Elvis Kamsoba (born 27 June 1996) is a Burundian 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 ...

who plays as a winger for

Sepahan Foolad Mobarakeh Sepahan Sport Club ( fa, باشگاه فرهنگی ورزشی فولاد مبارکه سپاهان اصفهان, ''Bâšgâh-è Varzeši-ye Fulâd-è Mobârake-ye Sepâhân''), commonly known as Sepahan S.C., are an Iranian spor ...

and the

Burundi national football team The Burundi national football team, nicknamed ''The Swallows'' (french: Les Hirondelles) ( rn, Intamba m'Urugamba), represents Burundi in international football and is controlled by the Football Federation of Burundi. The team has never qualifie ...

.Melbourne Victory signs Elvis Kamsoba
Melbourne Victory Official Website, 3 January 2019

Club career

In October 2016,

Melbourne Knights Melbourne Knights Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in the suburb of Sunshine North, Melbourne. The club currently competes in the National Premier Leagues Victoria, the second-tier of the Australian soccer league ...

announced the signing of Elvis Kamsoba for the 2017 NPL Victoria season. Kamsoba scored six goals for Knights in 2017, as his side narrowly avoided relegation, defeating

Dandenong City Dandenong City Soccer Club, formerly known as Chelsea Hajduk, is an Australian soccer club based in the South-East region of Melbourne, Victoria. The club's home is at Frank Holohan Soccer Complex in the suburb of Endeavour Hills. They compete ...

in the promotion-relegation playoff. Kamsoba came to Australia's attention after a brilliant

2018 FFA Cup The 2018 FFA Cup was the fifth season of the FFA Cup, the main national soccer knockout cup competition in Australia. 32 teams contested the competition proper (from the Round of 32), including the 10 A-League teams and 21 Football Federation Au ...

campaign for

Avondale FC Avondale FC is an Australian semi-professional association football club, with the men's and women's teams based in Parkville and the junior sides based in Avondale Heights, suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria. The club competes in the National P ...

. Avondale went on to make the quarter final, the club's best finish before losing out to reigning champions Sydney FC. As a result of his impressive performances with Avondale, Kamsoba was awarded the inaugural Mike Cockerill Medal, awarded to the best NPL player in the FFA Cup.

Melbourne Victory

Following a successful trial period, Kamsoba signed for A-League club

Melbourne Victory Melbourne Victory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Melbourne, Victoria. Competing in the country's premier men's competition, the A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL), Victor ...

on an 18-month contract on 3 January 2019. He made his professional debut for the club on 9 January 2019 in an A-League match against

Adelaide United Adelaide United Football Club is a professional soccer club based in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. The club participates in the A-League Men under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The club was founded in 2003 to fil ...

. Alongside Jake Brimmer and

Rudy Gestede Rudy Philippe Michel Camille Gestede (born 10 October 1988) is a professional footballer who last played as a striker for Iranian club Esteghlal. After coming through the youth ranks at Metz, Gestede spent a year on loan gaining experience ...

, Kamsoba finished as Melbourne Victory's joint top goalscorer for the

2020–21 A-League The 2020–21 A-League was the 44th season of national level soccer in Australia, and the 16th since the establishment of the A-League in 2004. The season was started on 28 December 2020 and concluded with the Grand Final on 27 June 2021. The ...

season, with 5 goals.

Sydney FC

At the end of his contract at

, Kamsoba departed the club and joined Sydney FC on a two-year contract.

Sepahan

Following a successful season with the harborside Sydney club, in which he contributed with 3 goals in 17 appearances Kamsoba departed the Sky Blues, with the club having accepted an transfer from Iranian club Sepahan, for an undisclosed amount.

Career statistics

Footnotes

:A. Includes appearances in the

FFA Cup The Australia Cup, formerly known as the FFA Cup until the 2021 season, is the national football knockout cup competition in Australia. This annual competition is organised by Football Australia, formerly known as Football Federation Austral ...

. :B. Includes appearances in the AFC Champions League. :C. Includes appearances in the A-League finals.

International career

Elvis was eligible to represent both Burundi and Australia. On 24 March 2019 he confirmed that he had rejected a call-up to the

. Two months later, he accepted a call-up for Burundi's provisional squad ahead of the

2019 Africa Cup of Nations The 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (abbreviated as AFCON 2019 or CAN 2019), known as the Total 2019 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 32nd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial international men's football championshi ...

. He made his debut on 17 June 2019 in a friendly against

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, as a starter.

Personal life

Born in Burundi, Kamsoba moved with his family to a Tanzanian refugee camp when he was four months old. He lived there for 11 years before migrating to

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

, Australia in 2008. Kamsoba's younger brother,

Pacifique Niyongabire Pacifique Niyongabire (born 15 March 2000) is a Burundian professional footballer who plays as a winger for Valour FC in the Canadian Premier League and the Burundi national football team. Early life Niyongabire was born in Burundi, and spen ...

, currently plays for

Valour FC Valour Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The club competes in the Canadian Premier League and plays its home matches at IG Field. The team is coached by Phillip Dos Santos and community owned thr ...

Honours

Individual

* Michael Cockerill Medal:

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kamsoba, Elvis 1996 births Living people Burundian footballers Burundi international footballers Burundian emigrants to Australia Australian soccer players Melbourne Victory FC players Sydney FC players National Premier Leagues players A-League Men players Association football forwards 2019 Africa Cup of Nations players Melbourne Knights FC players Croydon Kings players