Henry Atola Meja (born 21 December 2001) is a Kenyan

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

Norrby IF Norrby IF is a Swedish professional football club based in Borås. Founded on 27 April 1927, the club is currently competing in the Superettan. Background The club's best achievement was being promoted to Allsvenskan (top level of Swedish ...

on loan from

AIK AIK Fotboll (), more commonly known simply as AIK (), an abbreviation for Allmänna Idrottsklubben (meaning ''the public'' or ''general sports club''), is a Swedish football club competing in Allsvenskan, the top flight of Swedish football. The ...

, and the Kenyan national team. He previously played for

Kenyan Premier League The Kenyan Premier League (KPL), officially known as the FKF Premier League and as the BetKing Premier League (BPL) for sponsorship reasons, is a professional league for men's association football clubs in Kenya. Standing at the top of the Kenyan ...

club Tusker.

Club career

Meja came up through the ranks of Green Commandos SC of the

National Super League The National Super League is a league for semi-professional association football clubs in Trinidad and Tobago. It is the second-highest division of the Trinidad and Tobago football league system. The league currently comprises 19 teams between 2 l ...

. With Lihrembe Arsenal FC he won the 2018 and 2019 Cleophas Malala Super Cup, winning the Golden Boot Award in both editions of the tournament. In January 2020 he signed a 3-year contract with

Tusker F.C. The Tusker Football Club is a professional football club based in Nairobi, Kenya. It is the second most successful club in Kenya with thirteen Kenyan league championships. They also have four Kenyan cup titles. In addition, it has won four East ...

of the Kenya Premier League. He spurned interest from

AFC Leopards Abaluhya Football Club Leopards Sports Club, officially abbreviated as AFC Leopards, or simply known as AFC, Leopards or ''Ingwe'' (), is a Kenyan association football club based in Nairobi. It currently competes in the Kenyan Premier League, t ...

and Kakamega Homeboyz for the promise of top-flight minutes and so that he could play with his brother

Sammy Sammy is a nickname, frequently for people named Samuel, and also an English spelling of the Arabic name Sami. People Music *Sammy Adams (born 1987), American rapper and songwriter *Sammy Cahn (1913-1993), American songwriter *Sammy Davis Jr. ( ...

. He scored his first goal for the club on 13 December 2020 against

Gor Mahia Gor Mahia Football Club (), commonly also known as ''K'Ogalo'' (), is a football club based in Nairobi, Kenya. They have won the Kenyan Premier League a record 19 times, and have also won the FKF President's Cup a record 11 times. They are the o ...

. He came off the bench to score the game-winning goal of the 2–1 victory. He was named the Premier League and Tusker's Player of the Month for January 2021 after tallying four goals and an assist for the month. In March 2021 it was reported by local media that Meja's progress was being tracked by

Zamalek Zamalek ( ar, الزمالك , ''al zamalek'') is an affluent district of western Cairo encompassing the northern portion of Gezira Island in the Nile River. The island is connected with the river banks through three bridges each on the east an ...

of the

Egyptian Premier League The Egyptian Premier League ( ar, الدوري المصري الممتاز), also known as WE Egyptian Premier League (WE EPL) after the addition of title sponsor WE, is a professional association football league in Egypt and the top level of th ...

and

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...

n club

Simba Simba is a fictional character and the protagonist of Disney's ''The Lion King (franchise), The Lion King'' franchise. Introduced in the 1994 film ''The Lion King'', Walt Disney Animation Studios, Walt Disney Animation's List of Walt Disney Anim ...

. In September 2021

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

top-tier club

communicated that they had signed Meja on a five-year deal and that he would join the club for the pre-season in January 2022. Meja’s official arrival at AIK was announced in January 2022 at the opening of the transfer window. The player's contract was set to run through 1 September 2026. In January 2023 Melo was loaned out to

for the 2023 season.

International career

In October 2020 Meja was named to Tanzania's provisional squad for the

2020 CECAFA U-20 Championship The 2020 CECAFA U-20 Championship took place from 22 November to 2 December 2020 in Arusha, Tanzania. This competition served as the CECAFA qualifiers for the 2021 Africa U-20 Cup of Nations. The two finalists of the tournament represented CECAF ...

. He was called-up to the senior national team for the first time in February 2021. He made his senior international debut on 13 March 2021 in a friendly against

Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...

. Later that year, he was named to the Kenya U23 team for the

2021 CECAFA U-23 Challenge Cup The 2021 CECAFA U-23 Challenge Cup was 41st edition of the annual CECAFA Cup, an international football competition consisting of the national U-23 teams of member nations of the Council for East and Central Africa Football Associations (CECAFA). ...

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

International career statistics

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Meja, Henry 2001 births People from Kakamega Living people Kenyan men's footballers Men's association football forwards Kenya men's international footballers AIK Fotboll players Kenyan expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden Kenyan expatriate sportspeople in Sweden