Joel Kasubandi (born 25 May 1993) is a Congolese

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 striker for Scottish club

Clydebank Clydebank ( gd, Bruach Chluaidh) is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland. Situated on the north bank of the River Clyde, it borders the village of Old Kilpatrick (with Bowling, West Dunbartonshire, Bowling and Milton, West Dunbartonshire, Mil ...

. Having moved to Scotland as a child, he began his professional career with St Mirren before making his senior debut for

Greenock Morton Greenock Morton Football Club is a Scottish professional football club, which plays in the Scottish Championship. The club was founded as Morton Football Club in 1874, making it one of the oldest senior Scottish clubs. Morton was renamed Green ...

in 2012. Moving to junior football, he played for Vale of Clyde before joining Clydebank in 2015. He signed for Kilbirnie Ladeside in August 2018.

Early life

Kasubandi was born in

Kinshasa Kinshasa (; ; ln, Kinsásá), formerly Léopoldville ( nl, Leopoldstad), is the capital and largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Once a site of fishing and trading villages situated along the Congo River, Kinshasa is now one o ...

Zaire Zaire (, ), officially the Republic of Zaire (french: République du Zaïre, link=no, ), was a Congolese state from 1971 to 1997 in Central Africa that was previously and is now again known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Zaire was, ...

(now

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

) in 1993. When he was 9 years old, his family moved to

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, where he grew up in the

Sighthill Sighthill may refer to: * Sighthill, Edinburgh Sighthill is a suburb in the west of Edinburgh, Scotland. The area is bordered by Broomhouse and Parkhead to the east, South Gyle to the north, the industrial suburb of Bankhead and the Calders ...

area of the city. Kasubandi attended

Cleveden Secondary School Cleveden Secondary School is located in Kelvinside in the West End of Glasgow. The school In 1973, the Glasgow High School for Girls, situated in the same building as the present school, began accepting both male and female pupils, and in 1975 w ...

Kelvindale Kelvindale ( gd, Dail Chealbhainn) is a district in the West End of the city of Glasgow, Scotland. Kelvindale shares the G12 postcode with the neighbouring residential districts of Kelvinside, Hillhead, Hyndland, Dowanhill, as well as Gartnavel ...

, Glasgow, followed by

Reid Kerr College Reid Kerr College was a further education college in Paisley, Renfrewshire. According to its website, it was one of the fastest growing further education institutions in Scotland with over 20,000 students, 650 staff and 300 courses. Reid Kerr off ...

in Paisley. He played youth football for

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

, where he became a close friend of teammate

Islam Feruz Islam Salieh Feruz (born 10 September 1995) is a Somali-born Scottish former professional footballer who played as a centre forward. Feruz spent most of his youth career with Celtic, before moving to Chelsea in September 2011 after rejecting a ...

, but was released at the age of 14 because he was considered too small.

Career

After starting his career with Tower Hearts U19s, Kasubandi moved to St Mirren where he player for the U19 squad for the 2010–11 season. After being released by ''Saints'', he signed for local rivals

, and made his début as a substitute on 14 April 2012. He claimed an assist for the first consolation goal as Morton came back from 4–0 down to narrowly lose by a solitary goal. He was released by Morton in a mass clear-out in May 2012. In July 2012, Joel joined

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

side

Ayr United Ayr United Football Club are a football club in Ayr, Scotland, who play in the Scottish Championship, the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League. Formed in 1910 by the merger of Ayr Parkhouse and Ayr F.C., their nickname is ...

on trial – with his first appearance being in a 4–0 win over Champions League qualifiers

Motherwell Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lanarks ...

of the

SPL SPL may refer to: Association football * Saudi Professional League * Scottish Premier League * SportPesa Premier League, Kenya * Singapore Premier League * RoboCup Standard Platform League, matches between autonomous robots Computing Program ...

. He scored in his first start for Ayr, in a 4–1 defeat by

Partick Thistle Partick Thistle Football Club are a professional association football, football club from Glasgow, Scotland. Despite their name, the club are based at Firhill Stadium in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not played in Partick since 1908. ...

. Since leaving Ayr he has also played trial matches for the reserve sides of

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional football club in Preston, Lancashire, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league syste ...

and

Dumbarton Dumbarton (; also sco, Dumbairton; ) is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. In 2006, it had an estimated population of 19,990. Dumbarton was the ca ...

. In August 2013, Kasubandi signed for Vale of Clyde. He moved to

two years later. In 2017, Kasubandi signed with

North Ayrshire North Ayrshire ( gd, Siorrachd Àir a Tuath, ) is one of 32 council areas in Scotland. The council area borders Inverclyde to the north, Renfrewshire and East Renfrewshire to the northeast, and East Ayrshire and South Ayrshire to the east and so ...

Junior side Largs Thistle; a year later he moved on to local rivals Kilbirnie Ladeside.I went from Kilbirnie Ladeside to a hospital bedside when my wife went into labour 10 mins before kick-off
Daily Record, 10 October 2018, via PressReader

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kasubandi, Joel 1993 births Living people Democratic Republic of the Congo men's footballers Men's association football forwards Greenock Morton F.C. players Scottish Football League players St Mirren F.C. players Footballers from Kinshasa Scottish people of Democratic Republic of the Congo descent Scottish Junior Football Association players Clydebank F.C. players Footballers from Glasgow Largs Thistle F.C. players Kilbirnie Ladeside F.C. players Celtic F.C. players Vale of Clyde F.C. players Scottish men's footballers Black British sportsmen Democratic Republic of the Congo emigrants to the United Kingdom