Dereck Germano Kutesa (born 6 December 1997) is a Swiss professional

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 winger for

Servette Servette is a district of the city of Geneva, Switzerland. The district's name comes from the Latin word for forest, ''silva'', and means "little forest". Its name alludes to Servette's rural past, before Geneva grew beyond its walls and incorpora ...

and the Switzerland national team.

Club career

Kutesa played his youth football by

and advanced through all the ranks. On 18 October 2013 he signed his first professional contract, a three-year deal, but he remained with their U-21 team. During the 2014–15 season he was called up to their first team and had four appearances with them in the Challenge League, the second tier of Swiss football. At the end of the season Servette were second in the table, but they did not obtain a license for the 2015-16 Challenge League season because they did not provide necessary financial documents and guarantees. Servette was therefore relegated to the

Promotion League The Promotion League, named the YAPEAL Promotion League for sponsorship reasons, is the third tier of the Swiss football league system. Eighteen clubs compete in the league, playing each other twice over the course of the season. The champions are ...

, the third tier. On 30 December 2015 Kutesa signed for

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...

on a three-and-a-half-year contract. He prepared himself for the second half of the season in January with Basel and was loaned back to his regular club Servette until the end of the season. With Kutesa's help they achieved immediate promotion. On 1 July 2016 Kutesa joined Basel's first team for their 2016–17 season under head coach

Urs Fischer Urs Fischer (born 2 May 1973) is a Swiss-born contemporary visual artist living in New York City. Fischer’s practice includes sculpture, installation and photography. Education and early career Born to two doctors as the second of two children ...

. After playing in five test games Kutesa played his debut for the club in the

Swiss Cup The Swiss Cup (; ; ; ) is a football cup tournament that has been organised annually since 1925–26 by the Swiss Football Association. Since 1999 the winner earns the chance to qualify for the UEFA Europa League or the UEFA Europa Conference L ...

away game in the

Herti Allmend Stadion Herti Allmend Stadion is a multi-use stadium in Zug, Switzerland. It is currently used mostly for football (soccer), football matches and is the home ground of Zug 94 and SC Cham in Swiss Challenge League 2007-08, 2007-08 Challenge League season ...

on 18 September 2016 as Basel won 1–0 against

Zug 94 Zug 94 is a Swiss football team based in Zug, in the Canton of Zug which competes in the 1. Liga. It was formed in 1994 after a merger between SC Zug and FC Zug. During the summer of 1983, Ottmar Hitzfeld Ottmar Hitzfeld (; born 12 January ...

. He played his domestic league debut for the club in the away game in the

Rheinpark Stadion Rheinpark Stadion in Vaduz is the national stadium of Liechtenstein. It plays host to home matches of the Liechtenstein national football team, and is also the home of football club FC Vaduz. It lies on the banks of the river Rhine, just metres f ...

on 5 March 2017 as Basel played a 1–1 draw with

Vaduz Vaduz ( or , High Alemannic pronunciation: [])Hans Stricker, Toni Banzer, Herbert Hilbe: ''Liechtensteiner Namenbuch. Die Orts- und Flurnamen des Fürstentums Liechtenstein.'' Band 2: ''Die Namen der Gemeinden Triesenberg, Vaduz, Schaan.'' Hrsg. ...

. Under trainer

Kutesa won the Swiss Super League championship at the end of the 2016–17 season. For the club this was the eighth title in a row and their 20th championship title in total. They also won the

for the twelfth time, which meant they had won the double for the sixth time in the club's history. Kutesa played in two of the cup games. On 14 September 2017, Basel announced that they were loaning out Kutesa to

FC Luzern Fussball-Club Luzern (), or simply abbreviated to FCL, is a Swiss sports club based in Lucerne (german: Luzern). It is best known for its professional football team, which plays in the Super League, the top tier of the Swiss football league syste ...

, until the end of the 2017–18 Swiss Super League season, so that he could gain more first team playing experience. Following this loan period he returned to Basel. But on 5 July 2018 he transferred to

St. Gallen , neighboring_municipalities = Eggersriet, Gaiserwald, Gossau, Herisau (AR), Mörschwil, Speicher (AR), Stein (AR), Teufen (AR), Untereggen, Wittenbach , twintowns = Liberec (Czech Republic) , website ...

. During his short period with the club, Kutesa played a total of nine games for Basel without scoring a goal. Four of these games were in the

Swiss Super League The Swiss Super League (known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a Swiss professional league in the top tier of the Swiss football league system and has been played in its current format since the 2003–04 season ...

, three in the

and nine were friendly games. During summer 2018, on 5 July, Kutesa transferred to

, where he stayed for just one season, in which he played a total of 45 competitive games for FCSG. In these he scored five goals and made five assists. On 27 August 2019 the club announced that he was transferring to French team

Stade de Reims Stade de Reims () is a French professional association football, football club based in Reims. The club was formed in 1910 and plays in Ligue 1, the top level of Football in France, having been promoted from Ligue 2 in 2017–18 Ligue 2, 2018. ...

in the

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

. On 25 August 2021, he joined

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 ...

in Belgium for a season-long loan. On 30 August 2022, Kutesa returned to

and signed a three-year contract.

International career

Kutesa is of Angolan descent. He participated in the

2014 UEFA European Under-17 Championship The 2014 UEFA European Under-17 Championship was the 13th edition of the UEFA European Under-17 Championship, an annual football competition between men's under-17 national teams organised by UEFA. The final tournament was hosted for the first tim ...

with the

Switzerland national under-17 football team The Switzerland national under-17 football team is the national under-17 football team of Switzerland and is controlled by the Swiss Football Association. The team competes in the UEFA European Under-17 Championship and in the FIFA U-17 Worl ...

. He made his debut for the senior Switzerland national team on 26 March 2024 in a friendly against the Republic of Ireland.

Honours

Basel *

: 2016–17 *

winner: 2016–17

References

External links

* 1997 births Living people Footballers from Geneva Swiss men's footballers Switzerland men's youth international footballers Switzerland men's under-21 international footballers Switzerland men's international footballers Men's association football wingers Servette FC players FC Basel players FC Luzern players FC St. Gallen players Stade de Reims players S.V. Zulte Waregem players Swiss Challenge League players Swiss Super League players Ligue 1 players Belgian Pro League players Championnat National 2 players Swiss people of Angolan descent Swiss expatriate men's footballers Swiss expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate men's footballers in France Swiss expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium {{Switzerland-footy-forward-stub