Gideon Waja (born December 15, 1996) is a Ghanaian

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 for

Hamilton United Hamilton United is a Canadian semi-professional association football, soccer club based in Hamilton, Ontario, Hamilton, Ontario that plays in the League1 Ontario men's and League1 Ontario (women), women's divisions. History The club was found ...

in League1 Ontario.

Club career

Waja began his senior career with

West African Football Academy West African Football Academy (WAFA) Sporting Club is a Ghanaian professional football club based near Sogakope in the Volta Region that was founded by Feyenoord from Rotterdam. They are competing in the Ghana Premier League. The 2016–17 seaso ...

in 2015, where he served as vice-captain. Afterwards, he became the team's captain in 2017. At the end of the 2016 season, the club received transfer offers from

Aduana Stars Aduana Football Club is a professional football club, based in Dormaa Ahenkro, Bono Region, Ghana. The club is competing in the Ghanaian Premier League. It made history by winning the Ghana Premier League at their first attempt with 53 points. I ...

and Kotoko, but he ultimately remained with WAFA. In November 2017, he began training with Kuwaiti side Qadsia SC. In November 2017, it was announced that Waja would leave the club after the season with

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

clubs New York City FC and

Toronto FC Toronto Football Club (commonly known as Toronto FC or TFC) is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Toronto. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home matches at BMO ...

were being linked as potentially interested clubs. In February 2018, he signed with Canadian side

Toronto FC II Toronto FC II is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Toronto, Ontario, who play in MLS Next Pro, a third tier league of the United States soccer league system. It is the reserve team and minor league affiliate of Toronto FC as well as i ...

in the

USL The USL Championship (USLC) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States that began its inaugural season in 2011. The USL is sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation (U.S. Soccer) as a Division II league since 2017, p ...

. In 2020, the club opted out of the 2020 season due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, resulting in Waja not playing that season. In March 2020, he returned to Ghana, and began training with his former club WAFA, while were also interested in signing him. In November 2020, he signed with Kenyan Premier League club AFC Leopards on a one-year contract, with an option to extend for an additional year. In 2023, he played with

in League1 Ontario.

International career

Waja played at the youth level with Ghana U17. In June 2015, he attended a camp with the Ghana national team ahead of the

2015 COSAFA Cup The 2015 COSAFA Cup was the 15th edition of the COSAFA Cup, an international football competition consisting of national teams of member nations of the Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (COSAFA). It was hosted by South Africa in Ma ...

, but did not make the final squad. On May 25, 2017, Waja made his international debut at senior level in a 1–1 draw against

Benin Benin ( , ; french: Bénin , ff, Benen), officially the Republic of Benin (french: République du Bénin), and formerly Dahomey, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the north ...

with the Ghana B team (it counted as a full international, but a majority of the main squad players were not called up). On 12 August 2017, he scored against

Burkina Faso Burkina Faso (, ; , ff, 𞤄𞤵𞤪𞤳𞤭𞤲𞤢 𞤊𞤢𞤧𞤮, italic=no) is a landlocked country in West Africa with an area of , bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the ...

in the

2018 African Nations Championship qualification The 2018 African Nations Championship qualification was a men's football competition which decided the participating teams of the 2018 African Nations Championship. Only national team players who were playing in their country's own domestic lea ...

matches. In September 2017, he was called up for two FIFA World Cup qualifying matches against

Congo Congo or The Congo may refer to either of two countries that border the Congo River in central Africa: * Democratic Republic of the Congo, the larger country to the southeast, capital Kinshasa, formerly known as Zaire, sometimes referred to a ...

, with was his first call-up with the full Ghanaian team, but was an unused substitute in both matches. He then won the

2017 WAFU Cup of Nations The 2017 WAFU Cup of Nations (also referred to as Ghana 2017) was an association football tournament that took place in September 2017 in Ghana. Sixteen teams from West Africa participated. The tournament was the first featuring national teams to ...

with the national B team.

Career statistics

Club

International goals

:''Scores and results list Ghana's goal tally first.''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Waja, Gideon 1996 births Living people Ghanaian men's footballers Ghanaian expatriate men's footballers Ghana men's international footballers Men's association football midfielders Toronto FC II players USL League One players USL Championship players West African Football Academy players Ghana Premier League players League1 Ontario players A.F.C. Leopards players Hamilton United players