Kevin Jesús Kelsy Genez (born 27 July 2004) is a Venezuelan professional

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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for

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 ...

club

FC Cincinnati Football Club Cincinnati, commonly known as FC Cincinnati, is an American professional association football, soccer club based in Cincinnati. The club plays in the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). The ...

, on loan from Shakhtar Donetsk. Kelsy also represents the Venezuela U23 national team.

Club career

Having broken into the first team at Mineros in 2021, Kelsy went on to establish himself in the 2022 season, scoring his first goals for the club. On 31 January 2023, Shakhtar Donetsk announced the signing of Kelsy from

Boston River Club Atlético Boston River, simply known as Boston River, is a Uruguayan sports club located in Montevideo. Founded on 20 February 1939, their main focus is on football, currently playing in the Uruguayan Primera División. At the futsal leag ...

on a contract until the end of December 2027. He signed with the

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

club during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. On 23 February 2023, Kelsy was a substitute during the

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

Playoff 2nd Leg against

Rennes Rennes (; br, Roazhon ; Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France at the confluence of the Ille and the Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine department ...

. In the penalty shootout he scored the deciding goal that took Shakhtar Donetsk to the Round of 16. On 30 April 2024, MLS side

announced Kelsy's acquisition via loan for the remainder of the 2024 season with an option to buy as part of the MLS U-22 initiative program. On May 11, 2024, Kelsy scored his first goal for the club as part of a 2-1 win over the Columbus Crew in the Hell is Real Derby.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Shakhtar Donetsk * Ukrainian Premier League:

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

, 2023–24

References

2004 births Living people Sportspeople from Valencia, Venezuela Venezuelan men's footballers Venezuela men's youth international footballers Men's association football forwards A.C.C.D. Mineros de Guayana players Boston River players FC Shakhtar Donetsk players Venezuelan Primera División players Ukrainian Premier League players Venezuelan expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Uruguay Expatriate men's footballers in Ukraine Venezuelan expatriate sportspeople in Uruguay Venezuelan expatriate sportspeople in Ukraine 21st-century Venezuelan people FC Cincinnati players {{Venezuela-footy-forward-stub