Jojea Kwizera (born 1 January 1999) is a Rwandan professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for USL Championship club

Rhode Island FC Rhode Island FC is an upcoming American professional soccer club located in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. The club is planned to debut in the USL Championship in 2024. History On December 2, 2019, it was announced that a new soccer-specific stadiu ...

. Born in the

DR 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 ...

to a Rwandan father and a Congolese mother, he represents

Rwanda Rwanda (; rw, u Rwanda ), officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of Central Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator ...

internationally. Kwizera was a first-round pick (15th overall) in the

2022 MLS SuperDraft The 2022 MLS SuperDraft was the 23rd edition of the SuperDraft conducted by Major League Soccer. The SuperDraft is held every January prior to the start of the MLS season and has been conducted via conference calls since 2020. Previously, the Sup ...

. He earned 13 starts in 2021 with Utah Valley University, collecting three goals and eight assists. In 2020, he played in seven games as a starter with one goal and two assists for the Wolverines. On 8 April 2022, Kwizera signed his first contract with

CF Montréal CF Montréal is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Montréal, Québec, Canada. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) in the Eastern Conference. Founded in 1992 as the Montreal Impact (french: Impact de Montréal, links=no), ...

during the 2022 season. Kwizera made his professional debut with Montreal in a 4–1 win against

Orlando City SC Orlando City SC is an American professional soccer club in Orlando, Florida, that competes as a member of the Eastern Conference in Major League Soccer (MLS). Orlando City SC began play in 2015 as the 21st franchise in MLS, succeeding the USL ...

on 7 May 2022. Upon completion of the 2023 Season, CF Montréal would announce that they would not pick up Kwizera's contract for 2024, ending his time with the club.

International career

Kwizera made his debut for the Rwanda national team on 6 June 2024 in a

World Cup qualifier The FIFA World Cup qualification is a competitive match that a national association football team takes in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the (men's) FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments are hel ...

against Benin at the

Felix Houphouet Boigny Stadium The Felix Houphouet Boigny Stadium, nicknamed Le Félicia, is a multi-purpose stadium, which can host football, rugby union and athletics, in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. It is the former national stadium of the Ivory Coast national football team. It is ...

in the Ivory Coast. He substituted

Gilbert Mugisha Gilbert may refer to: People and fictional characters *Gilbert (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters *Gilbert (surname), including a list of people Places Australia * Gilbert River (Queensland) * Gilbert River (South ...

in the 72nd minute as Benin won the game 1–0. He scored his first international goal 5 days later against Lesotho.

Career statistics

References

External links

Jojea Kwizera , Montreal Impact
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kwizera, Jojea 1999 births Living people Rwandan men's footballers Rwanda men's international footballers Democratic Republic of the Congo men's footballers Rwandan people of Democratic Republic of the Congo descent Democratic Republic of the Congo people of Rwandan descent Men's association football midfielders CF Montréal players Major League Soccer players CF Montréal draft picks Utah Valley Wolverines men's soccer players USL League Two players Salt City SC players Rhode Island FC players