanga.[20]

International career

Olunga made his debut for the Kenya national team in a friendly against Seychelles at the Stade Linité in Victoria on 28 March 2015.[21] He scored his first goal for the Harambee Stars in a friendly against South Sudan which resulted in a 2–0 win. On 27 July 2019, during the 2019 AFCON Olunga scored a double to complete a comeback against Tanzania.

International goals
Scores and results list Kenya's goal tally first.[22]
NoDateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.7 June 2015Amahoro Stadium, Kigali, Rwanda South Sudan2–02–0Friendly
2.30 May 2015National Heroes Stadium, Lusaka, Zambia Zambia1–01–22017 Africa Cup of Nations qualification
3.7 October 2015Stade Anjalay, Belle Vue Maurel, Mauritius Mauritius5–25–22018 FIFA World Cup qualification
4.13 November 2015Nairobi City Stadium, Nairobi, Kenya Cape Verde1–01–02018 FIFA World Cup qualification
5.22 November 2015Addis Ababa Stadium, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Uganda2–02–02015 CECAFA Cup
6.25 November 2015Awassa Kenema Stadium, Awassa, Ethiopia Burundi1–11–1
7.4 October 2016Stade des Martyrs, Kinshasa, DR Congo DR Congo1–01–0Friendly
8.23 March 2017Kenyatta Stadium, Machakos, Kenya Uganda1–01–1
9.26 March 2017 DR Congo1–02–1
10.2–1
11.10 June 2017National Stadium, Freetown, Sierra Leone Sierra Leone1–21–22019 Africa Cup of Nations qualification
12.5 October 2017Basra Sports City, Basra, Iraq Iraq1–21–2Friendly
13.27 March 2018Stade de Marrakech, Marrakesh, Morocco Central African Republic2–32–3
14.14 October 2018Moi International Sports Centre, Nairobi, Kenya Ethiopia1–03–02019 Africa Cup of Nations qualification
15.15 June 2019Centro Deportivo Santa Ana, Madrid, Spain DR Congo1–01–1Friendly
16.27 June 201930 June Stadium, Cairo, Egypt Tanzania1–13–22019 Africa Cup of Nations
17.3–2
18.14 November 2019Borg El Arab Stadium, Alexandria, Egypt Egypt1–11–12021 Africa Cup of Nations qualification

Personal life

Olunga studied geospatial engineering at the Technical University of Kenya and pursued a Bachelor of Engineering degree. For this reason, he is regularly known as "The Engineer" by Kenyan football fans.[23] He has stated that he looks up to Dutch striker Robin van Persie as a role model.[24]

Honours

Club
Tusker FC
Gor Mahia

Individual

References
  1. "Michael Olunga". worldfootball.net. Retrieved 14 January 2018.
  2. Patrick Korir (2 November 2012). "Schools' MVP heading to France". Futaa.com. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
  3. Wilson Mathu (29 November 2012). "Promoted Liberty embrace the challenge". Futaa.com. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
  4. Opiyo, Vincent. "Olunga rakes in millions from Djurgardens deal". Archived from the original on 14 January 2018. Retrieved 9 August 2016.
  5. Patrick Korir (19 December 2012). "Liberty loans Schools' MVP to Tusker". Futaa.com. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
  6. Mercy Njueh (31 January 2014). "Thika United sign Michael Olunga". Futaa.com. Archived from the original on 19 April 2015. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
  7. Mercy Njueh (7 January 2015). "Wafula, Olunga set for Gor move". Futaa.com. Archived from the original on 26 September 2015. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
  8. Seth Willis (1 November 2015). "Gor Mahia 2-0 Muhoroni Youth: Unbeaten K'Ogalo". Goal.com. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
  9. "Klart: "Ingenjören" till Djurgården - fyraårskontrakt påskrivet" (in Swedish). Fotbollskanalen Europa. 17 February 2016. Retrieved 17 February 2016.
  10. "Kenyan Olunga's Arsenal dream on hold after Sweden move". 17 February 2016 – via www.bbc.co.uk.
  11. "Finally…Olunga ends goal drought in Sweden". Goal Kenya. 8 August 2016. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
  12. Opiyo, Vincent. "Olunga on a brace as Djurgardens thumps Gotenborg". Archived from the original on 16 August 2017. Retrieved 9 August 2016.
  13. Gacharira, Samuel. "Dempsey full of praise for Olunga". Archived from the original on 16 August 2017. Retrieved 9 August 2016.
  14. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 16 August 2017. Retrieved 15 August 2016.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  15. "Olunga on target again as Swedish side held". Goal.com Kenya edition. 14 August 2016. Retrieved 14 August 2016.
  16. "Klart: Skytteligan 2016" (in Swedish). fotbollssvenskan.se. 11 November 2016. Retrieved 11 November 2016.
  17. "Klart: Skytteligan 2016". soka.co.ke. 10 November 2016. Archived from the original on 16 August 2017. Retrieved 11 November 2016.
  18. "Olunga completa l'atac del Girona" [Olunga completes the attack of Girona] (in Catalan). Girona FC. 1 September 2017. Retrieved 2 September 2017.
  19. "Michael Olunga open La Liga goal account with a hat-trick | Goal.com". Retrieved 13 January 2018.
  20. "Kenya's Michael Olunga scores eight goals in Japanese match". 25 November 2019 – via www.bbc.co.uk.
  21. Vincent Opiyo (1 April 2015). "Seychelles vs Kenya; Nine earn senior team debuts". Futaa.com. Archived from the original on 9 September 2015. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
  22. "Olunga, Michael". National Football Teams. Retrieved 9 February 2017.
  23. "TU-K Student Causing Ripples in 2015 CECAFA Challenge". Technical University of Kenya. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
  24. "Olunga, the Footballing Engineer". Technical University of Kenya. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.