Rubenilson dos Santos da Rocha (born 23 September 1987), commonly known as Kanu, is a Brazilian

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

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for Belgian club

Diest Diest () is a city and municipality located in the Belgian province of Flemish Brabant. Situated in the northeast of the Hageland region, Diest neighbours the provinces of Antwerp to its North, and Limburg to the East and is situated around 60 ...

Club career

Before signing at Anderlecht, Kanu was on trial with

FC Groningen Football Club Groningen () is a Dutch professional association football club based in Groningen, province of Groningen. Founded on 16 June 1971 as the successor of GVAV, the team compete in the Eredivisie, the highest tier of Dutch football. G ...

. On 13 December 2008, he was loaned out to

Cercle Brugge Cercle Brugge Koninklijke Sportvereniging () is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges. Cercle have played in the Belgian Pro League since the 2003–04 season, having previously spent several years in the Belgian Second Divisio ...

and on 30 June 2009 returned to

Anderlecht Anderlecht (, ) is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the south-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Forest, Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, and Saint-Gilles, as well as the ...

. In February 2014, Kanu agree to switch to

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; russian: Российская премьер-лига; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is the top division professional association football league in Russia. It was established at the end of 2001 ...

side

Terek Grozny Republican Football Club Akhmat ( ce, футболан клуб Ахмат Соьлжа-ГӀала; russian: Республиканский футбольный клуб Ахмат Грозный), commonly known as Akhmat Grozny, is a Russian ...

. On 23 June 2017, Kanu signed a deal with the

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division ( el, Πρωτάθλημα Α΄ Κατηγορίας) is the top tier football league competition in Cyprus, run by the Cyprus Football Association. Since February 2016, it is sponsored by Cyta and is thus officially ...

club

Omonia Nicosia Athletic Club Omonia Nicosia ( el, Αθλητικός Σύλλογος Oμόνοιας Λευκωσίας, ΑΣΟΛ; ''Athlitikos Sillogos Omonias Lefkosias'', ''ASOL''), commonly known as Omonia Nicosia, or simply Omonia (" Harmony"; also tran ...

. He made his debut on 10 September 2017 against

Ethnikos Achna Ethnikos Achna Football Club ( el, Αθλητικός Σύλλογος Εθνικός Άχνας), commonly known as Ethnikos Achna, or simply Ethnikos, is a Cypriot football club based in the village of Achna. Founded in 1968, the club current ...

on the 2017-18 season's premier and gave an assist to

Matt Derbyshire Matthew Anthony Derbyshire (born 14 April 1986) is an English professional footballer who plays as a forward for Indian Super League club NorthEast United. He played for Blackburn Rovers for five years, and had loan spells with Plymouth Argy ...

for the winning goal. On 31 January 2023, Kanu joined

in Belgium.

Statistics

Personal life

Kanu chose his football name as a reference to

Nwankwo Kanu Nwankwo Kanu (born 1 August 1976) is a Nigerian former professional footballer who played as a forward. He was a member of the Nigeria national team, and played for Nigerian team Iwuanyanwu Nationale, Dutch side Ajax, Inter Milan of Italy, and ...

References

External links

10. Rubenilson Dos Santos da Rocha
RSC Anderlecht
Rubenilson Dos Santos da Rocha stats
Voebalkrant.com 1987 births Sportspeople from Salvador, Bahia Living people Brazilian footballers Men's association football forwards Grêmio Barueri Futebol players Clube Atlético Juventus players R.S.C. Anderlecht players Cercle Brugge K.S.V. players FC Akhmat Grozny players Buriram United F.C. players AC Omonia players K.V. Kortrijk players Al Raed FC players Podosfairikos Omilos Xylotymbou 2006 players Sociedade Desportiva Juazeirense players K. Rupel Boom F.C. players K.F.C. Diest players Belgian Pro League players Russian Premier League players Cypriot First Division players Saudi Professional League players Cypriot Second Division players Campeonato Brasileiro Série D players Belgian National Division 1 players Brazilian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Belgium Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate footballers in Russia Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Russia Expatriate footballers in Thailand Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Thailand Expatriate footballers in Cyprus Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Expatriate footballers in Saudi Arabia Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia {{Brazil-footy-forward-1980s-stub