Elvis Banyihwabe (born 15 April 1983) is a former Burundian international

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 played twice for the Burundi national team, 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 ...

Club career

Born in the

Burundi Burundi (, ), officially the Republic of Burundi ( rn, Repuburika y’Uburundi ; Swahili language, Swahili: ''Jamuhuri ya Burundi''; French language, French: ''République du Burundi'' ), is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley at the ...

an capital of

Bujumbura Bujumbura (; ), formerly Usumbura, is the economic capital, largest city and main port of Burundi. It ships most of the country's chief export, coffee, as well as cotton and tin ore. Bujumbura was formerly the country's normal capital. In late ...

, Banyihwabe fled to the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

in 2001 as a result of the

Burundian Civil War The Burundian Civil War was a civil war in Burundi lasting from 1993 to 2005. The civil war was the result of longstanding ethnic divisions between the Hutu and the Tutsi ethnic groups. The conflict began following the first multi-party election ...

. During his time in the Netherlands, Banyihwabe played for

BV Veendam Sportclub Veendam () was a Dutch professional association football club based in Veendam, province of Groningen. Founded on 4 September 1894 as Look-Out, it became P.J. Veendam in 1909, Veendam in 1910, SC Veendam in 1974, BV Veendam in 1997 a ...

VV Berkum Voetbalvereniging Berkum is a football club from Zwolle, Netherlands. Berkum is currently competing in the Saturday Vierde Divisie B league. The club plays home games at the De Vegtlust ground. Berkum has played in the Round of 32 of the KNVB Cu ...

DOS Kampen DOS Kampen (acronym of ''Door Oefening Sterk Kampen'') is a Dutch football club based in the city of Kampen, currently competing in the Eerste Klasse The Eerste Klasse ( en, First Class) started as the 1st tier of football in the Netherlands ...

and Be Quick '28. Following his time in Dutch football, Banyihwabe moved to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, playing for

Bootle Bootle (pronounced ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England, which had a population of 51,394 in 2011; the wider Bootle (UK Parliament constituency), Parliamentary constituency had a population of 98,449. Histo ...

Prescot Cables Prescot Cables Football Club is a supporter-owned football club based in Prescot, Merseyside. It was established in 1884 and has also been known as Prescot and Prescot Town. They compete in the and play their home games at Valerie Park. They ...

Ashton Athletic Ashton Athletic Football Club is a association football, football club based in Ashton-in-Makerfield, Greater Manchester, England. They are currently members of the and play at Brocstedes Park. They are full members of the Lancashire County Fo ...

Congleton Town Congleton Town Football Club is an association football club based in Congleton, Cheshire, England. They currently play in the and are full members of the Cheshire County Football Association. The club have played in a number of regional league ...

and AFC Liverpool.

International career

On 25 March 2007, Banyihwabe made his debut for

in a 1–0

2008 Africa Cup of Nations qualification This page details the process of qualifying for the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations. Qualified teams The 16 qualified teams were: * as hosts. * as group 1 winner. * as group 2 winner. * as group 3 winner. * as group 4 winner. * as group 5 winner. * a ...

loss against

Botswana Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label=Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kalahar ...

References

1983 births Living people Footballers from Bujumbura Burundian men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Burundi men's international footballers Burundian emigrants to England Burundian expatriate men's footballers Burundian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands SC Veendam players Be Quick '28 players Bootle F.C. players Prescot Cables F.C. players Ashton Athletic F.C. players Congleton Town F.C. players A.F.C. Liverpool players North West Counties Football League players VV Berkum players {{Burundi-footy-bio-stub