Denis Masinde Onyango (born 15 May 1985) is a Ugandan professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for South African Premier Soccer League club Mamelodi Sundowns. Having begun his career in his native country, Onyango went on to play in the South African Premier Soccer League with

Supersport United SuperSport United Football Club (often known as SuperSport) is a South African professional football club based in Atteridgeville in Pretoria in the Gauteng province. The team currently plays in the Dstv Premiership. United is known as ''Matsats ...

, Mpumalanga Black Aces, and Mamelodi Sundowns. With Mamelodi Sundowns, he won the

2016 CAF Champions League The 2016 CAF Champions League (officially the 2016 Orange CAF Champions League for sponsorship reasons) was the 52nd edition of Africa's premier club football tournament organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), and the 20th editio ...

and took part in the

2016 FIFA Club World Cup The 2016 FIFA Club World Cup (officially known as the FIFA Club World Cup Japan 2016 presented by Alibaba YunOS Auto for sponsorship reasons) was the 13th edition of the FIFA Club World Cup, a FIFA-organised international club football tournament ...

. He was named the 2016 African-based African Player of the year. He was also ranked as the tenth best goalkeeper in the world in the list for 2016, compiled by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics. He represented Uganda at the

2017 Africa Cup of Nations The 2017 Africa Cup of Nations (abbreviated as AFCON 2017 or CAN 2017), known as the Total 2017 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 31st edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial international men's football champions ...

, and captained them until his international retirement in 2021.

Club career

Early career

Born in Kampala, Uganda, Onyango began his career with SC Villa in Kampala and later joined St. George SA in Ethiopia.

SuperSport United and Mpumalanga Black Aces

In 2006, Onyango joined South African Premier Soccer League side

. On 8 July 2010, he was released by SuperSport United. On 26 July, Mpumalanga Black Aces signed free agent Onyango.

Mamelodi Sundowns

In 2011, Onyango joined South African Premier Soccer League club Mamelodi Sundowns. On 2 August 2013, he made a loan move to league rivals Bidvest Wits. In July 2014 Mamelodi Sundowns exercised their option to extend Onyango's contract by a year. Onyango won the

PSL Goalkeeper of the Season The PSL Goalkeeper of the Season in South African football is awarded to the most outstanding goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a des ...

award (best player in the South African top division) in the 2015–16 season and kept 14 clean sheets as Sundowns earned a record 71 points. The Uganda Sports Press Associations voted Onyango as the best sports personality in the month of October 2016 in Uganda. On 5 January 2017, he was voted the 2016 African-based African Player of the year at the

CAF Awards The CAF Awards is an awards evening held to honour the best African association football players. It is conferred by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). Current awards The awards include: CAF Player of the Year CAF Most Promising Talen ...

held in Nigeria. The final tally saw him pick up 252 votes, compared to 228 votes for second place

Khama Billiat Khama Billiat (born 19 August 1990) is a Zimbabwean professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for South African Premier Division club Kaizer Chiefs. Club career CAPS United FC Billiat first played for CAPS United FC under coach Lloyd ...

International career

Onyango made his international debut for Uganda on 18 June 2005 World Cup qualifying match against

Cape Verde , national_anthem = () , official_languages = Portuguese , national_languages = Cape Verdean Creole , capital = Praia , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , demonym ...

. From then Onyango became a regular for the ''Cranes''. Onyango helped the Cranes qualify for the

by conceding only two goals in six matches in their qualifying group. He made his first appearance at the Africa Cup of Nations in the 31st edition that was hosted by Gabon from 14 January 2017 to 5 February 2017. He became captain of the national team in April 2017. On 12 April 2021, Onyango announced his international retirement, after Uganda failed to qualify for the

2021 Africa Cup of Nations The 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (also referred to as AFCON 2021 or CAN 2021), known as the TotalEnergies 2021 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 33rd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial international men's foo ...

Style of play

Onyango is renowned for his penalty-saving and his play in one-on-one situations. He is all round, very consistent and calm as described by Mark Anderson, a former Sundowns goalkeeper coach.

Career statistics

Honors

Super Sport United * Premier Soccer League: 2007–08, 2008–09, 2009–10 Mamelodi Sundowns *Premier Soccer League: 2015–16, 2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20, 2020–21, 2021–22 * Nedbank Cup: 2014–15, 2019–20, 2021–22 * Telkom Knockout:

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

, Telkom Knockout:

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

CAF Champions League The CAF Champions League, known for sponsorship purposes as the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League and formerly the African Cup of Champions Clubs, is an annual football club competition organized by the Confederation of African Football and co ...

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

CAF Super Cup The CAF Super Cup (also known as African Super Cup or for sponsorship reasons TotalEnergies CAF Super Cup) is an annual African association football competition contested between the winners of the CAF Champions League and the CAF Confederation ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

MTN 8 MTN 8 is the current branding for a South African soccer cup competition launched in 1972 for teams who finished in the top 8 positions of the league table of the country's preceding top-flight league (currently the DStv Premiership) season. T ...

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

Individual * 2016 African-based African Player of the year: 2016

References

External links

Official Website of Supersport United Football ClubPremier Soccer League
{{DEFAULTSORT:Onyango, Denis Living people 1985 births Sportspeople from Kampala Association football goalkeepers Ugandan footballers Uganda international footballers Ugandan expatriate footballers SC Villa players Saint George S.C. players SuperSport United F.C. players Expatriate soccer players in South Africa Expatriate footballers in Ethiopia Ugandan expatriate sportspeople in South Africa Mamelodi Sundowns F.C. players Luo people 2017 Africa Cup of Nations players 2019 Africa Cup of Nations players