Charni Ekangamene (born 16 February 1994) is a Belgian

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for Rupel Boom in the Belgian First National Division. Born in Antwerp, he began his career with Royal Antwerp before moving to their English sister club,

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

, in 2010. Having failed to break into the first-team, he was loaned to

Carlisle United Carlisle United Football Club ( , ) is a professional association football club based in Carlisle, Cumbria, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They have played their home games at Brunton Par ...

in January 2014, before making a permanent move back to Belgium with Zulte Waregem in July 2014.

Club career

Born in

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

, Ekangamene began his career with local club Royal Antwerp. As a result of the club's partnership with

, Ekangamene went on trial with the English club twice in late 2008 before agreeing in March 2009 to join them permanently once he turned 16 in February 2010. He made his debut for the Manchester United reserves on 26 April 2010, coming on for Michael Keane in the 76th minute of a 1–0 defeat to

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, ...

. The following season, he was a regular in the under-18s, making 18 appearances out of a possible 28, as well as appearing three times for the reserves, including one start in the

Manchester Senior Cup The Manchester FA Senior Cup (originally known as the Manchester and District Challenge Cup, later the Manchester Cup) is an annual football tournament held between the clubs of the Manchester Football Association which was first played in 1885; ...

– a 6–1 win over

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

on 3 February 2011. Ekangamene continued in the under-18s the following season, and scored his first goal for Manchester United on 5 November 2011 in a 2–1 win over

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

. His only reserve team appearance of the season came in the semi-finals of the Lancashire Senior Cup against

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

on 1 May 2012; the match went to a penalty shoot-out after it finished goalless in normal time, and Ekangamene scored the winning penalty with a delicate chip over the diving goalkeeper to put Manchester United through to the final. In 2012–13, Ekangamene graduated to the reserves on a full-time basis, and was again a regular in the side, playing 19 times in all competitions; he also scored his first goal for the reserves on 20 March 2013, getting the opening goal in the 40th minute of a 2–1 defeat to

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

. After making 13 appearances in the first half of the 2013–14 season, on 31 January 2014, Ekangamene and teammate Sam Byrne were loaned to

. He made his professional debut the next day, starting the game against

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

. Although the loan was due to last until the end of the season, a lack of centre-backs meant Manchester United were forced to recall Ekangamene to play in an unfamiliar position after only a month. After his return, he was ever-present for the under-21s and even scored in their penalty shoot-out defeat by Bolton Wanderers in the quarter-finals of the Lancashire Senior Cup on 17 March 2014. His performances during the season led to a nomination for the Denzil Haroun Reserve Player of the Year award, but he was ultimately beaten in the fan vote by

Saidy Janko Saidy Janko (born 22 October 1995) is a professional footballer who plays for Swiss club BSC Young Boys. Although Janko primarily recognised as a right-back, he is equally capable of playing on the right wing. Born in Switzerland, he played inte ...

. On 11 July 2014, Ekangamene left Manchester United to join Belgian club

Zulte Waregem Sportvereniging Zulte Waregem (), commonly known as Zulte Waregem or by their nickname Essevee (), is a Belgian professional football club based in Waregem, West Flanders. Zulte Waregem plays in the Belgian First Division A. Their highest finish a ...

on a four-year deal. He made his debut on 17 July, coming on as an 87th-minute substitute for

Mamoutou N'Diaye Mamoutou N'Diaye (born 15 March 1990) is a Malian professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Belgian First Division A club Westerlo. Career N'Diaye is a central midfielder, who also plays as central defender. He persuaded Gen ...

in Zulte Waregem's 2–1 win over Polish side Zawisza Bydgoszcz in the second qualifying round of the

2014–15 UEFA Europa League The 2014–15 UEFA Europa League was the 44th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the sixth season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. The 2015 UEFA Europa League Final was ...

. He then made his league debut on 27 July, coming on for

Chuks Aneke Chukwuemeka Ademola Amachi "Chuks" Aneke (born 3 July 1993) is an English professional footballer who plays as a forward for Charlton Athletic. Aneke began his career as a youngster with Arsenal, and spent time on loan with Football League clu ...

in the 83rd minute of Zulte Waregem's 2–0 derby win over

Kortrijk Kortrijk ( , ; vls, Kortryk or ''Kortrik''; french: Courtrai ; la, Cortoriacum), sometimes known in English as Courtrai or Courtray ( ), is a Belgian City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Regio ...

. On 29 January 2019, Ekangamene joined FK Inter Bratislava in the DOXXbet liga after a trial at the club. After a two year spell at

CD Marino Club Deportivo Marino Playa de Las Américas, known simply as CD Marino, is a semi-professional Spanish football club based in Playa de Las Américas, Tenerife, in the autonomous community of the Canary Islands. Founded in 1933, the club hails f ...

, he signed for St Joseph's in August 2021.New Signing: Charni Joins the Blues
St Joseph's F.C. 10 August 2021. Retrieved 10 August 2021.

References

External links

Profile
at essevee.be (SV Zulte Waregem) * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ekangamene, Charni 1994 births Living people Footballers from Antwerp Belgian footballers Men's association football midfielders English Football League players Manchester United F.C. players Carlisle United F.C. players Belgian Pro League players Challenger Pro League players S.V. Zulte Waregem players Oud-Heverlee Leuven players K Beerschot VA players Eerste Divisie players NAC Breda players FC Eindhoven players 2. Liga (Slovakia) players FK Inter Bratislava players Segunda División B players Tercera División players CD Marino players St Joseph's F.C. players K. Rupel Boom F.C. players Belgian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Expatriate footballers in Slovakia Expatriate footballers in Spain Belgian expatriate sportspeople in England Belgian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Belgian expatriate sportspeople in Slovakia Belgian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Belgium men's under-21 international footballers Belgium men's youth international footballers